Landmines in Cambodia

Landmines are the legacy of three decades of war. Even though the main cities have been completely cleared of landmines, plenty of explosives still remain hidden, just below the surface, waiting for someone to step on it. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), believes that there still may be four to six million pieces of unexploded ordnance scattered throughout the country. Thanks to Apopo HeroRATs this number is decreasing, and more and more land is now cleared from landmines and given back to the villagers, who can now use their land safely again.

Why rats?

Rats are intelligent, cheap, and widespread over the world, making them the perfect candidates for the job. Another benefit is that the African Giant Pouched rats used to clear minefields weigh roughly 1,3 kilos, which isn’t nearly enough to activate an explosive. For a mine to explode a minimum of five kilos is required, hence a rate can walk over a mine, without setting it off.

It was back in 1999 when Apopo developed training methods for detecting buried explosives and in 2000 they opened their headquarters in Tanzania, but it wasn’t until 2015 when the first HeroRATs arrived in Cambodia. First, the rats and their trainers follow an extensive training program to ensure they’re well prepared before going out in the field. The rats go through an intensive nine-month-long training program.

Apopo HeroRATs training

The first step is for the rats to be comfortable in their surroundings and with people, especially their trainers. The socialization starts as soon as a rat is four weeks old. The socialization is followed by click and scent training. This is when the rat learns to associate the smell of TNT with food; every time the rat is near TNT, the handler clicks and gives the rat food. In the next step, they learn how to distinguish TNT scented objects from non-TNT objects; they only receive a reward (click and food) when they interact with the TNT scented objects. We could say that they now passed their theoretical exam. Now it’s time to practice what they’ve learned. The rats are getting to wear a special rat harness and are brought out to practice outdoors, in different environmental conditions. The objects are now being buried in the soil, and the rat has to detect them. Once they also passed this test, they’re being brought out in the field to practice with real, but deactivated landmines. They first learn to detect surface laid landmines and soon progress to deeper mines in larger areas.

Before being deployed to a real minefield, the rats must pass a blind test where only the head supervisor knows where the mines are. To pass they have to find all target landmines in a 400m2 area, making no more than one false indication. Once they pass they have graduated and became HeroRATs.

HeroRATs in action

First, the CMAC and CMA plan a survey and do an initial assessment. Once that’s done, they deploy a technical survey team to prepare the field. Safe lanes are being cleared from landmines first. This is done by human deminers with metal detectors. When the safe lanes are cleared, handlers will be able to walk here and to guide the rats. The rats will walk back and forth between two safe lanes and when they smell an explosive they start scratching. Here they will not be rewarded because the handler can’t be sure the location is 100% accurate. Instead, the rats follow a reinforcement training once a week during which the clicker-reward-training is reinforced. When the rat found an explosive, a deminer will carefully excavate the marked position to confirm if a landmine is present. If it is, it is then safely removed and detonated in another place, or, if it’s too dangerous, it will be detonated on the spot.

One rat can systematically check a 200m2 area in 20 minutes; it would take between one and four days for a deminer with a metal detector to check the same area. When the land is mine-free, it’s released back to the communities as quickly as possible, so that they can continue their lives, without a fear of getting injured, or even killed, by explosives.

Apopo HeroRATs Visitor Center

Apopo’s visitor center officially opened its doors at the end of 2017 and quickly became of Siem Reap’s most popular attractions. At the time of writing, Apopo was listed as number six of things to do on TripAdvisor, only temples were ranked higher.
At the visitor center, you will learn more about the history of conflict in Cambodia, about the impact of landmines, and you’ve got to see the HeroRATs in action.

Our team recently paid a visit to Apopo and we can highly recommend you do the same. Should you be interested, just shoot us an e-mail and we’ll book this informative yet fun activity for you.