From elephant corridors in the Mara to mountain forests on Kenya's peaks, two Wildlife Ranger Challenge funded partners show what consistent support from the Challenge looks like.

When most people think about rangers, they picture an arrest or a confrontation in the dark. They don’t picture the patrol that covers 30 kilometres and finds nothing, or the motorcycle that starts on a cold morning because someone bothered to maintain it. They don’t picture the salary arriving on time, so a ranger can think about the bush and not about school fees. 

This year, as part of the Wildlife Ranger Challenge (WRC), we asked two of our partner organisations to tell us what WRC funding has meant for their teams. What did things look like before, and what is different now? 

Covering ground in the Greater Mara 

The Mara Elephant Project (MEP), based in Kenya, operates across a vast stretch of the Greater Mara Ecosystem, a landscape shaped by human-elephant conflict, wildlife crime and constant pressure on habitat. Their fourteen ranger teams patrol by vehicle, by motorcycle and on foot, responding to incidents that can come from any direction at any time.  

Before WRC funding, the challenge was not a lack of commitment. The gap was capacity: keeping vehicles running, replacing worn communications equipment, and keeping rangers in the field every day across a landscape this size. Long distances and difficult terrain wear everything down, from boots and tyres to radios and the people carrying them. 

Having taken part in WRC for the first time last year, funding through the challenge  went towards transport, communications and field operations of the Mara Elephant Project. During the reporting period, MEP’s teams covered more than 82,000 kilometres by vehicle and 6,800 kilometres on foot. They mitigated 258 human-elephant conflict incidents. They arrested 106 suspects, recovered 705 wire snares and destroyed 53 charcoal kilns. Rangers can now spend more time where they are needed, and they can get there. 

Tracking Africa’s Most Elusive Antelope

In the Maasai Mau and Aberdare Ecosystem, also in Kenya, MEP runs a very different kind of operation. The target species here is the Mountain Bongo: a large, striped forest antelope and one of the most endangered mammals in Africa. Critically Endangered, extremely shy, and almost impossible to observe directly. It lives at low densities in thick montane forest and can go months without being seen by a human being. 

The Mountain Bongo Project (MBP), also a Tusk partner, is one of several conservation organisations that MEP supports through its incubation model. When an emerging organisation has deep specialist knowledge but needs operational backing to grow, MEP provides the infrastructure, training and field capacity to help it get there. MBP brings the expertise in Mountain Bongo monitoring and protection. MEP brings the wider organisational muscle. The two teams work together in the field, including through joint patrols in the Mau Forest.

For rangers working in this environment, the job requires sharp field skills, careful planning and the ability to collect reliable data on an animal that does everything it can to stay hidden. 

WRC funding went towards ranger training and ecological monitoring. Ten rangers received refresher courses in field safety, leadership, patrol planning and monitoring techniques. That training fed directly into a five-day, 105-kilometre expedition through dense forest to deploy a network of ten camera traps across priority Bongo habitat. 

The cameras captured clear photographs and video confirming the presence of at least eight individual Mountain Bongo, evidence that would have been almost impossible to gather through direct observation. For a species this elusive, each confirmed individual matters. The images give the conservation team a foundation for long-term monitoring and a stronger basis for planning what comes next. 

The rangers also took their work beyond the forest edge. Wildlife clubs and school forest walks have brought Bongo conservation into surrounding communities. Three water tanks were installed at neighbouring schools, a practical gesture that connects conservation work to daily life. 

When Funding Becomes a Lifeline

2025 was a hard year for conservation funding. Changes in US funding, a wider economic downturn and rising costs created a squeeze that many organisations felt at the same time. Mount Kenya Trust was among them. 

The WRC funding helped Mount Kenya Trust maintain essential ranger operations during a period when other funding streams were shrinking or stalling. Without it, the gap between what their ranger teams needed and what the organisation could provide would have widened. 

When ranger salaries and basic operational costs are covered, the organisation can direct other resources toward training, improving conditions at ranger bases, and building the wider support system around their teams. That system now includes connections with the Game Rangers Association of Africa and support from Tusk and other organisations. Rangers have received patrol boots, stronger insurance cover, and other practical support that adds up over time 

The Wildlife Ranger Challenge itself has also had an effect that is harder to measure but no less real. The months of training and preparation have reinforced the importance of fitness throughout the year, not just for competition, but for wellbeing and readiness in the field. And beyond the physical side, the Challenge has given Mount Kenya Trust’s rangers something that isolated teams rarely get: a sense of connection to a wider community of rangers across the continent. 

Ranger David Mwiraria put it plainly: “Through WRC we get funds which not only go towards our ranger operations but also to our salaries that keep us motivated. This helps us to take care of our families that depend on us. Our team gets support for many things that help us to work well, such as trainings, equipment and medical cover for our health in case of any injuries while in the field.” 

Why the Challenge Matters 

The Wildlife Ranger Challenge, organised by Tusk and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, is Africa’s largest annual campaign celebrating and supporting wildlife rangers. Since 2020, it has raised more than US$25 million for frontline ranger teams. On 19 September 2026, rangers across Africa will take part in a synchronised 21-kilometre race, carrying up to 22 kilograms of kit. 

But for teams like these, funding is only part of what the Challenge provides. The recognition matters. The connection to other teams matters. The sense that someone, somewhere, is paying attention to the work being done in places most people will never visit. 

The Wildlife Ranger Challenge is supported by founding donor Mark Scheinberg, who match funds $1 million dollars, alongside other match funding partners including the Disney Conservation Fund, Defender, EJF Philanthropies , Marriot International and Tara Getty Foundation who help the campaign go even further this year. 

Any donations will be match funded, so your support goes twice as far.