So many exciting things happened in the last year...
We noticed you have been away for a while and so we thought we would update you on what African Parks has achieved in the last year.
Did you know we are now protecting 19 parks?
In October 2020 we announced that African Parks signed a management agreement for Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda. The addition of this 1,019 km2 park increased our management portfolio to 19 national parks and protected areas in 11 countries covering over 14.8 million hectares in Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
We moved white rhinos
© Gael van de WegheIn the largest single rhino translocation ever undertaken, we introduced 30 white rhinos to Akagera National Park in Rwanda from andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa in November 2021. This historic initiative aimed to extend the white rhino range and create a secure new breeding stronghold in Rwanda, supporting population growth to ensure the long-term survival of the species in the wild as high-levels of poaching continue to exert unsustainable pressure on current populations.
We established the largest counter-poaching force for a conservation organisation in Africa
© Tom ParkerWe grew and equipped our force of over 1,334 rangers. Often the only stabilising force in some of the most remote and under served areas in Africa, in 2021 they confiscated a total of 28.4 tonnes of illegal wildlife products, removed 26,459 snares and made 2,687 arrests from across the parks.
On September 18th, over 650 of our rangers in 14 parks under our management in 10 countries took to the road to run the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, each running 21 km to help raise funds for their fellow rangers across Africa who are severely under-resourced due to the global lockdown and subsequent revenue shortfalls.
We provided education, heathcare and jobs to thousands of people
© Marcus WestbergEffective park management can reap dividends for communities who need them the most. In 2021 we built and supported 195 schools and deployed healthcare services which treated 147,685 people. We also provided jobs to 3,508 full-time staff and invested in alternative and sustainable livelihood programmes which generated $1.3 million in income which went directly to the communities.