LEARN ALL ABOUT THESE INCREDIBLE DOGS!

Guests at Baobab Ridge are in for a real treat in the very near future when they will be getting the opportunity to meet the Klaserie's amazing detection and tracking dogs who work in partnership with the reserve's anti-poaching unit.

The Klaserie's K9 Experience is going to be offered to the lodges on the reserve to allow guests the chance to learn more about these incredible canines and watch them be put through their paces by their handlers. 

The 90-minute experience features an introduction to the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve K9 Unit dogs and their handlers, where they'll watch detection Labrador Dan and his German shepherd colleague Anké "detect" concealed contraband. 

Trained to detect ammunition, weapons, rhino horn, ivory and drugs, Dan and Anké will "search" a vehicle and a volunteer human so that guests can see how the dogs work with their handlers at both the entrance gate to the reserve and on detection operations such as roadblocks. 

They'll be joined by tracking dog Vestigo - a Doberman/bloodhound cross - who with her handler will show how she's been trained to follow and track human scent. 

The detection dogs are used at wildlife crime scenes to find evidence left behind by poachers which could be linked to possible suspects. They also conduct vehicle searches at Wildlife crime scene/open area detection – to find any evidence left behind in a crime scene by poachers which could be linked to possible suspects. Tracker dog Vestigo is called in when rangers on patrol find suspicious tracks and to follow tracks found leading to and from a wildlife crime scene. 

Vestigo is now being joined by German shepherd Belgo who was a gift from one of South Africa's most respected canine institutions. He's been introduced to the pack and is being trained by the handlers who themselves have been professionally trained by leading K9 law enforcement officers in Johannesburg.

Belgo has been with the team for three months now and is doing exceptionally well, illustrating how well the handlers have been training him. 

"It's something they're very proud of," says Marian Viljoen who works for the Klaserie but also acts as kennelmaster of the K9 Unit in a voluntary role, supporting the handlers in the care of the dogs and their management. "The dogs are very well taken care of and are very valued members of the Klaserie team," she adds. 

"We ensure they get their innoculation and are fit and healthy, maintaining their conditioning and having them assessed every six months so that we can hold valid licenses under the Performance Animals Protection Act, which are required by law to run a K9 unit of this nature," says Marian.

The Klaserie K9 Unit was started in 2017 with just one tracker dog. In 2018 detection dogs Dan and Anké joined the pack and in 2019 Vestigo came on board. "We were sponsored with Vestigo to work with the rangers on patrol to find tracks that are suspicious," says Marian. "She was fully trained to follow human scent by the age of nine months, so is a valuable member of the team."

"The dogs are deployed in the field on the Klaserie and also conduct vehicle searches at roadblocks which are also run with local police and anti-poaching units in the area as well as local community policing association Farmwatch. They can also do building searches to find hidden contraband and people. So the dogs contribute enormously to the local community," says Marian.

The K9 Experience is a fun demonstration for guests who get a holistic overview of how the dogs perform and how they fit into the anti poaching programme. 

"We give a practical display of a crime scene set up with the guests taking part, hiding 'contraband' so they can see how the dogs conduct an open area search," explains Marian. "We ask the guests to hide things in a vehicle and they get to play 'baddies' and set tracks before hiding so the dogs can track and find them," she adds.

The K9 Experience will help to raise funds for the K9 unit and contribute to the anti-poaching effort on the Klaserie. "The overall goal is to continue caring for the dogs and grow the pack," says Marian. "It's an expensive exercise and we don't always have the funds readily available for unexpected expenses like vet bills, so this is going to help us tremendously."

Please chat to us about the K9 Experience when you come to stay!

Images: Rebecca Rowles