Much of RWCA’s initial focus has been on the endangered grey crowned crane, which is threatened across its range by habitat loss and poaching. Their activities include raising awareness of the legal and conservation status of cranes, identifying and registering, and then subsequently rehabilitating and reintroducing captive cranes, and working with local communities around key areas to reduce poaching and trade.

Around the Rugezi Marsh, RWCA have worked with an existing cooperative of ex-poachers, establishing a pig farm as an alternative income source and training them as marsh rangers to assist with law enforcement and crane monitoring. In Akagera National Park they have distributed a conservation comic book to schoolchildren, educating them about cranes and discouraging them from taking eggs and chicks, and also ran a workshop for local leaders to raise awareness and improve law enforcement.

Species Protected: Grey Crowned Crane