MASS Rhino Dehorning Mission 

south africa

Hoedspruit, South Africa

August 09 - 16, 2026

$7,290 USD

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Step into the story

This mission centres on a live rhino protection operation on a working reserve in South Africa.

During this period, you become part of the operational team, working alongside experienced veterinary and field staff - including Dr Chloe Buiting, Dr Joel Alves and Dr Ben Muller - during an active dehorning and monitoring program. Your role is practical and purposeful, contributing to real interventions rather than observing from the sidelines. The objective is clear: reduce poaching risk and strengthen long-term monitoring for both white and black rhinos.

Global Protagonists funds the operation in full and brings a small, carefully selected group into the field to contribute as part of the wider team. This is not a demonstration or a training exercise. It is active conservation, unfolding in real time, shaped by weather, animal movement, aviation availability, and operational priorities.

Participants work within the realities of active field operations, where decisions are made quickly and plans adapt to conditions on the ground. Priorities shift with weather, animal movement, and operational constraints, and flexibility is essential. 

The emphasis throughout is on meaningful contribution rather than comfort.

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$7,290 USD

Payment Options
  • 20% Non-refundable Deposit
  • 80% Outstanding Balance
  • Full Payment
* By booking a trip with The Global Protagonists, you confirm your acceptance of the terms and conditions outlined in this document .

OVERVIEW

Four years ago, we conducted our first rhino dehorning at Selati.

It was a focused intervention at a time of sustained poaching pressure. Since then, the reserve has continued its commitment to proactive rhino protection – combining dehorning, monitoring, and broader wildlife management to reduce risk and strengthen long-term security.

This mission returns to the same landscape.

Selati is a private reserve within the Greater Kruger ecosystem. We live and work on site for the week, embedded with the reserve’s veterinary and conservation team. This is a small, operational field deployment capped at ten delegates.

The primary objective is straightforward – reduce poaching risk through a coordinated dehorning operation while supporting broader wildlife management activities across the reserve.

There is no demonstration element and no staged experience. This is a working conservation operation.

TEAM LEADERS

This mission is led by an experienced international team of veterinarians and conservation practitioners who work directly on the frontlines of wildlife protection. Together, they bring expertise in wildlife medicine, field operations, conservation strategy, and capacity building – ensuring participants are embedded in real conservation work alongside the professionals protecting these animals every day.

Dr Chloe Buiting

Dr Chloe Buiting is a wildlife veterinarian and conservation leader working across Africa, Asia, and Australia. After more than a decade working in frontline conservation, she co-founded Global Protagonists to help bridge the gap she repeatedly saw in the field – connecting people, expertise, and funding directly to the projects protecting wildlife on the ground, while opening pathways for the next generation of conservation professionals.

Chloe has spent over a decade working with threatened wildlife including rhinos, great apes, carnivores, and marine species. Her work combines veterinary medicine, conservation strategy, and public storytelling to support both field operations and the broader movement protecting biodiversity worldwide.

Dr Joel Alves & Dr Ben Muller

Dr Joel Alves and Dr Ben Muller are wildlife veterinarians and co-founders of WildScapes Veterinary Services, a leading conservation veterinary team operating across southern Africa. With more than a decade of experience working in wildlife health, capture operations, and conservation interventions, they are regularly involved in critical fieldwork supporting rhino protection, wildlife monitoring, and species management across private reserves and conservation areas.

Joel and Ben work at the frontline of conservation medicine, supporting operations ranging from rhino dehorning and translocations to wildlife immobilisation and veterinary care for threatened species. Their work brings together veterinary expertise and conservation strategy to ensure wildlife populations remain healthy, protected, and resilient.

Both serve on the board of Back 2 Africa, a conservation organisation focused on returning captive wildlife to protected landscapes. Through their work with WildScapes and Back 2 Africa, they play a key role in advancing practical, on-the-ground solutions for wildlife conservation in southern Africa.

THE CONSERVATION CONTEXT OF THIS MISISION

South Africa remains home to the majority of the world’s remaining white rhinos, along with significant populations of black rhinos. While there have been improvements in certain regions, poaching pressure persists.
Dehorning is not a standalone solution. It does not end the crisis.
It is one tool among many.

When carried out properly and repeated as needed, dehorning reduces the immediate financial incentive for illegal killing. It decreases risk to individual animals and buys time for broader security measures to take hold. When paired with collaring, monitoring, and intelligence-led protection, it becomes a meaningful layer within a larger strategy.

At Selati, dehorning forms part of an integrated management plan that includes:
  • Ongoing surveillance and anti-poaching infrastructure
  • Veterinary health monitoring
  • Population identification and data collection
  • Habitat and broader species management
Collaring strengthens response capacity by improving real-time monitoring and enabling teams to detect issues earlier and allocate resources more effectively.

These interventions are operationally demanding and financially significant. Aviation, veterinary teams, tracking equipment, fuel, logistics, and reserve security all require sustained funding.

This mission directly contributes to the cost and execution of that work. Without resources for these fundamentals, protection efforts slow. With them, they continue.

WHAT WE'LL DO

Over the week, you will operate as part of a small field team alongside wildlife veterinarians, reserve managers, and rangers.

Planned activities include:
  • Dehorning of 20-30 white and black rhinos
  • Deploy 5–15 tracking collars
  • Individual identification and documentation
  • Health assessments during immobilisation
  • Monitoring recovery and safe release
  • Additional wildlife management procedures as scheduled by the reserve
The reserve supports a diversity of species typical of Greater Kruger – elephant, buffalo, large predators, antelope species, and smaller carnivores. Wildlife conservation interventions beyond rhinos will depend on operational priorities during that week.

Field days begin early. Operations are dictated by weather, animal movement, and security considerations.

Flexibility is essential.

HOW THE MISSION WILL RUN

Four years on from our first dehorning at Selati, returning is not symbolic – it is practical.

Rhino protection requires repetition. Horn regrows. Risk shifts. Monitoring must continue.

Sustained engagement, not one-off intervention, is what changes outcomes.
By funding and participating in this operation, you are directly contributing to:
  • The physical dehorning of rhinos on site
  • The veterinary and logistical costs of the intervention
  • Ongoing monitoring infrastructure
  • Reserve-level conservation capacity
This is conservation work measured in individuals protected, procedures completed, and risk
reduced. Nothing more. Nothing less.

INCLUSIONS & EXCLUSIONS

Includes: 
  • Accommodation on site at Selati Game Reserve
  • All meals (dietary requirements catered for)
  • All in-country ground transport
  • Airport transfers to and from Hoedspruit
  • Field permits and operational logistics
  • All field activities
  • Safari
  • Dedicated group leader
  • End-of-mission Impact Report
Excludes: International flights and personal travel insurance

ACCOMODATION & LOGISTICS

Location Base
We are based within Selati Game Reserve for the full duration of the mission. Accommodation is comfortable but field-oriented – clean, practical, and designed for operational work rather than tourism.

Living On Site
Staying inside the reserve allows full immersion in the daily rhythm of conservation management. Evenings are typically spent reviewing the day’s operations, preparing for upcoming procedures, and engaging in structured discussions around rhino protection strategy, private reserve governance, and the realities of working under sustained poaching pressure.

Group Size
The mission is capped at 10 delegates. This ensures operational integrity and allows each individual to contribute meaningfully to the field team.

Arrival & Departure
Participants fly into Hoedspruit (HDS) – a short domestic flight from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport. We will meet the group in Hoedspruit and transfer together to Selati Reserve. Further travel guidance and recommended flight windows will be provided upon confirmation.
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Where Protection Happens in Real Time

This mission places you inside an active rhino protection operation, where your participation directly supports veterinary interventions, aerial operations, and long-term monitoring on the reserve. Through Global Protagonists, every contribution funds the operational realities required to reduce poaching risk and safeguard both white and black rhinos. Plans adapt to weather, terrain, and animal movement, reflecting the true nature of field conservation. You leave with a clear understanding of what was achieved, and the role you played in keeping a population secure.