E-BIKES 4 WILDLIFE PROTECTION
E-BIKES 4 WILDLIFE PROTECTION
The Salambala Story
Edward MwaulukaSalambala Conservancy Game Guard
“With the support of the e-bike, it is much easier to attend to the scene of a crime, or catch poachers in the act. It helps me not to get tired when on patrol, and to not feel pain in my thighs when I’m riding for longer periods of time. I wish each game guard could have such an e-bike.”
Steve FeltonNamibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations
"Bikes are part of Salambala’s conservation strategy. With 1.2 billion cars on the road worldwide, using a hundred times more energy than e-bikes and producing greenhouse gasses that warm the planet, using bikes whenever possible is climate change action in motion. And in Salambala, the bikes are also powering conservation."
Martin MushabatiSalambala Conservancy Game Guard
“With a normal bicycle you can barely cover 5 kilometers through this wild terrain before you’re exhausted. With these e-bikes we can easily travel 10 kilometers without even knowing it!”
As caretakers of the very first e-bikes for game guards, Edward Mwauluka and Martin Mushabati are global e-mobility pioneers in their own right. These local heroes work to protect local wildlife from poachers. Proud to "watch over nature and get to know the animals and their behaviour,” their daily patrols see them cover large areas – and before the arrival of e-bikes, mainly by foot, to move as silently and efficiently through the wild environment as possible.
E-bikes provide a sustainable, fast, silent and cost-effective alternative to patrolling protected areas, and as proven by Salambala Conservancy, could reshape the future of security mobility in Africa.
Ever imagined rhino rangers patrolling the dry Huab area on the back of an electric mountainbike? Ultimate Safaris' Conservation Travel Foundation
recently acquired two SunCycles e-bikes for rhino rangers in the Huab conservancy, where they host a tented camp in joint venture with the local community.
WUPARO Conservancy
Illegal poaching in Namibia is a growing concern. In communal conservancies, community rangers work hard to protect the environment, fight off poachers and attend to problem areas. Rangers need to be on constant patrol and have to cover large areas, mainly by foot, to move as silently and efficiently through the wild environment as possible.
In partnership with the Bicycling Empowerment Network of Namibia (BEN-N)
and a Donation Campaign on the GlobalGiving platform under the title, ‘E-bikes 4 Wildlife Protection’. we received a donation of NAD23 863.00 from the Lernidee Stiftung in Berlin, Germany,
through which we were able to convert and deliver two Electric Bicycles (E-Bikes) to community rangers in the Wuparo Conservancy, located in the Zambezi Region of Namibia. (More information about the Wuparo Conservancy can be found here: http://www.nacso.org.na/conservancies/wuparo) With logistical and advisory support from the WWF in Namibia, the Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO) and Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC),
the E-Bikes were handed over to the Conservancy in March 2019.
Keep our guards mobile
Help guards like Edward protect Namibia's wildlife and key natural resources by supporting us on GlobalGiving.