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---The people behind this project are a team of local Central African + foreign expat staff in the Chinko Reserve (bordering Congo & South Sudan) trying to save wildlife from the militarized rebel poachers. They train and deploy rangers to hunt down the smugglers who have killed the majority of game wildlife and attack the local villages. Using aircraft, they support the rangers from above. They are battling the constant threats of armed poachers and rebel groups like Kony's LRA child army, actively opposing them.
The project was conceived by its founder (David Simpson) in 2012 while he was falsely imprisoned for a massacre he discovered and tried to report! (link below) In the last 30 years, poaching has driven the elephant population from 60,000 down to only a couple 100! However, in a very short time, Chinko has cleared a 3,000 sq/km "core protection zone" of all activity, and wildlife numbers have seen significant rises. Now, they are trying to expand further into the reserve, which at 17,600 sq/km is almost as big as Kruger national park, and virtually untouched!
With the loss of their ULM (an ultralight plane used for air support), they have started this campaign in the hopes to quickly get their operation back up to 100%. The few expats in the organization have spent the majority of the last years in the bush and never tried a crowdfunding medium.
The person preparing this campaign is not a PR guy, but has been an avid redditor for years. He has succeeded in convincing his boss to try bitcoin.
Here are some Imgur albums & Links:
- Album of the whole operation (graphic poaching scenes censored)
- A few shots of the ULM crash aftermath (plus.. 'MURICA!)
- For those interested in seeing the brutal reality of poaching (uncensored)
- The organization's main website & Facebook page
- Story of David's false imprisonment & escape (he was blamed for using witchcraft on his victims!)
Some words of gratitude from the Chinko Reserve team:
"As you can imagine, even on a good day our internet & power are not great. if we're offline for a bit, know that I'll be frantically trying to fix the problem… or hyenas invaded the camp and we're in a fierce man vs beast struggle for the dominant consumer of chickens in the area. Root for us, we're the good guys :) Thanks again for everything, and the amazing generosity we've received... bush life doesn't usually include much contact/attention from the outside world...this has been interesting to say the least!"
All of the funds sent to this campaign go directly to Chinko Reserve's Bitcoin address. The BitHope Foundation has no control over the received funds, on how they are spent or is in any way financially incentivized to promote this campaign. The Bitcoin address of this campaign is the official Bitcoin address for donations to Chinko Reserve as announced on the Reddit post.