Name/Title
Samuel LowareEntry/Object ID
PIE4272Description
Being shot earlier this year was one of the lowest points in the career of Ugandan wildlife ranger Samuel Loware, but it was not the worst. In 2009, his commander was shot in a gun battle with Sudanese poachers. He also saw two soldiers die on an operation against buffalo hunters.
All three incidents highlight the rising risks of his profession. Rangers are now dying at a rate of 100 a year, according to Thin Green Line, an NGO which lobbies for greater protection for nature’s frontline protectors.
Conflicts are increasingly militarised as wildlife becomes rarer and more valuable, while poachers are armed with ever more advanced weaponry. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the most dangerous country for rangers.
But the Kidepo Valley national park, which Loware has been guarding since 2000, is also vulnerable because it sits close to Uganda’s border with South Sudan. As well as fending off local poachers, Loware has to defend zebras, elephants, ostriches and other species from raiders from the Sudanese People’s Liberation army, who are armed with AK47s and Kalashnikovs. Most just want food. Some supply lucrative markets for ivory and bone-marrow to China and Vietnam.
Loware is paid less than £150 a month. He has thought of quitting, but believes someone must be a guardian of nature. “I decided that for the love of conservation, for the love of the rest of my colleagues and for the love of the country, let us work.”Edition
Edition Size
5Edition Number
1Location
Building
BANKWorkplace
Workshop17Province
GautengValuations
Valuation Type
PricingValue
ZAR 5,800.00Date
Jun 20, 2025Intake
Notes
Thom Pierce (born 1978 in Jersey, Channel Islands) is an award-winning British photographic artist, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.General Notes
Note
Claudia@workshop17.com