Sponsor a Runner - Wildlife Protection Marathon

Mona Strack is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Tanzania's nature is a unique treasure. We would like to preserve this heritage together with the Tanzanians through educational projects and practical animal and environmental protection.

We have been working as Kilimanjaro Animal CREW (kilicrew.org) in Tanzania for many years. There we implement projects for public relations, animal welfare, species protection and environmental education (from kindergarten age to teacher training).

We understand nature conservation as a positive philosophy of life. The focus is always on nature conservation for the benefit of all people and animals living there.

One of our great efforts is to contribute to the solution of the omnipresent human-wildlife conflict.The region around the Ngorongoro Crater (World Natural and Cultural Heritage) in Tanzania is particulary affected by this. Due to heavy encroachment of farmland, wildlife habitat is becoming increasingly restricted and important migration corridors are being disrupted. Wild animals, often elephants, try to follow the centuries-old migration routes and involuntarily come up against humans; often with heavy casualties on both sides.

In order to draw attention to this conflict, to educate people both on and off-site and to develop solution strategies, we as Kilimanjaro Animal CREW would like to organize the "Ngorongoro Wildlife Protection Marathon".

Among others, we would like to invite local runners (Tribal Runners) from affected villages, who are in close contact with wildlife on a daily basis. These runners will receive extensive information on the topic before, during and after the event and will be shown ways to avoid conflicts. They will return to their villages as ambassadors and will continue to receive training and mentoring afterwards. The goal is to educate as much of the country as possible, which will promote and ensure human-wildlife coexistence.

The event will be divided into two parts:

In March 2024 the "Norongoro Wildlife Protection Marathon" will take place. This is primarily an awareness campaign. The aim is to inspire as many Tanzanians as possible to participate. On the first day there is 14-km Fun-Run and 2.5-km Family-Run with obstacles and quizzes. At the finish line there will be a festival-like event which includes access to education about the main topic. The first ideas for reversing the human-wildlife conflict into a human-wildlife coexistence will be shown. Among other things, the participation of 2,000 tribal runners is planned. These runners will receive more in-depth information on the topic before, during and after the event, and will be shown ways to avoid conflict.

On the second day a half marathon, 10-km-Ranger Challenge Run, 5-km-fun-run and 2.5-km kids run will be offered.

On this day the route passes through one of the most breathtaking areas in Africa: Ngorongoro Olduvai Gorge, an important archaeological site and known as the "Cradle of Humankind". For the 10-km-Ranger Challenge Run, we wish to invite 200 rangers who have qualified in the Africawide Ranger Challenge. In this ranger challenge, the game rangers run a half marathon - in full uniform and with a 22kg backpack on their backs.

The aim is to raise awareness among the public and other participants of the circumstances under which gamekeepers try to protect the wildlife they care about every day - so that future generations can still experience this incredible nature.

Special training is provided for the rangers before and after the marathon: They receive extensive training to rescue injured and orphaned elephant calves (first aid in elephant rescue). Our experience has shown that most elephant calves found alone can be rescued and in some cases even returned to their families. This can only succeed if the rangers have completed this special professional training.

A first pilot project already showed impressive success. The first trained ranger team was already able to successfully rescue two elephant calves, stabilize them and return them to the herd.

We ask that you support local runners and rangers. Most of the local runners and also the local rangers can neither finance the journey to the event, nor the participation in the event or the accommodation at the event location from their own means. Please help by making a donation to enable as many people as possible to participate in the event, because this is the only way to make our vision come true. A donation of 150€ covers all costs for a runner such as travel, accommodation, food, participation and support during and after the marathon.