While caring for orphaned elephants was the immediate priority, the initiative quickly revealed a simple truth: wildlife can only be protected when the people responsible for safeguarding it are properly supported. Rangers needed greater operational capacity, training, welfare support and resources to effectively safeguard Zambia’s wildlife and respond to growing pressures facing protected areas. At the same time, communities living alongside wildlife needed to see tangible benefits from conservation in order to become active partners in protecting it.
From these beginnings, Game Rangers International expanded its mission beyond wildlife rescue to strengthen the entire conservation system that protects Zambia’s natural heritage. Today, GRI delivers a range of science-based initiatives that work together to save wildlife and wild spaces. Together, these efforts contribute to three key areas of impact:
• Nature Protection – strengthening frontline wildlife law enforcement to combat poaching and safeguard protected areas.
• Wildlife Rescue – rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured and orphaned wildlife to the wild.
• Community Outreach – working with communities living alongside protected areas to reduce human–wildlife conflict, strengthen livelihoods and support local participation in conservation.
GRI’s work now reaches thousands of community members, students and conservation professionals each year, while also continuing to care for some of Zambia’s most iconic rescued wildlife. Since its inception, GRI has responded to over 65 elephant rescue cases across Zambia. Following rehabilitation journeys that can span more than a decade, 19 once-orphaned elephants now roam free - one even raising wild calves of her own, a powerful sign that these elephants are returning to a landscape where they can thrive.
By empowering rangers through nature protection, wildlife rescue and community engagement, GRI contributes to a broader vision: a future where Zambia’s wildlife thrives because the people protecting it are supported and valued.
Explore conservation in action: Visit the GRI-Wildlife Discovery Centre in Lusaka National Park (open daily 09:00-15:00, with orphaned elephant viewing from 11:45 to 13:00)
