Wildlife Conservation South Africa Project #14141

Protect and Save the life of Our Rhinos

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Oct 27, 2026
The "Lucky 5" and preparations for the El Nino

By Sophie Barrett | Rhino Operations Manager

Hello to all our supporters,

We have had some wonderful developments since our last update. For those of you who have been following our journey over the years you will be familiar with the “Lucky Five”. This is the nickname we gave to the first five rhino orphans that we rescued, rehabilitated and successfully released back into the wild.

In conservation the concept of success is tricky to measure. In terms of our rescued orphans we believe that the question of success goes further than just the life of the orphan that was saved, once that individual is again contributing to increasing the wild population this is the moment that we believe we can say we have made a difference to more than an individual life, a difference to the survival of a species.

This year has been a huge milestone for each of the Lucky Five rhinos. The three bulls have each established their own territories and we have observed them mating with other wild rhinos on the reserve. Both of the females have again successfully mated with wild bulls and gave birth to their third and second respective calves in April and August this year! This is an extraordinary point to have reached. Of the first five orphans that came into our care each one is now directly contributing to increasing the wild rhino population. They continue to thrive and flourish in the wild. It is humbling to see how dedicated the females are with their calves, showing incredible patience and care that was stolen from them by their brutal starts to life.

Our current work centres around keeping the wild rhino population on the reserve safe. Our days are filled with anti-poaching patrols, surveillance cameras, and in person checks on the rhinos to confirm how they are doing. Being a new mother is a stressful time for any species and with the super El-Niño forecast it is critical that we can regularly assess each rhino’s health and body condition. We use technology to help us with this as much as possible and we are currently raising funds for additional security infrastructure for the reserve. The new technology will raise the alarm the instant a gunshot is detected and will allow us to deploy state of the art tracking devices revealing the intricacies of the rhinos daily lives in-between our sightings. The collars will be used both to protect the rhinos and to contribute to the vital research that we are carrying out into the effects on rhino behaviour and social dynamics of long-term horn trimming (one of the most effective anti-poaching tools we have available to us).

Thank-you to each and everyone who continues to support our work. Conservation cannot happen in isolation - as they say in Africa, it takes a village!

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Jun 30, 2026
Stop poaching today

By Shayle Havemann | Project leader

Mar 5, 2026
We got a little Wet in Limpopo

By Tyrone Bennett | CEO / Based in South Africa

Hello to all our wonderful and amazing supporters,

I am writing this to you from the heart of our operations, and I wanted to start by simply saying thank you. As we celebrate 20 years of Action Change in 2026, I’ve been reflecting on how it’s truly people like you who make this work possible. You aren't just "donors" to us; you are the reason these rhinos still have a chance to roam free.

The last few months here in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, have been a bit of a whirlwind. If you saw the news in January, you know we were hit by massive floods. It was a really intense time and we had to help with evacuations, and the landscape changed overnight. While it was incredible to see how the rhinos adapted by moving to higher ground, the water wasn't so kind to our infrastructure. We lost a significant amount of fencing, security equipment, and those vital motion-sensor cameras that act as our "eyes" in the bush.

But here is the good news: because of your previous support, we didn't miss a beat. When the quads and trucks were stuck in the mud, our horses and K9 units stepped up. Our rangers have been incredible, working double shifts to cover the gaps where our technology went offline. Your donations have been keeping these teams fed, housed, and out on the front lines during some of the toughest conditions we've faced in years.

As the sun comes out and the bush starts to dry, we are now in a bit of a race. This is the time when poachers try to take advantage of weakened fences and offline cameras. We aren't letting them. Our team is currently "all hands on deck" to accelerate our repairs and get our surveillance tech back online.

This is where I have some really exciting news. To help us with this recovery, we are participating in GlobalGiving’s "Little by Little" campaign from March 17th to the 20th. During these four days, every donation up to $50 will be matched at 50%!

This is a huge opportunity for us. If you’ve been thinking about helping us replace a camera or repair a section of fencing, this is the week to do it. That $50 becomes $75, and that extra bit goes a long way when we are rebuilding from the ground up. It’s the perfect way to make a "little" go a long way in keeping our rhinos safe.

We’ve proven that our strategy works as our dehorning program has already dropped the poaching risk by 95%, now we just need to get our "walls" back up. Thank you for being with us through 20 years of challenges. I know that with your help during the Little by Little week, we’ll come out of this flood season stronger than ever.

Thank you for being such a huge part of this journey. We are so grateful to have you in our corner!

With massive gratitude,

Tyrone

Founder and CEO of Action Change

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