Anti-Poaching for Development - AP4D
Development of Wildlife Protection Ranger Teams
for Nature Conservation, Job Creation and Rural Development
MJ Grunert
Project initiator
& chief instructor
"Wildlife Protection is a security service in the wild - done by nature lovers"
Project manager and chief instructor MJ Grunert (called "Coach M"), is the engine of the project, - supported by assistant trainers who he has recruited and trained himself, if need arises.
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MJ, a former NATO parachute commando soldier, has decades of operational experience under harsh African conditions as an armed emergency responder, bodyguard and as a wildlife protection (anti-poaching) ranger.
He has been working in wildlife protection (anti poaching) since 1996 (for almost 30 years), both as operator and instructor.
Numerous organizations, national and international organizations, leading Namibian security companies, and the Namibian police used his expertise for training and raising the standards of their officers.
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Additionally, MJ is a lisenced, but no longer active, Namibian professional hunter since 1997, and experienced adventure safari guide with his own safari company and wildlife reserve in the Kunene region (where he - unfortuantly - also has to protect his wildlife against poachers).
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Considering his decades if operational experiences in the African wild and in all aspects of the ranger profession, anti poaching and security, he is the leading wildlife protection / anti poaching expert in Namibia.
MJ Grunert is also a highly decorated self-defense, shooting and martial arts master and uses these skills intensively to prepare his wildlife protection students for "the worst cases" in their challenging work.
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His many years as a professional in the African wilderness, including his own wildlife sanctuary, have shaped him into a committed conservationist.
Through the AP4D Project he not only wants to make a contribution to protecting his beloved African nature, which has given him so many good things in his life, but also to say "thank you" to those people in the rural areas for despite all the human-wildlife conflicts stick to the preservation of African wildlife.
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assistants:
gloria k.
general manager
assistant instructor
Gloria has more than a decade of management experience in the safari and tourism business.
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This, and her connection to Namibia's nature and wildlife as well as her origins from a rural region in Namibia, growing up in the bush make her so valuable for the AP4D project. This area was seriously affected by poaching up to a point where hardly no wildlife was left at all and showed her personally the value of wildlife protection.
As part of the Wildlife Protection Office Management courses, participants can benefit from her extensive knowledge and skills in management and administration tasks.