Rhino Revolution believes that a key way to stop poaching in the marginalized areas surrounding the Greater Kruger Area is by working alongside the local communities to address educational needs and to assist in sustainable poverty alleviation.
Our aim is to educate and inspire the young people of the impoverished, local communities in the marginalised areas of the Greater Kruger area – they are the conservationists of tomorrow.
So many of the young people living on Kruger’s doorstep have never had the opportunity to visit a park or game reserve, see wild animals, or understand the livelihood opportunities from tourism.
The strategic development of Rhino Revolution’s community engagement and education programme is led by Board Member, Vusi Job Tshabalala. He runs the Kruger2Canyon Biosphere’s Environmental Monitors Programme, overseeing 300+ young leaders working in more than 75 local communities.
”In South Africa there are fences that separate and reduce the chances of Human Wildlife Conflict, yet scenes of people and animals glancing at each other through the fence is the everyday way of life. With the increase in pressure of rhino poaching this area has not been immune to poachers as most of the communities still face challenges such as poverty, illiteracy, high unemployment rate, access to protected areas and mismatch of skill in demand to skills available in the communities, just to mention a few, are an unfortunate reality.”
Rhino Revolution takes a holistic approach to inspire action, raise awareness and achieve real results for wildlife survival now - and for future generations. We believe that if young people from marginalized communities have the opportunity to see at first hand their natural heritage - the more chance we stand of conserving Africa’s iconic wildlife.
This is why Rhino Revolution has seen the importance to go beyond the fences with the support from its donors and partnerships with local organizations, to create a brighter future starting today, by making available our Quantum minibus, kindly sponsored by #dnata.
Where possible, we loan this pro-bono to local educational NGO’s to help support their activities. We already work closely with:
Wild Shots Outreach (NPO # 190-584) - WSO engages young South Africans in nature through wildlife photography. RR invites photography students to attend and document rhino de-hornings and any other relevant conservation activities. Our student feedback demonstrates that the impact of these experiences is profound.
Eco-Children - Eco-children believe that by reducing the burdens of poverty, creating an environment conducive to learning and stimulating a child’s curiosity through awareness of the natural world, they become catalysts of positive change resulting in both environmental and economic benefits. RR offer monthly trips to the Kruger National Park to support this, with great results.
HALO (Hoedspruit Animal Outreach) – our Rehab staff, in their spare time, help HALO assist the local communities with their domestic animals. HALO’s goals are to improve animal health and living conditions, prevent and alleviate suffering of domestic animals, encourage spaying and neutering of pets and vaccination programmes.
