Project Rhino - August 2026 Update
Dear Scott,
I hope this email finds you well.
I wanted to send you a brief update on some of the exciting activities and conservation achievements from Project Rhino over the past few months.
In May, we held our annual Oceans 8 Charity Swim, where 35 incredible swimmers took on the challenge to raise both awareness and vital funds in support of Project Rhino and the dedicated teams working tirelessly on the ground to protect wildlife across KwaZulu-Natal. It was a fantastic event that not only raised much-needed support but also helped shine a spotlight on the ongoing fight against wildlife crime.
This past weekend, we also hosted our annual Run for Rangers event (100km Trail Run through Babanango Game Reserve). The challenge brought together rangers, supporters and conservation partners to celebrate World Ranger Day (31 July) while honouring the brave men and women who stand on the frontlines of conservation every day. It was an inspiring weekend of endurance, camaraderie and appreciation for the vital work that rangers do to protect our natural heritage.
I'd also like to share some of the impact achieved by our teams over the last 18 months (January 2025 – June 2026):
- 2,425 hours of ranger training delivered
- 17,242 km patrolled on foot
- 89,008 km patrolled by vehicle
- 7,969 km of fence lines patrolled
- 27 poachers apprehended
- 22 criminals arrested
- 19 illegal weapons recovered
- 20 illegal wildlife products seized
- 580 snares removed
- 887 flying hours completed by the ZAPWing aerial support unit
- 182 hours of drone surveillance conducted
- 9 poachers apprehended with the assistance of ZAPWing
- 38,676 learners reached through conservation education programmes across 112 schools surrounding our member reserves
While these figures demonstrate the dedication and effectiveness of our teams, they also remind us of the challenges we continue to face. Over the same period, 119 rhinos were lost to poaching, and 108 vultures were killed through poisoning incidents, a sobering reminder of why our work remains so important.
Thank you once again for your continued support of Project Rhino through Miro & Makauri. Partnerships like yours make a tangible difference to the work we do every day, and we are incredibly grateful to have you alongside us.
I look forward to sharing more updates with you in the coming months.
We are currently taking place in the Tusk Ranger Challenge and all our donations get match funded - if you are at all willing to pay the 2 invoice amounts into our Fundraising link instead of the Project Rhino PayPal account, your donation will be match funded and off course this will duplicate the impact, we would be most grateful. The fundraising link is as follows:
https://wildlife.rangerchallenge.org/campaigns/project-rhino-2026
Warm regards,