Black Mambas Visit the UK

Sunday 13 March 2016

February 2016 saw the first ever visit to the UK by members of the Black Mambas, South Africa's first all female anti-poaching unit.

Hosted by Helping Rhinos, Black Mamba team members Siphiwe Sithole and Felicia Mogakane gave talks at Port Lympne Reserve in Kent, ZSL London Zoo and also attended a very special Reception at Carpenters' Hall to receive the inaugural Helping Rhinos Innovation in Conservation Award, which was presented by Lord Frederick Windsor and HRH Princess Katarina of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

The Carpenters' Hall Reception, hosted by Sir Gavyn Arthur and sponsored by RACS Group, also saw the formal launch of our Protection in Perpetuity initiative and the creation of special Wildlife Conservation Sites - protecting land for wildlife, forever. Click Here to see a full review of the event and also pictures of our guests

In addition to Siphiwe and Felicia giving an insight into life as a Black Mamba, our guests also heard from Helping Rhinos Founder Simon Jones on the work of Helping Rhinos and Richard Vigne, CEO of Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, who spoke about how science is helping to save the northern white rhino and about Ol Pejeta becming a founder Wildlife Conservation Site. and expanding theor partnership with Helping Rhinos.

An Evening With Helping Rhinos at Carpenters' Hall also saw the debut of the new Helping Rhinos documentary featuring our work woth the Black Mambas. Click Here to watch the film or scroll to the bottom of this page.

The Black mambas' visit to the UK created much interest in the media, and Siphiwe and Felicia were feature in stories in the Guardian online and Mail online as well as an appearance on the Nicky Campbell Breakfast show on BBC 5Live and a studios interview on SKY News.

We would like to thank Siphiwe and Felicia for travelling to the UK to help us promote our partnership with the Black Mambas and to Phil Liggett for rescheduling his diary to be with us and conduct the chat with Siphiwe and Felicia. Similarly a big thank you to Richard Vigne for travelling from Kenya to be with us.

Thanks also to our headline sponsor for both the Carpenters' Hall reception and bringing the Black Mambas to the UK - RACS Group and our event co-sponsor Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

The week of events proved a great success, and SIphiwe and Felicia enjoyed seeing some of the sights London has to offer, even if the cold temperatures were a bit a shock after the warm African sun!

We hope you enjoy the below pictures of the Black Mambas' first ever visit to the UK: