Kenya

Ranger, wildlife scout, or game warden — their essential and multifaceted roles at the front line help to conserve wildlife, natural habitats, and ecosystems across the world. In honor of World Ranger Day, we explore the diverse work of wildlife rangers and scouts in Zimbabwe, and celebrate their counterparts in Kenya: two African Wildlife Foundation staff members recently appointed as Honorary Wardens by the national wildlife authority.

To collar a lion, you first have to find it. And anyone who has gone on safari will tell you that you could drive around a park for an entire week and see every species except this highly elusive big cat.

It is early evening at Taita Ranch, which lies adjacent to Kenya’s biggest national park, the Tsavo. We drive slowly along the bumpy roads in the 98,000-acre conservancy, stopping to peer into bushes, alert for any signs of movement. We are looking for giraffes. They are usually in plenty, visibly towering over the shrubland and quietly grazing on the choicest leaves on the tops of trees, but today they are proving uncharacteristically elusive.

382. That is the staggering number of wildlife product seizures our canine detection units have made in just East Africa alone in roughly six years. African Wildlife Foundation has trained and deployed over 70 dog handlers and 48 dogs have been trained and deployed at transit points in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, and Mozambique since the inception of African Wildlife Foundation’s Canines for Conservation program in 2014.

Consider the African wildlife ranger’s job — the long periods away from family and home, low pay, challenging physical conditions, and significant risk of armed confrontations. In 2018, more than 50 African rangers died in the line of duty, killed by poachers, elephant attacks, snakebites, and a myriad of other causes. The International Ranger Federation’s annually released roster of fatalities paints only a sliver of the picture, omitting the many rangers who suffered severe injuries during the year.

African Wildlife Foundation conserves elephant and rhino populations by supporting the work of rangers and community wildlife scouts — the “boots on the ground” who shield highly endangered animals from poachers’ guns.