The above photo of the Tasmanian rangers has reached us in our World Ranger Day countdown. Behind it is an impressive story: members of the Tasmanian Rangers Association have covered 500 kilometres in a relay race to raise funds for the important but ill-equipped work of the rangers in Timor-Leste!
Timor-Leste’s only national park, the Nino Konis Santana National Park, was protected by just seven forest rangers and seven marine rangers in 2021. And because the forest rangers’ motorbikes were too old for their work in the park, the rangers from the Tasmanian Rangers Association completed the Ranger Relay in the same year in a month-long adventure: by trekking, cycling and kayaking over 500km from the north to the south of Tasmania. The public’s support was tremendous, resulting in funds for eight new motorbikes and other essential equipment such as first aid kits, tents, rucksacks and more for Timor-Leste! Also the relay motivated the Timor-Leste government to extend its support by providing equipment and additional personnel for their rangers.
Rangers struggle with poor equipment, often having to use their own
The idea for the project came from Brendan Moodie, Chairman of the Tasmanian Rangers, as he explained in “Australian Geographic”: “I got the idea when I was at the World Ranger Congress in Nepal in 2019; I saw how hard some rangers were doing it around the world. The guys in Timor-Leste have had a really rough time. The total funding for the park last year was about $52,000, including wages. Their government-supplied motorbikes broke down eight or nine years ago, so they’re using their own, which aren’t in much better condition than the original ones. It’s rangers helping rangers.”
WHAT IS YOUR STORY? PLEASE SEND US YOUR EXAMPLE OF RANGERS HELPING RANGERS!
No matter if you have helped or have been helped, whether it is a smaller or larger action:
Send us your help story with
* a short description,
* your portrait photo
* or a photo/video of the help action
by using this form: bit.ly/45KFF8l
We will publish them all on our social media channels and successively present them here on our website until World Ranger Day on 31 July, 2024.
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