For 27 years, our rangers have been at the vanguard of conservation. What began as a single Tsavo-based Anti-Poaching Team in 1999 has grown into a comprehensive conservation network protecting habitats across Kenya, working in close partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service. Today, we operate 28 SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams, supported by two Drone Units and our specialist Canine Unit. Beyond this core force, we also fund a network of local partner-operated teams across Kenya’s key ecosystems.

In honour of World Ranger Day, we are revisiting a favourite topic: What does it mean to be a ranger?

Being a ranger is a difficult, dangerous job. It entails long days, night operations, challenging conditions, and threatening encounters with both man and beast. Responding to intelligence and identifying telltale signs of illegal activity, rangers are the advance charge of field-level conservation.

Rangers are the best of boots on the ground. SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams conduct much of their work on foot, while our Drone Units provide eyes in the sky, extending their reach into remote areas and supporting operations where time is critical.

In 2025, our teams travelled 482,452 kilometers (nearly 300,000 miles) across Kenya’s wilderness areas by vehicle and on foot — the equivalent of circumnavigating the globe more than 12 times in a single year. Every mile patrolled adds up to landscape security and wildlife safety.

Working in the field is unpredictable by nature. With their local knowledge and specialized skill sets, rangers can rise to almost any challenge. They are often called upon to provide additional field support, tackling everything from veterinary treatments to field emergencies, orphan rescues, and firefighting efforts. They approach these missions with the same dedication that they apply to tracking down poachers.

Anti-Poaching Teams are vital to the success of our Mobile Veterinary Units, tracking wild patients across challenging terrain until the veterinarian arrives and monitoring them afterwards in case follow-up treatment is needed. They are equally pivotal to rescue operations, keeping watch over young orphans until transport teams arrive.

With human-wildlife conflict increasing in many areas, rangers are often the first port of call when animals wander onto community lands. By helping mitigate these encounters, they protect countless wild lives each year — and, equally importantly, safeguard communities and their livelihoods. Their strong relationships with local communities provide lasting conservation benefits.

Rangers work with precision and teamwork to apprehend perpetrators. Ground teams move in to cut off escape routes and recover weapons, equipment, and other evidence, while armed KWS officers make arrests.

In 2025, SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams supported KWS in the arrest of 402 individuals involved in wildlife crimes and other offenses.

A combination of intensive training and innate ability gives rangers unparalleled bush prowess. Each new recruit undergoes a three-month intensive training course at the KWS Manyani Training Academy before being deployed to the field. Where most would only see vegetation, they can discern subtle disturbances in the ground, broken branches, and cleverly disguised snares.

In 2025, SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams confiscated 13,978 snares. Rangers also recover ivory from deceased or killed elephants. These tusks are securely stored by KWS, ensuring they do not fall into the wrong hands and re-enter the illegal ivory trade.

In its ten years of operations, our Canine Unit has emerged as a power player in the field and a highly effective complement to our wider anti-poaching efforts. The mere presence of the dogs is a deterrent, because their reputation precedes them: On several occasions, the team has tracked a poacher to their very front door. Would-be perpetrators know how effective the dogs are and give any area within their patch a wide berth.

The dogs have extraordinary abilities. They can track a perpetrator for more than 15 kilometers through rugged wilderness — a remarkable feat compared to the distances typically expected of police dogs.

Today, Zora, Bela, Abby, and their handlers continue the Canine Unit’s important work, building upon a decade of dedication in the field.

The majority of SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams are based within the greater Tsavo Conservation Area, collectively protecting Kenya’s largest national park and surrounding habitats. Covering approximately 60,000 square kilometers, the Tsavo ecosystem is the heartbeat of the country's wilderness — home to the Kenya's largest elephant population and some of its most iconic wildlife.

Our work also extends to critical conservation areas across Kenya, including Meru National Park, Arabuko Sokoke Forest, the Shimba Hills, the Nakuru-Naivasha region, and the coast. Through our support of partner-operated teams, we also help protect threatened ecosystems such as the Mau Forest, Mount Kenya, and the Mara.

Our teams continue to evolve alongside the challenges they face. From strengthening intelligence networks and embracing new technology to supporting field operations and responding to emerging threats, rangers remain at the forefront of conservation.

For 27 years, SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams have demonstrated the importance of having skilled conservationists on the ground. As new challenges emerge, our dedicated teams will continue to adapt, respond, and protect Kenya’s wildlife for generations to come.

Today — World Ranger Day — and every day, we honour the rangers who make conservation possible.