Delivering Conservation Education That Inspires Communities and Empowers Them to Protect Wildlife

Photo Credit: Project Rhino via Facebook

From colourful conservation art to trees, spectacles and boots, Project Rhino and its partners have been all over SA, bringing communities together, supporting local needs and inspiring young hearts to care for wildlife.

South Africa (10 November 2026) – Rhino conservation has been on the move! Travelling from Kruger through Golden Gate and the Free State to the Drakensberg, Project Rhino’s Richard Mabanga, alongside the Kingsley Holgate Foundation, has brought conservation education and practical support to communities along the way as part of the Rhino Art – Let Our Children’s Voices Be Heard campaign.

Richard is the long-serving Rhino Art Facilitator and Community Outreach Educator for Project Rhino. Since joining the initiative at its inception in 2013, Mabanga has been the driving force behind connecting local youth and communities to wildlife protection through education, storytelling, and art.

One stop on the conservation education journey was at Spioenkop, where Rhino ART judging recently took place at four local schools: Royal Drakensberg Primary, Bergsig Primary, Middledale Primary and Skitsdrift Primary. The Spioenkop Game Reserve team also joined in, with support from The Do More Foundation.

Photo Credit: Project Rhino via Facebook

The activities brought learners and communities together around a shared conservation message: we need nature as much as nature needs us.

By engaging youth in rural and fringe communities surrounding wildlife reserves through art and education, the outreach transforms children into active advocates against poaching and habitat destruction. It recognises that long-term conservation cannot succeed through law enforcement alone; it requires nurturing empathy, pride, and stewardship within the hearts of the next generation.

And the support didn’t stop at conservation education. The organisations also planted trees at the schools, while learners who were struggling with their vision received spectacles through Rite to Sight. Spioenkop rangers received Jim Green boots, thanks to Gareth Crouch and Jim Green Footwear.

Wildlife was advocated for, youth were inspired, communities informed, the land left a little greener, and the hardworking rangers, too, were supported in their tireless conservation work.

Project Rhino extended its appreciation to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and all the partners helping make the journey possible – bringing conservation and community closer together, one stop at a time.