If the current rate of poaching rhinoceros continues, they will be extinct in the wild in less than eight years.
Enter the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit – a team of mostly female rangers, founded to protect wildlife in South Africa.
The focus of their work is in the Greater Kruger Park – home to largest population of rhino in the world, and the main region where poaching takes place.
Established in 2013, the team of 26 have reduced “snaring” – where poachers catch rhinos in traps – by 76 per cent.
According to the South African government, there are 12 active poacher groups in Kruger National Park at any given time, but with the Black Mambas around, Balule Reserve now doesn’t have any. None.
The team runs mainly on donations, and you can support them here.