Support Mounted Rangers Fighting Rhino Poaching

Our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all our GlobalGiving friends who have so generously supported the Support Mounted Rangers Fighting Rhino Poaching Project this quarter. No matter how big or small, every donation is most gratefully accepted by the Project Rhino team, the reserves and rangers that we support, and the wildlife we are protecting. Thank you for helping us make a difference!

We are delighted to have partnered with Gordon Bailey, a highly recommended and skilled horsemanship trainer who will be facilitating two training sessions for the equine units we support. Project Rhino and Mr Bailey recently conducted a preliminary assessment of the units and we have developed a training manual in both English and isiZulu. The horsemanship training will be four to five days, in small groups to ensure each individual receives one-on-one assistance. This will be a huge benefit to the reserves because at the moment there are a number of rangers who are interested in joining the mounted patrols, but do not yet have the skills to do so. Mr Bailey is also advising on riding tack and any refurbishing of the stables that may be required and we look forward to making these improvements in the near future.

All of South Africa’s game parks continue to struggle under the impacts of COVID-19 as tourism – particularly international tourism – has come to a dead halt. The knock-on effects are felt by surrounding communities, who continue to grapple with unemployment and food insecurity. Project Rhino and partners have continued to deliver food parcels to impacted communities since April last year, to provide some relief to communities and maintain good relationships with their conservation neighbours.

We continue to fundraise and support our conservation projects in any way we can. Although a number of last year’s events had to be postponed, we were able to join NPO uBhejane X in their annual Extreme Mountain Bike Event in December last year. This year’s event proved one of the toughest yet – as cyclists had to endure strong winds, thunderstorms and many kilometres of thick mud, cycling up to 360 km all in the name of rhino conservation!

In conservation news, the South African government recently released the latest rhino poaching statistics, which thankfully showed a 33% decrease – from 594 in 2019 to 394 in 2020. This is partly a result of the extended lockdown periods, which restricted the movements of would-be poachers and rhino horn smugglers. However, after years of silence about rhino populations in South Africa’s flagship game reserve, the Kruger National Park, official statistics have revealed that populations have plummeted by between 66% and 70% over the past decade, mainly due to the unrelenting poaching crisis.

As one of the last remaining bastions of black and white rhino populations, Project Rhino remains committed to keeping our wildlife safe. Project Rhino is a collaborative of 32 members comprised of conservation agencies, NGOs, game reserves and anti-poaching specialists and we work with a number of partners and game reserves across KwaZulu-Natal. This multi-stakeholder platform enables members to pool strategies, information, technology, personnel and other resources towards a common goal, namely to dramatically decrease wildlife crime.

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