South Africa is home to more than 80% of the world's rhinos. In the last decade, more than 9,000 rhinos have been poached across Africa, and most of the poaching takes place at Kruger National Park. Despite the efforts to protect them, a rhino is still killed every 10 hours. Being a wildlife ranger is dangerous and difficult work.
I met Solly last year during a visit to andBeyond Ngala. The reserve is famous for being the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park but also for being the birthplace of two of the only three white lions found in the wild.
Solly is a South African ranger from the Dumphries, a small but growing community adjacent to the Kruger National Park. While we tracked lions and leopards, he shared his experience during the 24 years he dedicated his life to protect rhinos as a member of the anti-poaching unit of the South African army, and later on as a tourism ranger with andBeyond.
I asked Solly to share with me the everyday life of a Wildlife ranger:
“We wake up early in the morning for a drill, after breakfast head out on a patrol.
On day to day basis we have shelter, but when we were out camping not so much, had to rely on natural or man-made water holes for freshwater”
Wildlife rangers not only have to endure the harsh conditions of the bush, they also face the risks of encountering increasingly organized poaching groups. In a country like South Africa with 29% unemployment rate, it is evident that providing conservation and tourism jobs to members of the communities adjacent to wildlife reserves is critical.
When I asked Solly which was the most rewarding experience in his career, he shared an episode of his life as an anti-poaching ranger:
“The poachers caught one of our team member(field ranger) took his rifle, he managed to escape and get to the closest village manage to contact us, we all rushed into his rescue, we then find the poachers tracks and started tracking down, after long 2 hours of tracking we managed to find and arrested them"
In the last decade, more than 1,000 rangers worldwide have lost their lives in the line of duty. The war against poachers has become more and more complex. Conservation cannot rely on rangers alone to protect endangered species. The use of technology from camera traps and metal detectors to artificial intelligence is critical to the support rangers in the titanic task of protecting wildlife.
Solly’s story reminds me the dangerous and noble work of Wildlife Rangers. Tourism is critical to protect endangered species while providing an opportunity for members of the local communities to progress and protect their heritage.
For over 28 years andBeyond has supported projects to protect the land, the wildlife and the people. Click here to find out more.
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