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THE NEW FOCUS AND COMMITMENT

 

Since late 2022, Operation Pachamama has shifted and tightened its focus. 

Operation Pachamama spent its first two plus years assisting graduates of The Tracker Academy interested in anti-poaching work find jobs in the field by paying their salaries for the first year. Most, if not all, of the 20 men and women we assisted went on to find meaningful and sustainable employment in the anti-poaching world at safari lodges all over South Africa and Botswana.

In November 2022, Operation Pachamama was approached to be a founding supporting member of a new organization, Rhino Guardians. This organization, still affiliated with The Tracker Academy and managed by many of the same people with whom we had been working, developed a program targeted solely at training anti-poaching rangers. This unique program marries standard anti-poaching, military skills with traditional tracking skills to prepare wholistic rangers. A more detailed description of their mission and work may be found here.

In the year-and-a-half Rhino Guardians has been operating, Operation Pachamama has funded the entirety of its internship program. After a six-month program of intense classroom and field work, each student is placed with a highly credible and well-respected anti-poaching company for a six-month internship. To date, Operation Pachamama has paid or is in the process of paying for twenty such internships. An email from the owner of the anti-poaching company, Bhejane360, about the quality of Rhino Guardians interns may be found here. 

The uniqueness and effectiveness of Rhino Guardians makes us proud to be a continuing part of their operation. While one never knows what other opportunities might arise, Operation Pachamama has committed to fund all Rhino Guardians interns through 2025. Thus, our current and future direction is set, and we are proud of the impact we are having on the lives of these young men and women (exclusively poor and from rural areas) and, of course, on the survival of these majestic animals in South Africa.  

 We would love for you to join us in this incredibly rewarding endeavor.