- My day officially begins.
24 hours in the life of an APU,
Anti-Poaching Unit Ranger, begins right now.
I'm meeting up with Mike Veale and some of his experts.
- Keep moving, keep moving!
- Come on, coyote! Mediocre!
- They're going to put me through
the first rounds of base camp.
We're talking literally a sliver
of what these rangers go through.
I have a feeling that I'm going to be
in for some pretty brutal training today.
I'm really excited to go through this training.
The Anti-Poaching Unit is front lines
of defense against poachers,
saving so many different animals
on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.
Here we go, we're pulling up on the obstacle course.
(rock music)
- Morning, gentlemen. How are ya?
- Morning, welcome, welcome to the park.
- Mike, good to see ya. - Good to see ya.
- What's up? - You'll earn that.
- Okay, I see how this is gonna go.
- [Mike] All right, welcome to the obstacle course.
This is how we're gonna start your formal training
as a ranger.
Everybody has to go through this
to accomplish the goal of getting into the field.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- Let's swap hats, so we can get you started and ready.
- Okay.
Cowboy hat coming off.
This, oh this is cool.
- I'm gonna introduce you to lead instructor.
- I can tell he already likes me.
- All right, welcome to the obstacle course.
You will complete each and every obstacle.
If I see you walking, you will repeat the obstacle.
If you do not complete the obstacle correctly,
you will redo the obstacle.
Do you understand?
- Yes.
- All right, I don't like to talk a lot, let's go.
- Okay, just hopping right into it.
- Yep, let's go. - We're going.
- Well is he, he's just here to push me along, or?
- You talk too much. Let's go.
- [Coyote] Okay (chuckles)
- [Lead Instructor] And go!
Come on, move it!
(suspenseful music plays)
Come on!
Hook that hand over, go low.
Come on, that's it.
Run, run, run, run.
Now, under.
Over.
Time is running.
Let's go!
And go back.
Come on.
This is not a walking exercise.
- Let's go, no hesitation, straight in, straight in.
- [Lead Instructor] Get in, get in, get in there.
Go, go, go, go!
Go, move it!
Let's go!
Come on.
Faster, no walking, no walking!
You lose your grip, you go again.
Come on, run, run, run. - Let's go, let's go.
Leopard crawl.
On your stomach.
- [Lead Instructor] Crawl, crawl, crawl, crawl, crawl,
keep your head down.
Come on, run, run, run.
- [Instructor] Let's go, dig deep. Let's go, dig deep.
- Let's go, let's go. - [Lead Instructor] Run, run.
Let's go, let's go.
Up, up, up.
Come on.
- [Instructor] Let's work Coyote, let's work!
- [Lead Instructor] Come on,
this is not a face pulling exercise.
Get done.
Let's go run, run, run, run, let's go.
Let's go. let's go.
Come on, put some speed on it.
(Coyote grunts in pain)
Put some speed on it, let's go!
Come on.
Let's go, no walking!
Come on, this is not a cool down section, let's move!
Come on.
- It's slippery.
- [Lead Instructor] Come on, grandma.
Let's go, up.
I said no walking! I'll make you redo it!
Up here, up here, up here.
Hey, concentrate.
Keep your head straight.
Come on, come on, this is not a standing around exercise.
Come on.
- Let's go, let's go, keep moving.
- It's a mediocre effort, mediocre.
- Come on, pick up, pick it up,
pick it up, pick it up, there we go, pick it up.
You got a lot left.
- I am not impressed at this moment.
- Let's go, let's pick it up.
- Get down, get down.
Run
- [Instructor] Under.
- [Lead Instructor] Come on, go under.
- [Instructor] Push, let's push, let's push, come on.
- [Lead Instructor] No walking!
Jump over, jump over.
Go under.
Jump over.
Go under.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
- [Instructor] Come on, full sprint.
- [Lead Instructor] That's walking,
hey hey hey, come back here!
Come back here, less walking, let's go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
I don't have time for this walking.
Down, do it again!
- [Instructor] Let's go Coyote, push it.
- [Lead Instructor] Come on, that's it running.
Good.
Come on, catch it, catch it.
Come on Coyote.
Come on.
Gotta prove this to yourself now, come on.
Come on coyote.
Come on, put some effort into it.
- [Instructor] Go, good man, good man.
Make it work, let's go.
Yes, there we go!
Now you're working.
You wait until the end before you start working.
Let's go.
Good man.
[Lead Instructor] And time.
- Holy crap.
- [Lead Instructor] Why you lying around?
Get up.
- Hold on.
What do you think this is?
No holding on.
- [Instructor] On, on your feet, on your feet, on your feet!
- Get up, get up!
Stand up.
How do you feel?
- Might be the hardest thing I've ever done.
Holy cow.
- You wanna know your time?
- Sure.
- Four minutes, 44 seconds.
- Really?
- Yes.
- So that's decent?
- No
- Good news is we're gonna pass you
to the next level for the next set of the course training.
- Okay.
- Here is your ranger shirt.
- Oh man.
Thank you.
That's an honor right there.
Can I lay down and go to sleep with this?
- Can't sleep in that, but you'll wear it on duty.
And during the rest of your training.
- I think I'm gonna puke. Woo.
Can't even begin to tell you guys how unbelievable,
unbelievably difficult that was.
I would love to go on America Ninja Warrior.
I think I got some training to do.
For as much as I might be crying right now,
these Rangers go through this almost daily.
It takes a massive amount of endurance, mentally
and physically, to be strong enough to be an AP ranger.
Beyond the obstacle course, which was honestly one
of the most physically demanding challenges
I have ever been through,
I spent an additional 14 hours training under the guidance
of global conservation force president, Mike Veal.
And I got a taste for what it takes
to become a frontline ranger.
Throughout the day, we spent hours in the scorching sun
surveying reserve perimeter fence lines.
I learned about field tracking,
snare identification and dismantling,
and finally, the art of camouflage.
People always ask,
"does Coyote Peterson wear makeup on camera?"
Today I do.
In What seemed like the longest hour
of my life, as I was transformed into a shrub,
and made to lay completely motionless
amongst tick infested underbrush for an entire hour.
Trust me, it was brutal.
So from a perspective like this, what a ranger
will do is have great observation of the environment.
So with a pair of binoculars or night vision goggles
you can see anything moving off in the distance here.
Hunker down for the night,
hopefully nothing unnatural passes by.
And if it does, then you spring into action.
Boom, just like that, the team is in place.
So like I said,
becoming an APU certified ranger is difficult,
and it definitely takes more than 14 hours,
but those who complete and pass the course
carry with them an honor of the highest regard
and are celebrated as warriors
who defend our planet's wild places and animal species.
If you would like to learn more
or think you have what it takes to become an APU ranger
visit the GCF website for more information.
And don't forget, go watch our epic rhino conservation saga
and learn how you can help prevent their extinction.
Watch, share, and donate.
Together, we can save the horns
and change the future of these vanishing giants.