Running for Anti-Poaching

Le TREG ®. A 90km, non-stop Ultramarathon through some of the most dramatic and challenging regions of the Sahara Desert, the Ennedi Plateau in northern Chad. This is what 5 anti-poaching rangers from Zakouma National Park's Rapid Response Team will be doing in February 2015. A self-navigating, self-sufficient race across sand and rock, where water is only available every 30km. The aim? To send a message of encouragement and support to their fellow rangers throughout Africa.

Team Zakouma will be running for the anti-poaching rangers that give their time, and often their lives, to African conservation on a daily basis. These rangers are on the front line in the conservation fight, collectively walking thousands of kilometers every day in order to safeguard Africa’s wildlife. We would like to run 90km for them. To boost the morale of those going on patrol tomorrow morning, and to commemorate the lives of those who will never again walk through the bush. More specifically we will be running in memory of the 6 Zakouma rangers who were tragically assassinated by armed elephant poachers in 2012.

This is Chad’s first international Ultramarathon, and only the second year that it is being run. It is almost certain that the team will be the first anti-poaching team to have ever run an international Saharan Ultramarathon.

Zakouma National Park is one of the last strongholds for Central African wildlife. Since African Parks took over management in 2010, the elephant population, which had dropped from 4300 individuals in 2002 to just 450 in 2011, is finally on the increase. The dedication of the rangers in Zakouma has played an enormous role in this achievement.