Translocation Teamwork

Spirit of translocation is collaboration, fueled by generous donors:

Translocations are vital to the future of vibrant transfrontier conservation areas. They are also very difficult and dangerous operations which require significant manpower in the planning, executing and ongoing monitoring of the translocated wildlife.

Organising and seeing through a translocation usually involves those in big government as well as local officials. It requires experts in everything from building transport crates – from super-sized ones for elephants to smaller ones for oribi – to wildlife veterinarians who know how to capture each animal. It involves everyone from planners at HQ to ground crew, filmmakers, project managers and everyone in between.

It is also a tremendously expensive operation, requiring substantial funding. Moving large carnivores, for example, could run into hundreds of thousands of US dollars, not even taking into account the running costs of keeping a conservation area well-managed and protected.

Luckily, Peace Parks Foundation has an incredibly generous donor community, from global organisations to deeply committed individuals. The list of supporters and donors is extensive, and Peace Parks Foundation is incredibly grateful for the many years of support it has received. Without that, none of what we have achieved would have been possible.

Peace Parks works to forge strong mutually beneficial relationships with its supporters and donors. This means that continued translocations can be planned to rejuvenate species populations in parks and reserves so that ecosystems can be restored and considered nature tourism can evolve.

With so many people from so many organisations playing a part in every translocation, one might imagine each operation mired in logistics and politics. Not at all. It is the common cause of rewilding Africa that unites everyone. The passion shown by donors and all those who work in the field of conservation is ignited when it comes to translocations. Unlike much critical conservation work, translocations are the ‘sexy’ part of conservation. The part that attracts filmmakers, photographers and, let’s face it, most curious humans. Where else can one get hands-on with truly wild animals, make a huge impact on the ground and have an incredible experience to boot?

Peace Parks would like to make a special thanks to all those who have been involved in translocations this year. This includes the wildlife veterinarians, the pilots, the ground teams, everyone at HQ, the institutions, governments, officials, partners, corporations and of course, the generous donors, without whom none of what you have seen would be possible.

Keep watching PeaceParks.TV in 2022 to see even more incredible translocations.