Donald Rakgwale is from Tickyline Ga-sekororo village next to Karongwe Game Reserve. His journey to becoming a ranger has been quite an adventure, from saving a pangolin, to learning about photography and to earning a GCC scholarship place at the Southern African Wildlife College.

Read more about Donald’s ranger journey here.

Join us this month in celebrating World Rhino Day 2020! September is Rhino Month, and we are working hard to protect the world’s rhinos from poachers and extinction threats by supporting field rangers and the communities that surround rhino habitats.

This month also marks the 5 year anniversary of the release of the original version of “RHINO MAN”, our documentary film celebrating the brave men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to protect these beautiful animals. Led by GCC’s Film Director, John Jurko, we are currently in the post-production process of completing our full-length version of “RHINO MAN”, which will be released in 2021.

Hear more from John about our progress on this project, which means so much to all of us here at GCC:

Kate Vannelli, GCC’s Program Director, has been a big lover of animals, big cats in particular, since she was a child. In fact, when she was young, she drew pictures of cheetahs and made collages out of Nat Geo magazine cut-outs.

At present, Kate is in charge of the Future Rangers Program. She has been instrumental in creating the curriculum and developing the accompanying app that collects and measures the progress of the children within the program.

Learn more about Kate and her passion for wildlife life here.

GCC unveiled its new Future Rangers Scholarship Fund this June, announcing the opportunity for a new cohort of students to join the Southern African Wildlife College’s field ranger training program. Over 600 individuals submitted their applications for the scholarship, from which 36 were selected to take part in a four-day physical and mental selection test. Fifteen of these young men and women went through to receive full scholarships to train to become wildlife guardians.

All 15 of the Future Rangers Scholars have recently graduated and will now be placed between three partner reserves in the Greater Kruger National Park. GCC is so proud to have played a role in their training and new-found knowledge to work to protect South Africa’s wildlife.

Read more about the Future Ranger’s Scholar Graduation here.

We are excited to share this new infographic, developed by GCC Program Director Kate Vannelli, that outlines both the problems our planet is facing and GCC’s approach to addressing these problems. We hope this resource will help you see the importance of the impact YOU ARE MAKING through your support as well as make it easier to share GCC’s mission and vision with friends, family and others in your community.

September was a particularly busy month for the GCC. In the last few weeks, our GCC has partnered up with the Southern African Wildlife College to participate in the #wildliferangerchallenge.

From push-ups to burpees, our team in South Africa and the supporting team in Switzerland were subjected to challenges that pushed their physical capabilities to the limit! It was a difficult and fun experience, all for the benefit of Africa’s rangers who were displaced amidst the current global crisis.

The challenge is still ongoing and we cannot wait to see which team will come out on top! On Saturday, the 3rd October 2020, over 200 ranger teams from around Africa will be marching 21km with a 22kg backpack. GCC and the SA Wildlife College will be partaking in this competitive event. Join us on the 3rd of October to march, walk or run in support of rangers worldwide.