The desperate need to protect the iconic wild animals of Southern Africa from illegal poaching has never been greater. Thousands upon thousands of elephants, rhinoceros, and other wonderful creatures are slaughtered each year by international cartels. Operation Pachamama has but one goal: to do all we can to reduce this mindless slaughter by placing active and continuous anti-poaching resources on the ground. 

 

Operation Pachamama’s 2021-2022 operating year is nearing its end, running through June 30th. So, now is a good time for a brief but proud look at our accomplishments over the past three years as well as a preview of our plans for 2022-2023.

 

Always dependent upon the generosity of our donors, Operation Pachamama has built an impressive record. In 2019-2020, we funded the education and training of four anti-poaching rangers. All four obtained employment in the field.

 

Progress in 2020-2021

We sponsored the education and training of an additional six anti-poaching rangers. Due to the dramatic drop-off in tourism in South Africa because of Covid, and thanks to the overwhelming response of our donors to a special appeal, we paid for a one-year deployment of all six of these rangers at a variety of locations around South Africa. At the same time, we purchased an anti-poaching dog for a needy reserve and helped the same reserve renovate an abandoned building into living quarters for its three fulltime rangers.

 

Building on these previous accomplishments, and thanks to the continuing generosity of our donors this past year, we were able to sponsor the complete anti-poaching education and training of four anti-poaching rangers and directly deploy them in anti-poaching work at various reserves throughout South Africa.

 

Two of those rangers were placed at the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, where an unusual but exciting thing happened. Management at Tswalu was so impressed with the two rangers we supplied it offered them permanent jobs after their first six months. This is always our hoped-for result, but to have it happen after only six months was a wonderful surprise. This has freed up additional funds for 2022-2023.

 

The third ranger is completing his year at Samara Private Game Reserve, which runs through June. Samara has already permanently hired two rangers we placed with it in 2020-2021, and we are hopeful it will do the same with Lelethu Caine. When we visited Samara in November 2021, Lelethu was doing well, and management seemed to be very pleased with him.

 

Unfortunately, one of our placements resigned after only six months on the job at Hopewell Conservation in the southern Karoo. We are not sure why but are investigating the circumstances surrounding his decision to leave. We never expect a 100% success rate, but that remains our objective and we want to know why this deployment didn’t work out.

 

Looking Forward 2022-2023

But enough about the successes of the past, for now it is time to look ahead to 2022-2023. Our goals this year represent a fifty percent increase over 2021-2022 and promises to have an even bigger impact on the animals and people of Southern Africa.

The Tracker Academy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an organization in Botswana called Rhinos without Borders. Under the MOU, Operation Pachamama is going to pay for the education of two Botswanan graduates of The Tracker Academy and their deployment for one year in the Okavango Delta where poaching is quite severe. 

 

We are hopeful this will prove to be a continuing commitment, but there are two limitations. The first is that only folks from Botswana can be hired in Botswana for this work. Thus, we are urging our Tracker Academy partner to ensure a continuing flow of Botswana graduates from The Tracker Academy. Second, we will need continuing funding from our donors to support this program. To educate and deploy two rangers each year cost R199,000. This is a little over $13,000 at an exchange rate of 15 to 1.

Alex van den Heever of The Tracker Academy is also ready to sign an MOU with Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in the lowveld adjoining Kruger National Park. This is a 53,396-hectare property (almost 132,000 acres) which has no fences between it and Kruger. As a result, the wildlife is free to move back and forth without restraint. As of this writing, Timbavati is contemplating the hiring of four anti-poaching rangers this summer. They need to be trained and deployed by Operation Pachamama at a cost of R398,000 (slightly over $26,000).

 

Operation Pachamama is excited and committed to accomplishing everything laid out above in 2022-2023. Training and deploying anti-poaching rangers is our reason for being, our focus, and our passion, and the thought of putting six more rangers in the field is truly exciting.

 

However, that can’t be done without your help. Whether you make an unrestricted donation or request your dollars go towards a specific project, everything Operation Pachamama does is dependent upon you, our donors. We are hopeful your continuing generosity will allow us to achieve our ambitious goal for 2022-2023 and beyond. Anti-poaching work is not a one-time thing; it’s not a one and done. The animals and people of Southern Africa rely upon us for hope and achievement, and we intend, with your help, to provide meaningful and solid results.

 

On a sad note, we would be less than transparent if we didn’t mention a disappointment. As described in earlier updates, The Tracker Academy was close to signing a MOU with SANPark (the South African National Park System) for deployment of rangers in Kruger National Park. We terminated negotiations once we learned SANPark has agreed to the killing of ten black rhinoceros by hunters. This method of raising money is unacceptable to Operation Pachamama, especially when such a highly endangered species is involved. Despite the gruesome need in Kruger for more anti-poaching rangers, we cannot morally justify working with an organization that allows these types of killings for money. We will find, as we have already found, alternative places to invest in wildlife preservation.

 

Thank you for all your help.