On patrol with the wildlife rangers of Chinko – photo essay

Suspected poachers caught in Chinko arrive at the park’s main base. Photograph: Jack Losh

Deep in the heart of Africa, a dedicated group of rangers patrol the Chinko nature reserve. In baking equatorial heat, they are weighed down with body armour and camouflage fatigues. Beads of sweat run down their faces; mosquitos whine. The men keep watch over a vast patchwork of savanna and rainforest in the Central African Republic – a country mired in civil strife and one of the many frontlines of a poaching war that spans the continent and reaches across the globe.

The Chinko reserve in the Central African Republic is almost twice the size of Yellowstone national park in the US. Photograph: Jack Losh

Chinko’s rangers are the guardians of an ecosystem that is home to a rich variety of species. These include buffalos, chimpanzees, forest elephants, leopards, lions and the icon of this park, the giant eland – an imposing antelope.

Spotted during an aerial patrol, hartebeest - a type of antelope - are seen bounding through the Chinko plains. Photograph: Jack Losh

A pod of hippos is spotted in the river. Photograph: Jack Losh

A family of warthogs runs across the airstrip at the main base in Chinko. Photograph: Jack Losh

With no permanent human settlement, the land around the Chinko river basin offers one of the largest intact wildernesses in central Africa. But these rangers face an array of dangers: poachers, rebel militants, cattle herders, diamond miners. All of these intruders are well-armed and determined to rip out the resources from this remote sanctuary.

Rangers arrive at Chinko’s shooting range to practise firing a recently arrived haul of machine-guns. Photograph: Jack Losh

Rangers cover their ears as an assistant law-enforcement manager fires one of the powerful machine-guns at Chinko’s shooting range. Photograph: Jack Losh

Rangers and other Chinko workers watch a French Ligue 1 football game projected onto a big screen at the end of the working day. Photograph: Jack Losh

Rangers practise taking apart and reassembling their rifles during a training session. Photograph: Jack Losh

Rangers go on a morning jog down the main airstrip. Photograph: Jack Losh

At the end of a meeting, Simpson joins the elders in prayer. Photograph: Jack Losh

Day-to-day, Chinko is managed by David Simpson, a 30-year-old from North Yorkshire.

Poaching and cattle migrations would present enough of a conservation headache. But the struggle to protect Chinko is made even harder by a brutal armed conflict that has engulfed the country for years. War broke out in 2013 when a predominantly-Muslim rebel coalition known as the Séléka overthrew the government and committed widespread atrocities.

An alliance of mostly Christian militias known as the anti-balaka carried out vicious reprisals, with subsequent clashes killing thousands. After a brief lull, the Séléka splintered into rival groups, with violence uprooting hundreds of thousands of people. Last year, fighting brought the country’s humanitarian crisis to Chinko. Militants attacked a nearby town and forced more than 300 civilians into the reserve; Chinko’s employees have offered them food and shelter, and, more recently, helped them return home.

One afternoon, several Chinko employees flew out by helicopter to meet with the displaced community sheltering in the park. Photograph: Jack Losh

A representative of the Central African government accompanies the visit to civilians who were forced from their homes by vicious fighting and into Chinko. Photograph: Jack Losh

War broke out in 2013 when a rebel coalition known as the Séléka overthrew the government, committed widespread atrocities against civilians and put in power the country’s first Muslim president. Photograph: Jack Losh

Chinko is run by African Parks, a conservation non-profit with a 1,000-strong ranger force that operates in a network of reserves spanning 10.5m hectares across nine countries.

Simpson, the park manager, (left) inspects a bush plane undergoing repairs inside a hanger at Chinko. Photograph: Jack Losh

Lebron Baroka, an 18-year-old from a militia-controlled town called Bangassou, works as a tailor at Chinko. Photograph: Jack Losh

Sunday is wash-day. Chinko workers head down to the forest near the reserve’s main camp to chill in the shade, listen to music and wash their clothes and other belongings in a stream. Photograph: Jack Losh

Oumar Abdouly, 24, recuperates in Chinko’s clinic after falling ill with parasites. Photograph: Jack Losh

Dieudonné, a ranger, returns from patrol and hands his weapon over to senior ranger Saint-Cyr in Chinko’s armoury. Photograph: Jack Losh

Last year, the organisation says its rangers removed more than 48,000 snares and traps, confiscated almost 50 tonnes of bushmeat and helped secure 282 convictions. “Rangers are the frontline defence against the intense and ever-present risk of poaching in Africa’s critical conservation areas,” said African Parks CEO, Peter Fearnhead. “Their efforts are building a future in which people and wildlife can benefit from stable and ecologically functioning landscapes.”

Cédric Ganière, one of the Chinko’s pilots, flies over a bushfire on the savannah in his tiny, two-seater plane during a mission to spot blazes lit by cattle herders. Photograph: Jack Losh

Each dry season, armed nomads lead thousands of cows from Chad and Sudan towards grasslands further south, poaching wildlife on the side and lighting massive wildfires.

On the back of a 4x4, a unit of rangers heads back to base through the parched trees on Chinko’s savannah. The training process is stringent and the men face well-armed poachers when on patrol. Photograph: Jack Losh

The River Chinko winds through the south of this vast park, surrounded by lush tropical forest. In its waters are fish, crocodiles and hippo - all attractive targets for poachers who sneak into the reserve. Photograph: Jack Losh

A pirogue carrying a suspected poacher and his equipment is spotted on the River Vovodo in the park’s south-east. Photograph: Jack Losh

Two rangers pose for a photo next to machetes, knives, spades and other equipment which have been confiscated from poachers and laid out at Chinko’s HQ. Photograph: Jack Losh

In recent years, cattle swarmed through the park. But outreach campaigns, ranger patrols and the occasional shoot-out have pushed out these herders and their mass of cows, creating an environment for wildlife to thrive once more. In this, one of the most anarchic and marginalised areas on Earth, Chinko’s rangers are the region’s sole security force.

Davis, a Chinko employee, monitors various screens in the park’s control room where software plots ranger movement, bushfires and other crucial information on a Google Earth map. Photograph: Jack Losh

Such threats are by no means confined only to Chinko. In wildlife reserves across the world, rangers put their lives on the line daily to protect our shared natural heritage from poachers whose brutal trade is fuelled by the insatiable demand for bushmeat, ivory, animal skin and traditional medicine.

After days of pursuit, Chinko’s rangers have caught two suspected poachers deep in the Chinko bush. A raid on a their camp uncovered shotguns, machetes and carcasses of antelope, buffalo, crocodile, hippo and monkey. Photograph: Jack Losh

Two suspected poachers arrested deep in the Chinko bush are escorted to a helicopter, which will fly back to base. There, the men will be questioned in a holding cell. Photograph: Jack Losh

Suspected poachers caught in Chinko arrive at the park’s main base. Rangers put them in handcuffs, sit them down together, then take them to a holding cell. The moment is the culmination of a week-long operation by Chinko’s law-enforcement and aerial patrol teams. Photograph: Jack Losh

Rangers frogmarch suspected poachers to a holding cell at the park’s main base. Three days later, Chinko’s management will be left with no choice but to pay for a helicopter that will take the group to the capital and transfer them into CAR’s justice system. Photograph: Jack Losh

July 31 each year is World Ranger day– an occasion that commemorates the rangers killed or injured in the field. The day also celebrates the work of these courageous men and women who protect the planet’s endangered species and natural treasures, often at great personal sacrifice, far from their families.