Outstanding environmentalists

Uri-Khob has dedicated 13 years of his life to protecting and monitoring the black rhinos in the Kunene.

He began his work as a tracker in 1992. Soon he became a trainer of trackers, supervised fieldwork and working with local communities on education, conservation and rural development issues.In 2003, based on his field track record, he was accepted into a conservation biology Master’s degree overseas, for which he received high merits.His research covered social and ecological aspects within the present and historic ranges of the black rhino in northwest Namibia.The purpose of this work was to identify suitable areas to reintroduce rhinos into parts of their historic range and has resulted in increasing numbers of rhino in the Kunene.Today he is the Research Director of the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), continuing the monitoring and community development work and designing new initiatives.”His dedication, compassion, patience and fine character has allowed his to work constructively and harmoniously with a wide range of partners in a highly effective way.He is an ambassador for Black Rhino conservation and community development in the Kunene,” said NNF Executive Director Chris Brown.Recently retired, Bridgeford has dedicated a lifetime to conservation and continues to do so.He has worked in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in various national parks and also in a privately owned park.But he is probably best known for his passion for birds, particularly the vulture.He has a published a paper on birds of the Naukluft mountains and at least 15 more publications in scientific literature.For the past 15 years he has been monitoring and ringing vultures, particularly the lappet-faced vulture, having ringed around 450 of them.Farmers and farmers’ associations have developed great respect for Bridgeford, who has shown a special skill in working with them to stop the poisoning of vultures and towards better predator management and vulture conservation.”He is highly respected throughout southern Africa for his vulture conservation work, as well as for his great ability to work so well with everyone,” said Brown when handing over Bridgeford’s award.Soon he became a trainer of trackers, supervised fieldwork and working with local communities on education, conservation and rural development issues.In 2003, based on his field track record, he was accepted into a conservation biology Master’s degree overseas, for which he received high merits.His research covered social and ecological aspects within the present and historic ranges of the black rhino in northwest Namibia.The purpose of this work was to identify suitable areas to reintroduce rhinos into parts of their historic range and has resulted in increasing numbers of rhino in the Kunene.Today he is the Research Director of the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), continuing the monitoring and community development work and designing new initiatives.”His dedication, compassion, patience and fine character has allowed his to work constructively and harmoniously with a wide range of partners in a highly effective way.He is an ambassador for Black Rhino conservation and community development in the Kunene,” said NNF Executive Director Chris Brown.Recently retired, Bridgeford has dedicated a lifetime to conservation and continues to do so.He has worked in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in various national parks and also in a privately owned park.But he is probably best known for his passion for birds, particularly the vulture.He has a published a paper on birds of the Naukluft mountains and at least 15 more publications in scientific literature.For the past 15 years he has been monitoring and ringing vultures, particularly the lappet-faced vulture, having ringed around 450 of them.Farmers and farmers’ associations have developed great respect for Bridgeford, who has shown a special skill in working with them to stop the poisoning of vultures and towards better predator management and vulture conservation.”He is highly respected throughout southern Africa for his vulture conservation work, as well as for his great ability to work so well with everyone,” said Brown when handing over Bridgeford’s award.