Olifants West - Transfrontier Africa
Olifants West Team
Fundraising for Tusk Trust
Story
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 29 rangers and an estimated 145 livelihoods in and around Olifants West in South Africa.
The role of rangers:
Olifants West Nature Reserve (OWNR) covers nearly a quarter of the 36,000-hectare Balule Nature Reserve, one of the private reserves to the west of the central area of Kruger National Park. Balule is one part of a huge ecosystem that combines the two million hectares of the Kruger National Park with several hundred thousand private hectares. With no fences to confine them, an abundance of wildlife roams freely throughout this area, creating what is known as the Greater Kruger Park. The park is home to the big five animals and a variety of antelopes, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, and wild dogs.
The Black Mambas, an all female team of rangers, patrol the reserve on foot in the mornings, and in a vehicle during the night. While one team patrols, the second team does snare sweeping. Besides that, the teams destroy poacher camps, manage road blocks, and perform routine inspections. Outside the reserve, the Black Mambas work with school children and elders in Maseke, Makushane, and Mashishimale communities.
How your donation will help: Additional funding for rangers would assist in the following ways where possible: - Allowances for the basic salaries for Sergeants, Drivers, Media Liaisons, First Aiders, and K9 handlers. - Fuel expenses for core duties such as patrols and deployment within the reserve, or - Patrol vehicle maintenance expenses All our rangers are working and receive their basic salaries, but because of the lockdown, it has become harder to perform the core duties as funding for fuel has reduced. Consequently, we no longer receive income from the voluntourism camp and therefore cannot afford to pay the allowances on top of the basic salaries. Allowances and overtime for armed response officers, K9 handlers, sargeants, first aid officers, drivers and liaison officers is an important incentive to the rangers. Our rangers drive old Landrovers dating back to 1970s. The roads on the reserve are extremely rocky and old vehicles need regular maintenance in order to be used for patrols in the Big 5 area. Effects of the pandemic: Firstly, the lodges are closed and therefore they do not provide the early morning and evening game-drives. We used to rely on them to report any findings and locations of target species, which assisted our deployment strategy. Secondly, the advantage to us is that any lights or activities are automatically considered illegal and result in the rapid follow-up. In the past, tracks and lights could have been from tourists and lodge activities. Therefore the landscape is no longer cluttered. The biggest impact is that of the lack of income at the bush camp, where we generated much of our operational money. No travel means no volunteers and guests. Due to the lockdown regulations and risks to the rangers, many of them have been on duty since the start of lockdown, unable to travel home (across provincial boundaries). They have worked many hours of overtime. Our school programmes are on hold until the lockdown regulations allow our educators and children back into the classrooms. Our community officers are engaged daily to ensure the sanitization of facilities and screening of children that are permitted to attend schools in the tribal communities. Food security schemes in the local tribal communities are on-going to prevent temptation and needs of the local people to turn to poaching to feed their families. Also, our patrols are working around the clock to disrupt the landscape and make it undesirable to poachers. The Mambas have increased their snare-sweeping areas outside and inside the protected areas and the Bush Babies educators work inside the communities to identify and assist families and orphans in need. A strong community will make our wildlife areas resilient. -------- 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. |
