I would like to say a personal thank you to everyone who has donated or engaged with our Protect the Strongholds appeal. In the face of real tragedy our Helping Rhinos community has once more come together.
When something seems impossible, you act. And you help make the impossible possible.
If you would have told me back in 2012 that the Kariega Game Reserve would be free from poaching for the next 14 years, I don’t think I would have believed you. But that is exactly what happened. 14 years with zero poaching, rhinos breeding and populations growing.
But that 14 year record has now been broken.
And that is why we launched our Protect the Strongholds appeal, because success against seemingly impossible odds must be protected.
What has been built here is about securing a future for rhinos through protection that empowers and enables real movement. It is about communities being meaningfully engaged, people taking ownership of their natural heritage, and conservation creating a real and lasting difference.
Fourteen years without poaching shows us what is possible.
Every donation to this appeal will support direct intervention on the ground. Together, we can protect the progress already made and build back even stronger.
Simon Jones,
Founder & CEO
Helping Rhinos
The People Behind the Strongholds
Behind every Rhino Stronghold are people, who have dedicated their lives to protecting these wild spaces and the species who live within them. Every day heroes holding the line for rhinos.
When the anti-poaching base in a Stronghold location started showing its age, the rangers there didn’t wait for outside help. They picked up tools, learnt new skills and restored the base themselves. Repairing, adapting and renewing. Committed to their mission, going above and beyond what duty entails to show real pride in their place of work.
You might say it doesn't affect you because it is not direct, but think about job losses if this continues and the next generation who will be robbed in seeing these species.
When local young mothers expressed a need for a safe, educational place their small children could go to during the working day, Nomawethu Ngangqu, the Community Manager of the Kariega Foundation took action. Plans for an early years Educational Centre took shape, and when after months of meetings and phone calls she was told she wouldn’t be seen at a planned meeting, she calmly pulled up a chair and said, “I’ll wait.” That dedication paid off, and the Liggerman Education Centre is now a hub for the community, creating employment and offering early years educational pathways for children across the area.
These are the people who Protect the Strongholds, they are passionate, resilient and brave.
And right now, they need our support. We can show them they are not alone, that they have the backing of people around the world as they fight to keep rhinos safe.
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