The planet’s wildlife and its species variety dwindle by the day. It remains a fact that every 15 minutes a wild elephant is killed for its ivory to be sold on the black market. Unfortunately, the absence of tourism during the pandemic has produced a spike in poaching across Africa. Therefore, it is ever more pressing that Field Rangers are recruited and trained in order to help combat wildlife crime and support essential conservation programs.

Poaching is a crime with devastating knock-on effects. The death of an animal often destroys the lives of its offspring, and, in a similar way, tragic consequences are often seen in local communities when rangers have been tragically killed in the line of duty. Furthermore, fewer elephants lead to less green fertilizer which in turn results in less wildlife growth, which has detrimental effects on the human population.

Africa’s wide savannahs and mesmerizing wildlife exert a powerful pull on travelers. With the Foundation’s efforts, we hope to preserve this and ensure that this treasure remains in place for future travelers to this wild continent.

The Frontier Collective

With the aim of expanding the ranger community across Africa, the Pelorus Foundation has partnered with the Frontier Collective to support and deliver effect-based solutions to areas in vital need. With its peerless collective of instructors, operational advisors, and experts, Frontier has—through training, mentoring, and capacity-building services—delivered tangible results in some of the continent’s most challenging environments.

Examples of Frontier’s successful initiatives include developing an understanding of the environment from an ecological as well as a law enforcement perspective in Zimbabwe’s National Parks; supporting the ongoing coordination of management practices to protect the endangered black rhino in Namibia’s Onguma Game Reserve; building vital crime prevention units to aid ongoing conservation of the world’s largest white rhino population in Kruger National Park; while in Tanzania, the organization is focused on nature guardianship and game scout skills development.

Frontier is one of the many inspirational organizations countering the country’s epidemic of wildlife crime, and it has committed to continuing its critical role.

For ranger training, courageous volunteers from local communities enter a lengthy recruitment process, upskilling into a dangerous profession that’s essential to preserve the fragile African ecosystem. Alongside stronger laws and international action, it’s essential that we support the training of Field Rangers, who are frequently under-resourced and under-supported while risking their lives daily to prevent wildlife crime.

To see real progress on the ground, the number of rangers needs to increase. It costs close to $25,000 dollars to train a single Field Ranger, taking the volunteer through multiple interviews in order to confirm their mindset and physicality, followed by induction training and skills development before they can commence a career in this highly sensitive sector.

Although conservationists are having their efforts enhanced by technology, using drones and infrared to track endangered wildlife, the sheer scale of the African continent means that the presence of people on the ground to respond to incidents remains essential. Field Rangers are the solution.