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2026 Safari – 13 Days Departs 24 September 2026

Please get in touch should you like further information for the 2027 Safari.

2025 September safari feedback!

‘I just wanted to thank you and the team for an incredible experience. We’ve been lucky enough to travel a fair bit but in terms of holidays this one for me beats the lot. I was simply blown away.’  Rebecca, 2024

Rhino Ranger Support Scheme AND Unique Ear Notching Trip, 18-28 August 2026.  Even if you have absolutely no intention of going, please just watch these videos for a better idea about it all – it’s really worth it, so interesting!

ATTENTION ALL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ENTHUSIASTS – THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE RIPPER, THE BEST WE CAN BRING YOU.

Good morning, we are delighted to be bringing you our fourth, action-packed, combined rhino ranger experience for three days, together with three days of ear notching, plus a visit to the celebrated Imire Game Ranch, a breeding centre for rhinos. What a combination, worth countless thousands. Please read the summaries below, chew on it, and then contact me to reserve your spot, strictly limited spaces available. Hear from you soon, Nicholas.

On arrival in Zimbabwe, we spend our first night at the Bronte Garden Hotel, inviting a few local conservation VIPs to dinner with us.

Then it’s off to Imire Game Ranch in the morning, the first ranch to receive orphaned rhino calves from the rhino wars in the Zambezi Valley, way back in 1987 – they are true rhino raising pioneers! See lots of game, close up and personal, including rhinos – we may even get to feed some!

Rhino Ranger Support Scheme (RRSS); 21-23 August 2026

Our most popular trip has always been the Rhino Ranger Support Scheme, departing Perth on 18 August. Come along, it’s an amazing three days in the field with Bryce and his anti poaching team in Save Valley Conservancy.  We pump about $600,000 per year into this project and this is one of the ways we can continue to sustain our resources.

There’ll be a bit of EVERYTHING for you!  Game viewing, meeting the rangers, rhino tracking, local clinic visit, visiting the new all female boundary guards, dog squad demonstration, visiting the $70,000 ranger base improvements courtesy of the Australian Embassy in Harare and ourselves, interesting discussions, and whatever else happens at the time.  You’ll be at the coalface of rhino conservation.

But hurry, there are really only 8 more spots available, as pre launch bookings have been exceptional.

These three adventurous days are then followed by three more of ear notching activities.  Fees charged by other wildlife organisations are in excess of $2,000 per day! One US agency is selling a similar trip for $35,000!!

You’d have read that we fund the annual ear notching/calf naming in August. This is all explained in the article below by Heather Atwell and Lynn Johnson, based on their personal experiences. Why not sponsor a rhino name for $2,500, help the project grow, and have the pleasure of following your rhino’s growth and progress in the years to come? 80 members have done this before. We have 5 names still available so contact me quickly please.
And, we have eight places available where you can spend four days in the field with the vet team, and see all this happening in real time. We depart on 2 August, have seven nights in Save Valley Conservancy, a night at the Bronte on the way there and back, and then home or go somewhere else. This wonderful experience is a mere $8,250, all inclusive, including a donation of $3,000. Express your interest now, please! Please read on for more information on this adventure.

Unique Ear Notching Trip;  24-27 August 2026

You’d have previously read that we fund the annual ear notching/calf naming in August. This is all explained in the article below by Heather Atwell and Lynn Johnson, based on their personal experiences. Why not sponsor a rhino name for $2,500, help the project grow, and have the pleasure of following your rhino’s growth and progress in the years to come? 90 members have done this before. We have 15 names still available so contact me quickly please.

And, we have eight places available where you can spend three days in the field with the vet team, and see all this happening in real time. We depart on 18 August, have six nights in Save Valley Conservancy, a night at the Bronte on the way there and one at Imire, and air charter back to Harare on 27th, and then home or go somewhere else. This wonderful experience is a mere $8,950, all inclusive, including a donation of $3,000. Express your interest now, please! Please read on for more information on this adventure.

Protecting rhinos is difficult and the starting point is to know just which individual you are actually looking at.
For many years now, the Save African Rhino Foundation, together with our members and supporters ,have covered ear notching operations in several locations in Zimbabwe. So, just what’s in a notch?
Ear notching, where a one-off pattern of notches is cut out of a rhino’s ear, means that each individual rhino can be tracked and monitored for its lifetime, with all sightings and locations recorded.
Sightings can be fleeting, with ears spotted over the top of dense vegetation, and often from a distance. Rangers must be ready with their cameras to photograph the notched ears, as there is no room for uncertainty when tracking rhinos. Regular sightings are required to comply with population audit conditions, and if the time between sighting an individual rhino is a little too long, the security team make finding the elusive rhino a priority, starting in the locations the rhino has historically been sighted.

This system is essential to accurately record the population and verify the safety of the rhinos.

But ear notching goes beyond security, it enables the health of the rhino to be monitored and veterinary care to be deployed quickly when needed. It is also used to ensure that the genetic diversity of key rhino populations is maintained by monitoring rhino interactions, together with the removed ear notch providing a sample for the ever-growing rhino DNA database.
Ensuring the genetic diversity of Zimbabwe’s rhino population is of growing importance. In 2021 Zimbabwe reached a wonderful milestone, with the country’s rhino population numbering more than 1,000 for the first time in 30 years, and it’s now more than 1,500.
Now the overall population numbers are much brighter, key is to ensure genetic diversity remains strong. In the future, individual rhinos will need to be relocated between populations within the country. Ear-notching is a key part of the growing strategy to maintain a genetically strong rhino population.

All this explains why the ear-notch is top notch in securing a long-term, positive future for rhinos in Zimbabwe and beyond. Which is why SARF needs your help for the 2026 rhino ops in SVC. There are at least 25 young candidates, in the 18-30 months age bracket, who are ready for ear-notching.

SARF has had  the opportunity to fly donors to Zimbabwe to be a part of this rare privilege for the past four years, and we are very excited that this year there are a few opportunities to be offered for notching donors to be present and observe this critical activity taking place.

The experience of observing “rhino ops” first hand is never forgotten. Once the immobilising dart has taken effect and the rhino goes down, the veterinary team moves in, the rhino is blindfolded, and his ears are blocked to reduce distress as much as possible while they work quickly to get the job done. The team’s work is over in a matter of minutes, the immobilising reversal drug injected and the rhino watched from a distance until the vets are happy it has fully recovered from the operation.

SARF is very proud to be play a small part in this critical work, which is why we this year we are again putting out the call to our supporters to help with the 2026 rhino ops.

Join Ross and Jacky, and the many other SARF donors who have rhinos named after them roaming the magnificent parks and conservancies of Zimbabwe. This is a great way of making your rhino conservation commitment truly personal.

Contact Nicholas ASAP to sponsor your rhino’s ear notching, chose a name and express your interest in being on the ground to see the whole procedure taking place!

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES;
1. Sponsor a rhino’s name for a tax deductible donation of $2,500.
2. Attend six days of expert rhino ranger experiences, game viewing, rhino ear notching and maybe christen your own rhino, all for just $8,950 – wow!

NB  This trip is available to guests of all ages and it’s not necessary to be donating a rhino name in order to attend.

Nicholas Duncan OAM
President

P  +61 412 688 565    |   M  +61 417 937 655 (whatsapp only) 
 229 Oxford Street, Leederville, Western Australia 6007
nicholas@savefoundation.org.au   |   www.savefoundation.org.au

For more information here

Photos from previous trips, Best of Wildlife viewing in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Etosha