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 2 rangers and an estimated 14 livelihoods in and around Mt Kenya National Park and Reserve in Kenya.

The role of rangers:

Bongo Surveillance Project rangers patrol key bongo habitats in and around Mt Kenya National Park. The team are the only rangers consistently monitoring these bongo habitats and with the experience to do so. They monitor the bongo, the forest, and other wildlife using GPS, camera traps and hand camera photographs, and are a critical source of data for the Bongo Task Force. Their reports are used by key government agencies and also serve as an integral link to the communities. 

The field work, the sharing of data, and presence of rangers within these forest locations has likely prevented the mountain bongo from extinction in the wild in Kenya's high forests. The rangers’ presence and status in some of the areas such as Maasai Mau and Transmara has been essential in identifying other forest illegal activities as well as saving other wildlife.

How your donation will help:

The rangers’ presence in these forests has immense impact, as the team can go deep within the forests and expose activity that is not easily discovered otherwise. They have the necessary credentials, experience, and respect from the authorities and the communities. Without their work, animal poaching and other criminal activity could continue unabated.

Effects of the pandemic:

Due to the pandemic, Bongo Surveillance Project rangers have had their salaries cut 50% and have 50% less to spend in the field, while ad hoc support has been reduced to 20%.

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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 tax payer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com