About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge: 

COVID-19 has brought tourism revenue to a halt across Africa, threatening the important work and livelihoods of the rangers who protect iconic African wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, lions, and more. Ranger teams are now uniting around the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a running race with one goal: to raise money to support thousands of their fellow rangers. Now is the time to go the extra mile—it’s time to race to support our rangers. Every dollar donated will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your generous contribution.

Your contribution will help support 140 rangers and an estimated 770 livelihoods in and around Limpopo National Park in Mozambique

The role of rangers:

Inside Limpopo National Park, the fight is on to protect vital elephant populations, as well as halt the use of poison to kill lions, which indiscriminately also results in the death of other crucial wildlife species such as vultures. With more than one million hectares to patrol, implementing effective anti-poaching and strategies throughout the park remains a significant challenge. Ranger forces deal not only with subsistence and bushmeat poaching, but also form a first line of defence against wildlife criminals aiming to cross the border into the neighbouring Kruger National Park in South Africa with the purpose of poaching rhino. 

 Rangers remove hundreds of snares and gin traps every month from the parks and arrests of bushmeat poachers, often operating on a commercial scale, are frequently made. Poisoned carcasses in the home range of lion populations are also discovered and removed. In 2019 they spent a collective 35,000 hours on patrol, removed almost 2,000 snares from the system, and made 41 arrests. Sometimes rangers are able to provide evidence to support wildlife crime cases—recently Limpopo National Park rangers contributed to the arrest of a wildlife crime syndicate kingpin.

 Some rangers assist with the prevention of human-wildlife conflict. These rangers are tasked to alert villagers to the presence of dangerous animals and to respond, when called by community members, to disperse animals.

How your donation will help:

Funds raised by participating in the Wildlife Ranger Challenge could be used to support operational costs (e.g. rations, vehicle costs), dog and helicopter operations, or new uniforms for rangers.

Effects of the pandemic:

There has been a significant increase in illegal activity. A number of arrests have been made in relation to illegal smuggling of products (cigarettes, creams etc) and as a result of people wanting to return to South Africa while the borders are closed. There has also been a notable increase in bushmeat poaching as a probable result of loss of income as a result of COVID-19.

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Tusk is registered with JustGiving in the UK (or GoFundMe.com in the USA). Our online fundraising sites allow you to create a sponsorship form with easy access for your supporters, knowing their money is going directly to Tusk. UK tax-paying donors can enhance their contribution by agreeing to Gift Aid their sponsorship (for every £10 you raise, Tusk will receive another £2.50 from the Government provided you are a UK taxpayer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com.