These words, from Mpho, one of the Great Plains Conservation ambassadors and lead rhino monitor, ring in my ears as I write this with enormous respect and gratitude to what is now well over 20,000 rangers and front conservation liners in Africa.

Many people show up to work because they need to and don’t know what else to do. But these men and women, like Mpho, show up because an irrepressible passion drives them. That resonates with me.

Project Ranger and Great Plains Foundation are notching up great successes. The Great Plains Foundation is expanding and unifying our teams, funding additional rangers and consolidating efforts. This month alone, we have supported significant work in Uganda and Zimbabwe and, once again, partnered with Pit Track in South Africa. We have approved funding for sniffer dog training at ports to detect bushmeat and continue work in the DRC to uncover crime networks.

We are channelling our rhino work, all via our Great Plains Foundation. On the conservation front, as I know many are considering their options for the upcoming giving season, I can think of no better recipients of your support than these rangers and conservation ambassadors.

Written by: Dereck Joubert

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