Deploying boots on the ground for the protection of elephants, rhinos and other wild species
Ivory and rhino horn poaching, habitat destruction and bushmeat poaching are having a devastating effect on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces. Our skilled front line teams, accompanied by armed KWS Rangers and supported by our Aerial and Canine Units, are fully trained and equipped to deter and prevent illegal wildlife activities, as well as launch ambushes, with any necessary arrests carried out by KWS.
De-Snaring Teams
KMs patrolled on foot in 2019
Snares seized & removed in 2019
KWS arrests with our teams in 2019
Weapons seized in 2019
Tsavo, Meru, Kibwezi and Mau Forest
Our teams face real threats to their own safety on every operation. Team members have all undergone intensive training at the KWS Manyani Training Academy to ensure they have the skills and knowledge necessary to mitigate these risks. Highly trained, armed KWS Rangers - with the power of arrest - are assigned to each of the teams on operational duty.
Thirteen of our teams patrol the Greater Tsavo Conservation Area covering 60,000km2, an area the size of West Virginia, USA. Home to the country’s largest elephant herds, as well as rhinos, cheetahs, giraffes, lions and leopards. A Fourteenth Team operates in Meru National Park, in Central Kenya, which covers an area of 870km2, with the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Teams, fully funded by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, operating in the Mau Forest under the direction of MEP.