Mellivora Systems

My heart skipped a beat and I found my self in a distant land for a few seconds before realizing what I was actually looking at. Just a home made torch battery left in an old poachers camp. The heightened state of awareness of things remained with me for another 10 minutes until the adrenaline burnt up. The subconscious mind is a powerful alternate you. Its doing its own things with the best of intensions but sometimes with terrible results. But sometimes it will save your life before you have even registered what's happening around you. The good thing is, its programable. . . . . #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #CustodiansofConservation #MellivoraSystems #Conservation #AfricanConservation #WildlifeConservation #LawEnforcement #CounterPoaching #IrreversibleMomentum #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #RBT #RealityBasedTraining #IED

The last line - Rangers are the last hope we have in many of the remote corners of the world. Fighting day and night to preserve the life force of our very existence. . . . . #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #CustodiansofConservation #MellivoraSystems #Conservation #AfricanConservation #WildlifeConservation #LawEnforcement #CounterPoaching #IrreversibleMomentum #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica  #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #AIArt #RangerArt #ConservationArt #Portrait

Here we stood, face to face with poachers, illegally harvesting charcoal inside the national park, living off of the natural resources. No one was arrested. No one was chased. only dialogue was created and the education process had begun. For them and for us. 3-6 weeks of hard labor, these giant mounds of charcoal were typically cut by the hands of 1 man and his axe. Then, calling on all hands of the other men harvesting in the area, they stack into massive piles of approximately 20 to 30+ metric tones of wood depending on the harvest and available hands. Once covered in grass and dirt, the mounds are set alite and left to burn for 5-14 days, turning into charcoal, where they are eventually un covered and bagged for sale to the distributers. Each bag of charcoal sold for approximately $5 USD. A small pile can produce 50 to 75 bags, while the large 6-7m wide piles can produce up to 550 bags. The bags value are then marked up considerably for sale in the cities. The men in this photo had no phones or any valuable, only their tools and a few pots, a tarp to sleep under and one change of clothes. Everything else had either been raided by bandits or left behind in fear of enticing violence from the same bandits. If it wasn't the bandits holding their tools for ransom, it was the local communities illegally taxing them for working in "their" forests. 6 months of hell for some pocket money to go feed their families in neighboring states. Then comes along the Rangers. . . . . #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #CustodiansofConservation #MellivoraSystems #Conservation #AfricanConservation #WildlifeConservation #LawEnforcement #CounterPoaching #IrreversibleMomentum #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining

Wildlife Wednesdays - Waterbuck doing waterbuck things. Rwanda is gorgeous thanks to the Rangers out there day and night. . . . . #Conservation #MellivoraSystems #WildlifeRangers #IrreversibleMomentum #WildlifeConservation #ThisIsAfrica #RangerTraining #AfricanSnakes #Antelope #Rwanda

Money shot Mondays - Taken while tracking fresh poacher spoor after 2 poachers escaped a static interdiction set by fresh Ranger recruits. The recruits managed to find the entry point into the park and recover a home made shotgun. . . . . #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #CustodiansofConservation #MellivoraSystems #Conservation #AfricanConservation #WildlifeConservation #LawEnforcement #CounterPoaching #IrreversibleMomentum #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #AfricanSunrise

Necessity is the mother of invention - "oh, you have a 3ltr water bladder worth $50? That's cute. Check out my 5ltr water satchel with cooling bag made from scraps materials". Rangers are gonna be rangering. Its up to us to identify potential and help them take climb! . . . . #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #CustodiansofConservation #MellivoraSystems #Conservation #AfricanConservation #WildlifeConservation #LawEnforcement #CounterPoaching #IrreversibleMomentum #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #Camelbak #WaterIsLife #Hydration #Innovation #DIY

The latest in luxury lodging - This mantis egg cluster must be pretty spectacular to wake up in! 10,000 dollar views. . . . . #Conservation #MellivoraSystems #WildlifeRangers #IrreversibleMomentum #WildlifeConservation #ThisIsAfrica #RangerTraining #AfricanInsects #Mantis #Eggs

Time and Space are assets - If you control the ground, take your time to slice your pie and use depth to your advantage. No need to run into a room and eat a panga or brick for breakfast. . . . . #Conservation #CounterPoaching #MellivoraSystems #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #AfricanConservation #IrreversibleMomentum #CustodiansofConservation #LawEnforcement #WildlifeConservation #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica  #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #CQB #SlicingThePie

Trappy Tuesdays - Concealed pit traps are used across Africa for some of the larger and less agile game such as elephants. These large holes are covered up with buffalo grass and canes, placed along main thoroughfare game trails. . . . . #Conservation #CounterPoaching #MellivoraSystems #WildlifeRangers #IrreversibleMomentum #LawEnforcement #WildlifeConservation #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #Trapping #survival

Rangers on sentry with hand-held Thermal electro-optics in a high-threat environment (South Sudan). While this may seem pretty cool for most in conservation, as most parks don't have any night observation capability at all, to anyone from the security sector, its quite concerning. Rangers are expected to be on duty 24/7 in their respective protected areas in order to ensure their integrity but they generally are not getting adequate equipment to be able to manage. Some of the environments and operations we have mentored Rangers in would NEVER have been signed off by a western military unit due to the lack of support and mission essential items such as head mounted electro optics and aiming systems. Yet conservation either doesn't have a choice due to a lack of funding or, too often, does not/can not allocate funding according to strategic priority and duty of care. In this picture, the Rangers had an active threat in the area. Had they been required to defend them selves, they would not have been able to accurately employ their weapon systems as they only have iron sites and the thermal optic would inhibit the Ranger from being able to shoulder his weapon anyways. If you are one of the good guys out there and willing to invest in your Rangers, enabling them to protect them selves in the night, please do consult with us so that you get the right equipment for your operational environment. Remember that thermal optics are next to useless where the ambient temperature remains above 30 degrees Celsius. Digital night vision only works where you have adequate ambient lighting, and most NIR phosphorous tubes are only good out to approximately 250m and come in an array of specs. You can easily pay too much for something that wont work in your PA. Please reach out to us if you would like to know more. . . . . #Conservation #CounterPoaching #MellivoraSystems #ParkRangers #WildlifeRangers #AfricanConservation #IrreversibleMomentum #CustodiansofConservation #LawEnforcement #WildlifeConservation #StandWithRangers #Frontline #ThisIsAfrica #WeBleedGreen #RangerTraining #ThermalOptics #NightVision #OwnTheNight