The all-women ranger force, as chronicled in the documentary, Akashinga: The Brave Ones, directed by Maria Wilhelm and produced by three-time Academy Award winner, James Cameron, patrol 1.3 million acres of wilderness and have achieved significant results, including a 90 percent reduction in elephant poaching since 2016 when the program was initiated. Akashinga is a community-driven conservation model, empowering disadvantaged women—trained by experts in conservation and law enforcement, to restore and preserve a network of wilderness areas as an alternative to trophy hunting and bush-meat markets. 

 

Empowered by Light and SimpliPhi Power partnered to deliver a resilient renewable energy system to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation’s (IAPF) Akashinga Ranger Program. The Akashinga Rangers, on the front lines of animal poaching and climate change, are now fully powered by renewable energy.​

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The renewable energy system, comprised of 10-kilowatts of solar panels and 45 kilowatt-hours of energy storage, provides reliable, uninterrupted power to the IAPF’s training facilities in Zimbabwe’s Lower Zambezi Valley with five indoor classrooms, a lecture theater, an industrial kitchen, dining area, laundry room and water well, all of which support the Akashinga rangers. 

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