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DAPU scouts returning from a successful snare-removal patrol

Dande Anti-Poaching Unit

Conservation lives on the ground.

Since 2010, DAPU has protected wildlife across Dande North and East by equipping community scouts, removing snares and building a future in which people and wild places can endure together.

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Read DAPU newsletters

19,000

Snares retrieved

300

Meat poachers convicted

20

Elephant poachers convicted

500

Weapons and tools retrieved

DAPU newsletters

Reports from the Dande.

Patrol reports, snare recoveries and news from the communities we work with. Read the original DAPU newsletters below.

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Earlier reports at Conservation Force
DAPU scouts examining wildlife sign beside a water source

Born from necessity

Built from action, not intention.

DAPU was founded when escalating poaching threatened elephant and other wildlife across the Dande. What began as an effort to help unpaid and under-equipped scouts has grown into a focused conservation initiative protecting more than 200,000 hectares.

Working with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the Mbire Rural District Council, DAPU supports scouts from surrounding villages to patrol this vast and demanding landscape.

More than 200,000 hectares of wildlife habitat under protection.

Three parts. One purpose.

Wildlife protection works when communities thrive.

Lasting conservation is built through field operations, community investment and reliable long-term support.

DAPU scouts holding bundles of wire snares removed from the bush

01

Anti-poaching

Community scouts patrol remote wilderness, remove wire snares, monitor wildlife areas and work alongside the relevant authorities to combat poaching.

Community members and children receiving educational supplies in the Dande

02

Community

Conservation is strengthened by investing in people. DAPU supports schools, water infrastructure and practical projects for communities living alongside wildlife.

DAPU team members with new field packs and equipment

03

Support & equipment

Donations help provide scout salaries, field equipment, training and performance incentives—giving teams the tools to protect the landscape every day.

The Dande story on film

Custodians of Wilderness.

This documentary follows a wildlife sanctuary on the edge—the Dande landscape and the people working to keep a vital corridor between Chewore and Mozambique intact.

Watch on Vimeo

Beyond the patrol

Strong communities. A stronger wilderness.

In the rural Dande, community development and wildlife protection are inseparable. Support for schools, water and essential infrastructure helps create resilient communities with a direct stake in the future of the landscape around them.

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A school supported through DAPU community projects in the Dande

Stand with the scouts

Protection is a daily commitment.

DAPU is supported by Charlton McCallum Safaris, its clients, conservation partners and people who believe these wild places are worth protecting.

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