A Tribute - Navelan Padayachee

Navelan - The Friend; The Hero; The Legend

In 2008 I moved to Pretoria to begin my studies at the Technical University of Tswane. It was here where I would meet two brothers, Kailen and Navelan Padayachee.


These twin brothers were my seniors studying for our diploma in Nature Conservation, a passion we all have shared from childhood and were now working towards achieving. I cherished the times we could sit together between or after classes and I could listen to them talk, learning from their experiences and wisdom; feeding off their passion for what we all wanted to achieve and grow towards. They were an inspiration to me, role models for myself and the other junior students in my class. Never did the thought ever cross my mind that we would lose one of these amazing humans, that I would not get the chance to say goodbye. A few years passed and the last time I saw Nav was when I was leaving Clearwater mall after watching a movie with my Mother and he stopped next to us in his bright yellow Land Rover, He flashed that huge welcoming smile he always had on his face and we caught up about what we were doing in life and how his research with the Vultures was going. It was a minute in front of the traffic light I will never forget. It was the last time I would see my friend.

Skip on a few more years, I am now working on a private game ranch in Limpopo and was busy with
Social media marketing when it hit me, a post informing friends and family of Nav's passing. My heart sank to the lowest depths and tears welled up in my eyes and all I could think about is not having been able to say goodbye.

Years later his brother Kailen continues the great work they started with the Kainav conservation foundation. Navelan's legacy present in every new project they take on and in all the great work they do. I asked Kailen for some more information and stories about his brother's life and legacy so I may write a tribute, Instead, I give you his brothers words as they were sent to me. Pure, honest and shattering to the bone, Kailen's story about his brother reminded me of what an amazing man my friend Navelan was and inspires me to live his legacy as my own truth each new day.

"Navelan, or Nav as he was (and still is) referred to as by his friends and family, was always drawn to nature.
As young boys growing up in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Nav and I were introduced to the marine environment by our father. He was a volunteer at the NSRI, STATION 19 in Richards Bay, and every chance he got he would take us out on the boat or to the beach. In fact, our daily routine as children would include finishing school at 12:30, heading home to change and then spending the remainder of the day on the beach, snorkeling in the shallows. Even at that young age Nav knew that he wanted to work with animals in the ocean, he didn’t know what job exactly it would be, but it had to be with marine animals in the wild!

In 1996 our parents found work in Johannesburg and this path lead us to experience completely new environments. The dry grasslands and savanna habitat of the Highveld was foreign and honestly, not as inviting to Nav as the ocean and mangroves he
was used to in KZN. As we grew and matured the ocean still held a special part in both our
hearts but particularly for Nav.

 When the time came to choose a university, we were certain
of one thing, where ever we go and whatever we choose to study it must take us back to the
ocean. After discussions with many wildlife practitioners, professors and scientists, we
found ourselves enrolled in TUT, pursuing a qualification in nature conservation. To be
honest, it was a term that we were not too clear on and as we were the first in our family to
choose this career path we were completely in the dark. However, we had each other and a
strong end goal… get back to the ocean! After two years in the program, we grew, learned a lot and refined our goals. For our final experiential year of our qualification, we found ourselves interning at SAAMBR (South African Association for Marine Biological Research) in Sea World, Durban.

Nav felt like for the first time in years that he was finally on the right track, well on the way to becoming a world-renowned marine ecologist. During his time at Sea World, he used the opportunity to grow and prove himself as a dedicated young scientist
willing to do what it takes and put in the hours necessary to become a marine ecologist. It
was at Sea World where Nav fell in love with predatory fish, specifically sharks and started
gaining an interest in marine and shark research. He began SCUBA diving every chance he
got and spent most of his spare time under water, trying to dive with as many shark species
as he could.

Towards the end of his experiential year, he was offered a life-changing
opportunity to work for the Walt Disney World Company in Florida, USA, as a cultural
representative. The position gave him the opportunity to teach visitors to Disney’s Animal
Kingdom Lodge about wildlife and South Africa. Navelan grew tremendously during his time
at Walt Disney World, he saw South Africa and his career in a completely different light and
was determined to come home and make a lasting difference in wildlife conservation. This is
why the first thing he and I did when we got home, was start the KaiNav Conservation
Foundation. An environmental non-profit organization dedicated to biodiversity
conservation and environmental education and awareness.


Upon returning home, Nav also had the opportunity to become part of something that he loved almost as much as wildlife conservation, and that was search and rescue. He loved helping people and took pride in being part of the Off-Road Rescue Unit, where he could combine his passion for the out-
doors with his drive to serve the community. He worked tirelessly to ensure that KaiNav
Conservation Foundation became a credible, sustainable organization that made quality
contributions to conservation.

He developed a number of projects such as the S.N.A.R.E
(Snare Neutralization, Awareness and Removal Effort) Initiative which monitors snare poaching in and around urban areas of Gauteng, the SNARE Art program which uplifts local, underprivileged artists and transforms snares into pieces of art, the African Dragon Project which monitors South African varanid species (monitor lizards) in urban and peri-urban ecosystems of Northern Johannesburg, all while completing his Mtech in the Durban harbor on fish species diversity. Above all his commitments, he made the time to assist me
in my Verreaux’s eagle research, traveling across the country to monitor nests with me and
identify prey remains.

He also still managed to fulfill his commitments to the search and
rescue unit, all with his signature smile plastered across his face.

That was the type of person Nav was, dedicated, passionate and ALWAYS willing to help anyone in need. On the 9 the of May 2016, Nav responded to a call-out in the Magaliesberg to assist in the rescue of an injured climber, it was to be his last act on earth.

Nav died after assisting in a successful
rescue while descending the mountain. The KaiNav Conservation Foundation and the
projects he started, persist as his legacy and a dedication to him and his passion for not only
conservation but for our community, the people who depend on the environment. A few
weeks before passing away, Nav began planning KaiNav Conservation Africa, an
environmental and conservation education training company dedicated to training and
educating young South Africans about wildlife conservation and the environment.



The first group of students to participate in KaiNav Conservation Africa’s unique education and
career awareness program attended our inaugural program in February this year." - Kailen Padayachee

This is a tribute to Navelan. He will forever be in our hearts and is sorely missed each day. His presence remains in every success of the Kainav Conservation foundation and everyone who has become a part thereof and participated in their programs.

We will never forget Nav, the Man, the Friend, the Legend.

Please follow me on Twitter and Instagram via the links below to see the world from my perspective, with a foot in the door.

https://twitter.com/BiancaBothab211

https://www.instagram.com/aconservationistsjourney/

Read my scholarship articles for The WOMA at the links below:

The WOMA Scholarship: Conservationista by Bianca Botha



To visit or donate to my crowdfunding page please follow the link below! Thank you for your support!

US, UK and South Africa: 

Back-a-Buddy Conservation study fund

Snare Aware

Following on my previous post "Snare Scare" , I wanted to do a follow up on what more can and is being done with regards to the snaring problem beautiful South Africa and her wildlife are facing.

In my previous post I spoke about the S.N.A.R.E project run by the KaiNav Conservation Foundation and how they use the wires recovered from their expeditions to create Snare Art . Thereby creating income for rural communities as well as producing a profit which funds further expeditions and other conservation projects.

Conservation foundations are in abundance, each doing their part in attempts to preserve, conserve and protect our natural Fauna and Flora. However many foundations, associations etc there may be, they never seem to be enough. That is where the citizen conservationist comes in. Everyday average individuals doing their part in helping rangers, conservationists, parks, conservancies and all the rest to achieve their goals in the conservation of their area. Lize Bester is one of those people, and through the simple use of  a little bit of Facebook savvy and a caring community she has recruited many more.

Two years ago today, 6 October 2015, Lize created the group Enough is enough describing it as a group of individuals who have had enough of seeing the wonderful wildlife of our country being senselessly slaughtered and butchered in the most painful and horrendous of manners, snaring. It is a group focused on a call to action against snaring, for each citizen to do their part to assist the rangers in the fight against poachers and the cruel systems they use.

The group currently has 794 members from around the globe and is administrated by 3 dedicated individuals who ensure that current updates are posted as soon as they come in and that no post is missed as animals lives are in danger and time is of essence!

Members of the group will post their own photos as they see animals entangled or caught in a snare and report the location and time of the sighting, this information is then passed on to the rangers and they fall into action to locate the animal and attempt to remove the snare.

Snares are indiscriminate and any animal could get caught in them. Some animals ,such as the wild dog post alongside, are collared animals and part of a research project. These projects aim to gain insight in the movements, behaviours, population sizes and many other factors in the lives of the selected members. This assists conservationists in making decisions and planning for the future of these animals and their species. When project animals are killed by snares the projects are retarded and set back a great deal with the incredible loss of data.

It is imperative to the research teams involved to try by all means to keep the members alive, this group is doing just that by responding and updating snared animal sightings constantly.









The group also takes their work another step further by posting other relevant information that may curb negative stigma around the work rangers do, conservation efforts against poaching and the general state of our National parks. A short while ago a dead elephant was seen in the Kruger National park and it was noted that the tusks had been removed. The fast response of the team to report on the group that the elephant had in fact died of natural causes and that the tusks were removed by a section ranger may have spared the park and nation from horrible tourist reviews and rumours about poaching in the park.

The rangers greatly appreciate the work done by everyday citizens and visitors to the park. They are unable to be everywhere at once and there is always so much work to be done, with the extra million eyes in the park at any given time it makes the tedious task of locating captured animals in the vast area of the park so much easier and rangers response time so much faster.

In the past 5 years there have been over 1000 rhinos poached in South Africa annually, and over 30 elephants in the Kruger
National Park alone between January and June 2017.

The incredible amount of poaching in this country has even lead to theories about the ivory and rhino horn trade funding terrorism, a very scary thought.





However, there seems to be hope in the future as a result of UK officials making a great decision, as in a report by The Guardian, to stop their trade in ivory. The UK is the biggest exporter of legal ivory and believe that by shutting down their trade they may impact the illegal laundering of illegal ivory and assist in the fight against elephant poaching.

Enough is enough has had such a major impact that the group has even been featured in an article in the local newspaper Laevelder by environmental journalist Mariana Balt.

This helps further in the awareness roll of the group and any other group or person doing something similar. By making the public and visitors to national parks aware of the need for action, more and more people are likely to get involved, which will make it increasingly difficult for poachers to get what they want and be a huge discouragement to them to put up any more snares.

The group also shares happiness with its members and any person involved in the sighting, safe capture and snare removal of an affected animal. Recently a female lion was seen with a gaping wound and snare around her neck. The visitors to the park, Enough is Enough admins and park rangers sprang into action. With the constant sighting reports from the visitors and tourists the rangers were able to find the lioness, affectionately called Lucy, dart her and successfully remove the snare. After her procedure another member of the group sent in his image of her looking to have a new lease on life and to be fit and well on her way to recovery. She then become known as Lucky Lucy.

This is one of the wonderful posts shared by the group and members would comment and post recent sightings and how glad they were that she is going to be alright.

She is one of the lucky ones. Not all animals will be as lucky as she is.

For anyone wanting to join the group or take part in assisting in this battle please take note of the following information posted by Lize to have a better understanding of how it all works:

Information needed: 

-Precise date and time of sighting  -What type of animal was seen with snare? -Where on the animal is the snare situated: neck, left hind leg etc?-The road number you spotted the animal on, the distance from the closest or distance from the next turn-off (the road number of the turn-off)-Please take photos of the animal with snare. A photo must be available to be sent by message, take one with your cellphone as well.- A GPS reading of the latest location of the snared animal would be perfect!- It would be ideal if someone can keep the animal in sight and someone else can drive off to make the phone call or send a message with details.
The Park Officials are not always readily available and there are a few actions to be taken sometimes before the call goes to 'despatch'.

The process:

As per arrangement with the Park Officials, the message or phone call must be made to me. [number available on the group] (We also have a whatsapp group for those who want to become involved in the day to day of this group. It's a bit more personal). 

I give the case and details personally through to the coordinator of all the services in the Park. She makes sure that it's been registered at the Joint Operational Centre in the Park. The message goes through to the Rangers, the SANDF, the SAPS and the Veterinary Services in the area where the animal with the snare was reported. We make sure everyone in the vicinity knows and keep an eye open for the ensnared animal. What we need to get everything going are all the relevant details and the photo. If someone can keep an eye on the animal with the snare, and someone else can call for help, the better and easier to find the animal. If the animal is moving, please take note of the place last seen and the direction the animal moved off.

The Enough is Enough-group keeps the statistics of all the animals reported and provide it to the Park officials. We also keep an eye on later sightings to confirm that the same animal is not reported as a new case, the duplication of reports frustrates the rangers a lot. This is the arrangement made between this group and the Park officials. We made sure it worked in a smaller group before we went public, it worked perfectly. We already made a difference in a few animal's lives.

Education is key. The more we can spread the word and educate people about this situation the more people will be able to stand up and do something about it, even if it is just a post on Facebook. A single post can save a life.

Please follow me on twitter and Instagram via the links below to see the world from my perspective, with a foot in the door.

https://twitter.com/BiancaBothab211

https://www.instagram.com/aconservationistsjourney/

Read my scholarship articles for The WOMA at the links below:

The WOMA Scholarship : Conservationista by Bianca Botha

To visit or donate to my crowdfunding page please follow the link below! Thank you for your support!

US, UK and South Africa: 

Back-a-Buddy Conservation study fund

Snare Scare

Poverty in South Africa has reached an all time high, with over 50% of the population living in poverty and well below the breadline. The large majority of these people live in rural areas, are unemployed and are not offered much, if any, assistance from the government. These people need to eat, so they will find ways and means to do so.

One of the most common ways is to snare. A snare is a wire or nylon, or similar, type line or cord which is tied with a slip knot in a noose type fashion. These snares are placed in high traffic areas, over game paths or in high activity fields etc, where an animal would have their head or limbs caught in the line. As the animal moves or struggles the noose tightens, with the other end securely fastened to a tree or some permanent feature the animal will be caught and most certainly die if not discovered in time. The snares are not always fastened well enough to the tree or branch resulting in the possibility of larger animals being caught in the snare noose, but managing to break free, leaving the wire around their head, neck or limbs. This often results in the animal suffering from gaping wounds that are unable to heal due to the constant friction from the still attached snare. These animals will suffer for long periods of time until they succumb from infection or even blood from the open wounds.

The KaiNav Conservation Foundation removes a snare from a zebra after the zebra was seen walking with the wire and gaping wound on its neck.

Snaring has become one of the most popular ways to generate an income or simply put food on the table. With the weakening economy it has also become the only way to do so for many South Africans. Snares are used to capture animals for meat and for resale of meat or Bushmeat products.


Rural communities in South Africa are full with traditional beliefs and therefore the need for traditional healers and their "muti" is high. "Muti" is any form of traditional medicine or tonic used for a specific purpose. There are muti's for the common cold, erectile dysfunction, liars, a cheating spouse, financial problems and the list goes on. These muti's are made with naturally occurring plants and animals or animal parts, thereby creating the demand and snaring becomes the means.

A snare is a non-selective means of capturing an animal, the poacher who places the snare has no means of deciding which animal or type of animal will get caught. Most often, if the animal caught is one of which they do not want or can not use the meat or other parts the carcass will simply be discarded. However, there are those who take advantage of any animal caught and supply what they can to the traditional healers.

 Snares can be found throughout South Africa, with the majority being in or around domestic farms or Private game ranches. Private landowners have a great problem with snaring. They are usually game breeders or have some sort of rare game on the ranch. The snares often capture or injure their expensive breeding stock so as a preventative measure many ranch owners hire private security to patrol and remove any snares found. They are not always successful but it does form a deterrent from their land. Other landowners or domestic farmers are turning to dogs to patrol at night to catch and prevent anyone putting up snares.

Very little official research has been done on snare hot spots, type of snares being used etc making it difficult to proactively work against snaring.

 The KaiNav Conservation foundation has been running the S.N.A.R.E program for some time. With a group of volunteers they visit areas and reserves with known snaring problems. They spend the day or weekend walking through thick brush to find and remove snares as well as record data about these snares. From this research they hope to find ways to proactively fight the snaring problem this country and its natural environment faces.

The foundation is hoping to spread the work they do further throughout the country and to do this they require funding. The ever elusive factor in conservation. Funding has and always will be a problem for conservationists as people simply do not understand the importance of the work being done. There will always be something more important, like sport and conservationists will need to continue finding creative ways to raise the funds needed.



 The KaiNav foundation, however, have found their own way to raise much needed funds. By using the very snares which cause so much devastation and harm to the environment and turning them into beautiful works of art that will fund the great work they do, as well as creating income for the poverty stricken people of this beautiful country.

The wires removed during the S.N.A.R.E expeditions are given to local rural artists who transform the snares into beautiful African animals and other works. These are then tagged with a Snare Art tag and sold to raise much needed funds. Snare Art has proven to be a huge success and some works have even gone to their new homes in Dubai and the USA!

For more information on the KaiNav conservation foundation, The S.N.A.R.E initiative and other projects please visit the website https://www.kainavconservation.org/ or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kainavconservation/

You can also donate to the foundation via the following link https://www.kainavconservation.org/donate

The work they are doing is vitally important in collecting enough data to be able to find and implement proactive and effective snare management protocol for South African Farmers and breeders. Any and all support is greatly appreciated and needed!

 The S.N.A.R.E initiative, by the KaiNav Conservation foundation.

All video footage and images courtesy of The KaiNav Conservation Foundation

Please follow me on twitter and Instagram via the links below to see the world from my perspective, with a foot in the door.

https://twitter.com/BiancaBothab211

https://www.instagram.com/aconservationistsjourney/

Read my scholarship articles for The WOMA at the links below:

The WOMA Scholarship : Conservationista by Bianca Botha

To visit or donate to my crowdfunding page please follow the link below! Thank you for your support!

US, UK and South Africa: 

Back-a-Buddy Conservation study fund