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TH E R A T S ’ T A L E
In Mozamb ique,
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Eric Na than catches up with some unlikely
country a safer place
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es dedicated to makin g the
hero
I
’m in a remote region of the southern
Mozambican bushveld and the mercury is
nudging 40°C. The undergrowth is alive with
spiders, scorpions and venomous snakes, but
it isn’t the obvious presence of the local wild-
life that is causing me to tread carefully. There is
an altogether more frightening latent killer that
lurks unseen in this wilderness: the landmine.
Nonexistent expiry dates make these the scourge of
much of the developing world, but in Mozambique
a novel mammalian ally is being employed to rid
the land of this plague: the giant African pouched
rat (Cricetomys gambianus).
These animals, weighing an impressive 3kg and
around 75 centimetres long, have an incredibly
acute sense of smell – which makes them ideal
recruits to sniff out TNT (the primary explosive
component of most landmines). They have been
successfully clearing suspected hazardous areas
in Mozambique since 2004.
Theirs is not some sort of self-sacrificing, fur-
clad Kamikaze mission. They are not sent over the
top to detonate mines – far from it, these animals
are highly trained and represent an extremely
valuable asset to Apopo, the Belgian mine action
company NGO that runs the programme.
44 TRAVELLER
INSIDE
AFRICA
Taking the lead: a team
in search of unexploded
ordinance. The giant rats
use their remarkable
sense of smell to locate
TNT – an explosive
Bart Weetjens, a Belgian product development used in landmines
engineer, was the driving force behind this African
solution to an African problem. Following the
enormous publicity given to the landmine issue
in the mid 1990s, Weetjens decided to undertake
an analysis of the situation.
‘I found that detection was a bottleneck that
created a big dependence on foreign expertise,’ he
says. ‘I’d bred rats as pets when I was a child and
I was aware of their extraordinary sense of smell.
I felt there was an opportunity to apply that skill
to the landmine problem.’
Giant African pouched rats were selected as the
species of choice because they are indigenous to
Africa and had the longevity required to justify the
time needed to train them. The programme’s train-
ing base is situated on the campus of the Sokoine
University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Here the rats are captive-bred and then trained for
approximately six months. The training is based
on teaching the rats to associate a clicking sound
with the smell of TNT using a food treat (most
often banana) as a reward. Once the association
is established, the clicking sound is then used
to modify the animals’ behaviour. On success-
ful completion of their training they become 
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TRAVELLER 45
Perks of the job:
a piece of banana for a
rodent bomb-disposal
expert; a tricky shift
comes to an end (right)

‘T­­­­here are mines here that have been

buried for many years and we don’t
know when they will be cleared.’
certified mine detection rats (MDRs) and years and we don’t know when they will handler Lawrence Kombani, he then dons
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are transferred to Mozambique where be cleared,’ he says as he leads us non- a protective blast vest and face visor and
they begin clearing real minefields. chalantly through his backyard bushveld prepares to carry one of the rats to the
En route to visit one of these opera- to a clearing from which it is possible to work area, previously demarcated by
tions I spend a night in the coastal town see several landmines, exposed over the manual deminers using metal detectors.
of Inhambane – home of Apopo’s HQ. It’s years by the action of the elements. I watch from the stippled shade of a giant
also the eponymous capital of the province They are small, but deadly. In two acacia as they carry their precious rodent
with the highest number of minefields in separate places nearby lie piles of bones to the edge of the minefield and attach it
Mozambique. that mark the spot where cows have to a rope stretched between them.
At a small pencao (backpackers’ hotel) I wandered with fatal consequences. It’s a It tugs at its tether and requires no
strike up a conversation with the owner, chilling reminder of the threat with which encouragement to begin scurrying along,
Dennis Adam. ‘The rats are becoming a the villagers here live on a daily basis. sniffing the ground as it criss-crosses the
local tourist attraction,’ he says. ‘When I take extra care to walk in the footsteps ground between the two handlers. Only a
visitors hear about them they are fas- of those in front of me when we return to very small percentage of suspected haz-
cinated and want to go and see them. our vehicle. ardous areas actually contain UXO and
They should start selling rat T-shirts The next day I head out with the rat it may be days before the rats stop and
and souvenirs.’ team to see the demining work first scratch the ground, their way of indicat-
The next day a six-hour drive takes me hand. It’s a 4am start as the animals ing the presence of TNT.
to Gaza province where the MDRs are are nocturnal and can only be worked for Alongside us a battered train rumbles
in the process of clearing a 25-kilometre about two hours at dawn. Thereafter the slowly past. The rats are unperturbed and
stretch of the railway line that runs from daylight and heat render them lethargic the passengers look on curiously. Most
Maputo to the Zimbabwean border. The and ineffective. In the cool of the morning, Mozambicans know about their landmine
land here is widely contaminated with however, they seem alert and keen to get legacy, but to see tethered rodents solving
unexploded ordnance (UXO), a remnant to work. They sniff around their cages as the problem is as novel for them as it is
of the protracted civil war between the their handlers carefully unload them in for a foreign photojournalist.
Soviet-funded Frelimo and the ADOPT one of the safe zones established I look back to the rats and marvel at
Western-backed Renamo, a conflict A RAT around the minefield. the insouciance with which they carry out
You can can adopt
that lasted from 1975 until 1992. a rat for E5 ($7 ‘I was a bit scared when I their task. After a few hours their work for
Unexploded mines pose a con- per month. For knew I would be working in the day is done. It’s a slow process, but one
E250 you can even
stant threat to local people. An name your very the minefields,’ says Alfredo which is contributing significantly to the
elderly man sporting an earring own rodent. Apopo Adam, one of the Mozambican goal of having Mozambique completely
is also in need of
is keen to illustrate their dilem- fluorescent micro- rat handlers, ‘but with all the mine-free by 2014. With the temperature
ma. ‘Come with me,’ he says in scopes vehicles.
and rugged
safety precautions we have I feel edging up handlers and rodents retreat
Shangaan, the local language, and www.apopo.org secure.’ Together with fellow rat back to camp, where the weary animals
gestures with his hand for us to www.herorat.org
are returned to their kennels to rest their
follow him. ‘T­­­­here are mines here l Fo r I n s i d e A f r i c a a i r t i m e s o n C N N nostrils in preparation for another day of
please visit cnn.com/insideafrica
that have been buried for many scratch and sniff. n

TRAVELLER 47