News

by Laura Mukwevho

Staff members in KNP were left with awe and respect for the family man who also dedicated himself to conservation for thirty seven years. Sergeant Aaron Nkuna is one rare example of the field rangers who were loyal and exposed themselves to areas in which armed poaching existed almost on a daily basis. Mr Mike English, the former Regional Ranger in KNP still affectionately calls the field rangers “The Unsung Heroes of Conservation” not only in KNP but throughout Africa.

Mike English in the farewell speech he gave, recalled one story in particular that happened during the time he was in charge of Stolznek Ranger Post. On 15 August 1981, Sergeant Aaron together with two other field rangers, Rafael Chiburre and Batista Baloyi prepared for their usual day”s patrols not knowing what laid ahead of them. There were two or four rangers per outpost/picket depending on how long their respective portion of the Park boundary was, for which they were responsible. The ideal situation would have been for the field rangers to cover the whole length of the boundary every day, but this was not always possible. The field rangers would patrol either on foot or on bicycle to pick up any signs of poaching activities, follow them up and also any other important conservation orientated observations or information during these patrols.

On this specific day, Aaron was shot by one of the two armed poachers. One of the field rangers, Rafael Chiburre was on his way to deliver an urgent message to Aaron”s fellow field ranger Batista Baloyi when he saw a small herd of buffalo obviously running away from something. He stopped and there he saw two poachers stalking a buffalo. Rafael charged at the poachers who ran off in to different directions because he took them by surprise.

He then ran after the poacher who did not carry a rifle and then caught up with the poacher and arrested him. Aaron and Batista then heard the shots when they were still at their outposts before they set off for day”s patrols and they immediately went out to where the shots were coming from. There was no contact for radios in those days. It was not long before they saw the other fleeing armed poacher entering an open area just ahead of them. The poacher then ran away along a game path and realising Aaron was catching up with him, went into some thick bush and Aaron lost sight of him for a few seconds. On arriving at a rocky outcrop and where the game path split, Aaron stopped for a moment to check on which direction the poacher had gone, instantly picked up the spoor and the direction his quarry had gone.

As he looked up to continue the chase, Aaron saw the poacher stand up from behind a bush, not more than 15 metres from him with his rifle ready. He shot Aaron in the stomach; this poacher had apparently been arrested on a previous occasion for poaching and Aaron was able to identify him as he turned and flee further. Aaron was badly wounded, bleeding internally and was losing a lot of blood and therefore had to be quickly taken to hospital in Nelspruit for an operation. The bullet damaged his intestines, missing all the vital organs and gone through his abdomen instead. The field ranger was in hospital for ten days, discharged, stayed at Mr English”s quarters while he recovered for two weeks and was then ready for light duties. After a month and a half he was back to his normal duties and in the bush again.

Apparently, Aaron suffered no ill effects from that incident and afterwards was involved in several armed poaching arrests until his retirement. Aaron has been blessed with 19 children, 18 were born when he was already working in the Park and 15 grand children. Ironically one of his sons followed in his father”s footsteps and is a field ranger at Stolznek Ranger Post in KNP. When Mike English was reminiscing about Aaron”s many anti-poaching incidents at the farewell function, you could see the remarkable mutual trust between the two and could even imagine the kind of working relationship they had.

Mr English continued to say “there always have been- still are- and always will be many like them, as long as there are National Parks and Game Reserves”. He even quotes Dr U. de V. Pienaar”s statement of KNP field rangers in his book about the history of KNP that says “Neem Uit Die Verlede”, “they all made sacrifices- some of them the highest sacrifice of all, that of their own lives”. Aaron Nkuna certainly came very close to making the highest sacrifice! We salute him.