Anti poaching and monitoring
Save the Rhino Trust in Namibia has three main programmes to support their overall objective to protect the indigenous white and black rhino in the region:
Field Patrolling and Monitoring
- Maintaining a consistent ground / air reconnaissance and patrolling presence to act as a deterrent against poaching
- Monitoring and patrolling of black rhino through individual identification
- Reporting on black rhino numbers and distribution, human-wildlife conflict, incidents of human-induced disturbance, rainfall and springs
- Compiling all data forms, photos and other information to hand to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) for updating the Kunene black rhino database
- Assisting MET with rhino capture operations and translocations
Capacity Building:
- Training for their trackers, MET staff and Community Game Guards
- Basic Rhino Monitoring Course (theory) and Practical Monitoring Course
- GPS Training
- Mapping Course
- Basic Scene-of-the-Crime Training Courses
- A new incentive-based training programme for Community Game Guards known as ‘Rhino Rangers’ in the Conservancies
- Rhino Conservation Tourism Training Course for Tour Operators and Conservancy ‘Rhino Trackers’
Research and Evaluation:
- A study of community attitudes towards living with black rhino
- Biology and population dynamics studies based on the Kunene database
- Development of adaptive monitoring planning
- Promotion of a responsible rhino-viewing tourism model, including development of a rhino-viewing protocol and rotational land use strategy
- Habitat assessments and rhino recovery site assessments pre- and post- translocations