The pandemic has seen a drastic decline in tourists visiting safari and game parks, but funding and conservation efforts are more critical today than ever before.
“I wish to see all the rangers get back to work. These iconic animals need us to speak for them… we have to protect them for the next generation, but it’s hard. So many rangers have lost their jobs.”
Leitah Mkhabela, of the all-female Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit
As the sun sets resolutely over the Kruger National Park, South Africa’s famed wildlife reserve in the Limpopo province, rangers begin their evening patrols on game vehicles and on foot in areas frequented by poachers. And this long, dreary nocturnal expedition in the wild will continue into the wee hours.
As office-goers emptied out of the concrete jungles of the cities during the pandemic, in sharp contrast, these rangers soldiered on in their jobs preserving life in the wilderness.
The pandemic may have seen a drastic decline in their numbers worldwide, but their role is perhaps more critical than ever before.
In a time of a global pandemic that finds its origins in a zoonotic virus, conservation efforts are more important than ever to prevent future contagion from becoming a threat.
With many of the lodges in the 19,485km2 Kruger park struggling to achieve pre-pandemic tourist numbers, novel ways of funding must be found, or many people and animals who depend on the wildlife economy for survival will be without a future.
The rangers, who continue to be employed, count themselves lucky. Many of their colleagues were retrenched in the wake of the pandemic, or had to take hefty pay cuts.
“The pandemic took a lot of jobs [in conservation] away, and with it, people’s dignity. You have people selling their homes, their cars, just to survive.”
And this is a trend worldwide, not just in Africa.
With the spread of Covid-19 from early 2020, many countries took an understandably stringent approach to travel restrictions and lockdowns. In the absence of tested, available vaccines and lack of a clear understanding of the transmission and mortality of the deadly coronavirus, across the world, airports and borders were closed to non-essential travel, thus decimating world tourism numbers.
South Africa was affected too, as it entered a strict 21-day lockdown from March 26, 2020, barring all non-critical work, travel and business. The lockdown has been extended in differing levels until today.
It saw foreign arrivals into the country drop by 71% in comparison to 2019. With the tourism sector contributing almost 3% to the GDP and almost 4.5% of South African employment rates, the lockdowns took aim at the heart of livelihoods supported by the tourism sector – with the wildlife economy particularly hard-hit.
This impact is reflected across the continent as well as globally, with all 10 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries suffering at least a 65% decline in foreign tourists from 2019 to 2020 (Stats SA). According to papers published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which surveyed rangers and conservation efforts across 60 countries, a quarter of rangers saw their salaries reduced or delayed, and about 20% surveyed lost their jobs due to the pandemic, with African rangers some of the hardest hit.
“We have not been able to get our usual donations and incomes for our work. Most people are sitting at home without incomes – and in the communities, when there is no money, there is no food. That’s where the poaching comes in,” says Leitah Mkabela, an anti-poaching ranger and team supervisor of the all-female Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit, to FORBES AFRICA.
The Black Mambas, one of South Africa’s most well-known ranger groups, has been one of the few that has managed to retain all of their staff. However, with budget and staffing cuts rife amongst most other ranger organizations and game reserve hospitality, the entire local economy that the reserves support have taken an economic knock that will take years to recover from.
At the Balule Nature Reserve where the Black Mambas operate, the variety of lodges are the primary income for the reserve. Part of the Greater Kruger National Park Reserve, Balule is home to dozens of lodges which on average employ 3.5 people per bed, according to former Head Warden Craig Spencer, with the reserve generating an income in the millions of dollars a year, primarily from foreign tourists. The lodges employ almost exclusively from the local communities – with many having had to lay off staff due to the pandemic and recovery rates slow, people have become desperate.
“Almost every aspect of conservation depends on the wildlife economy, be it entrance fees at lodges, funding from zoo visits, accommodation… The pandemic hit us very hard,” says Spencer in an interview with FORBES AFRICA. “The pandemic took a lot of jobs [in conservation] away, and with it, people’s dignity. You have people selling their homes, their cars, just to survive.”
Negative impacts due to the pandemic have also occurred at the policy level, which could have far-reaching implications for the wildlife economy, with funds being reallocated away from previous wildlife protection efforts or protection efforts being side-lined in order to stimulate economic growth in challenging times; one such example can be seen in Kenya, which has earmarked a new national roadway, a high-end restaurant and amphitheater within Nairobi National Park, despite reservations from local conservation groups, as documented by the IUCN.
South Africa has largely managed to avoid similar challenges, with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries retaining its $550 million budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year – however, much of these funds have been allocated to make up for losses in the sector due to declining tourism.
While the pandemic has offered a once-in-a-century challenge to the wildlife economy, there is, however, a glimmer of hope. As vaccination rates have increased worldwide, travel has tentatively risen as well. The South African National Parks are seeing increased numbers of attendees, and with the increases in tourism numbers come both community support initiatives and unique fundraisers to support wildlife initiatives.
One fundraiser takes the form of the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, which aims to raise monies to support anti-poaching ranger operations by donating to rangers who will run a 21km race on August 21, 2021. With 150 ranger teams competing from across the continent, the competition has already raised several hundred thousand dollars so far. The funds will be used to provide salaries and support ranger services to many organizations.
Many rangers have also initiated community assistance programs. The Mambas have provided food parcels for 90 desperate families throughout the lockdown, as well as begun to build community food gardens and opened boreholes during the pandemic, along with their anti-poaching duties.
“The iconic animals need us – we have to speak for them. When we face the poachers, some might be from the community you’re coming from,” says Mkabela. “When people are struggling, they will take that bushmeat and sell it for maize meal. The food parcels, the gardens we build, we say ‘we are on your side’ – that’s how we’ve managed to keep the poaching down in our community.”
“I think overall it has made the industry more resilient,” says Spencer. “The industry is surviving and growing closer bonds to their communities. We are all in this together.”