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Honorary Rangers Contribute R12 Million To National Parks

Date: 2008-07-01

Honorary Rangers Contribute R12 Million To National Parks

From January 1 to December 31 last year, the Honorary Ranger’s (HR) corps contributed more than R12 million to the coffers of SANParks. This is 11 percent more than 2006. About R4 million is made up of ‘indirect’ costs that are incurred when HRs stay in the parks while performing duties or working on projects.
Janssen Davies, chairman of the HR, also highlighted other milestones for the year in his report presented at the annual general meeting (AGM) which was held at Berg-en-Dal in the Kruger National Park (KNP) on May 24, 2008.

“Mission accomplished,” he said as he elaborated on the corps’ performance balanced score card objectives. In total the HR exceeded all five their objectives. In 2007, the HRs achieved an 11,6 percent growth in membership and 25,5 percent in applicants.

This translates to a 15 percent growth in overall membership compared to the previous year. By December 2007, the corps had 565 HRs and 236 applicants - 801 members in 25 regions.

In December the corps had 124 previously disadvantaged (PDI) members, which is 15,4 percent more than in 2006.The junior rangers’ corps increased its membership by 18,3 percent and had 1807 members at the end of the year.

Although not easy to identify, Janssen said that the environmental education activities “at least doubled over the last year.” Cheryl Carolus, chairman of the SANParks board, thanked the HR members for their commitment and dedication in an inspirational key note address.

Other members of SANParks, Glen Philips, Danie Pienaar and Kevin Moore presented overviews on tourism, elephant management and people in conservation respectively. The Bushveld region was honoured as the top region for 2007, while the West Rand Birding project won as best project for the year.