Air Wing

The consistent presence of a small plane in the air over game reserves offers a significant deterrent to potential poachers, improves deployment of foot patrols, and enables faster incident response. The “Bathawk ” plane, a light sport aircraft, is commonly used for this purpose due to low fuel consumption, cheap running costs and the ability to fly low and slow. This capacity also makes it ideal for ecological monitoring of small game reserves, including game counts and vegetation surveys.

The fixed-wing aircraft is piloted by volunteer pilot Emma Gush, a member of one of the founding families of Amakhala , and now a registered pilot. Emma was born and raised and schooled in the local community. Emma will also pilot state-of-the-art drones, adding to the surveillance and monitoring potential in the area.

The flying time of the fixed-wing aircraft is currently 30 hours per calendar month and is proving hugely beneficial. Given the recent increase in poaching incidents in the Eastern Cape, there is an urgency to increase the fixed wing flying time to 40 hours or more, over the next twelve-month period. The effectiveness of any additional time will be carefully monitored and assessed.