Save the Rhino Trust - Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2023
Save the Rhino Trust is taking on the Wildlife Ranger Challenge to raise awareness of the vital role our 95 rangers play in protecting Namibia's Kunene Region, and supporting an estimated 500 livelihoods.
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Rangers are Africa’s unsung heroes. They hold diverse roles as conservationists, teachers, community support workers, leaders and much more.
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge, organised by Tusk, is a celebration of solidarity, connection and camaraderie for the ranger profession. Culminating on 16th September 2023, the campaign raises vital funds for Africa's biodiversity guardians.
Namibia hosts the biggest metapopulation of black rhinos remaining in Africa and is the stronghold of the south-western subspecies. Close to two thirds of the total population of this taxon are found in Namibia and rhino numbers have increased steadily under a well-established and innovative conservation and management program. A significant number of black rhinos are also held under the Custodian Program, in which the state-owned black rhinos are monitored and protected on private land.
The Kunene Region’s rhinos are protected and monitored by Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), a Namibian NGO that operates under a government mandate. The rhino population is spread over a 25,00km2 area that is a mosaic of communal conservancies and tourism concessions. Rangers spend up to 22 days on patrol, with camps spread across the vast landscape and are usually situated close to a water point where rhinos come to drink. At any given time, SRT, via the WRC, is supporting between 15 and 20 three-man teams in the field.
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Support a unique conservation initiative empowering and uniting wildlife rangers across Africa.
May 2, 2023, 9:10:49 AMWildlife rangers operate on the very frontline of conservation across Africa, routinely making personal sacrifices to put their lives on the line to protect the continent’s magnificent wildlife and habitats. Yet they are so much more than just law enforcement officers: rangers are teachers, community support workers, mediators, researchers and so much more. Unfortunately, resources are not keeping pace with the scale of the challenges they are trying to tackle. For the fourth year running, the Wildlife Ranger Challenge sets out to redress this, by raising critical funding to cover operating costs, including salaries and equipment, for over 10,000 rangers. This will help them protect threatened wildlife and some of the continent's most vulnerable areas, while also protecting communities and securing coexistence with wildlife, as well as providing for their own families.
