Rally For Rangers

There are many ways to contribute to protecting our planet, and meaningful impact does not always require writing a cheque. One of the most unique conservation initiatives we have encountered is Rally for Rangers, an adventure-driven movement that equips park rangers with motorcycles and essential equipment to help protect some of the world’s most remote and valuable wild landscapes.

“Rally for Rangers is one of the coolest tourism-for-good initiatives for anyone interested in combining the two things they love most – motorcycles and the outdoors.”

Forbes

What Is Rally for Rangers?

We first came across Rally for Rangers in 2018 while leading an expedition in Mongolia that used the same technology NASA employs to explore Mars in the search for dinosaur fossils. We have followed their work ever since.

Rally for Rangers exists to support the people protecting the world’s wild and culturally significant places. By providing motorcycles and critical equipment, they empower rangers to patrol larger areas, respond more quickly to threats, and do their jobs more effectively. These men and women are often underfunded, under resourced, and working in challenging conditions, yet they continue to put themselves on the line to protect the natural and cultural treasures we all value.

“The only thing more rewarding and exhilarating than riding over 1,500 kilometres of dirt, mud, and river bottom is handing over the keys to an (almost) new motorcycle, so these rangers can better protect the incredible natural and cultural resources.”

Says the Rally for Rangers website.

How It All Started

In 2013, former U.S. National Park Ranger Robert “Mac” McIntosh was volunteering with the Mongol Ecology Center, assisting managers at Lake Hovsgol National Park near Mongolia’s northern border. As they reviewed planning documents with the park’s chief ranger, Enkhtaivan, a call came in. An illegal campsite had been discovered on park land nearby. Mac watched as Enkhtaivan immediately jumped on his motorcycle to respond, only for it to break down. It was not an isolated incident. Rangers across the country were routinely unable to pursue or respond to illegal poachers, miners, campers, and other threats to protected areas because they lacked reliable equipment.

Mac had seen enough. He told Wesley Thornberry, co-founder of Rally for Rangers, and Ono Batkhuu, founder of the Mongol Ecology Center, that he would buy a new motorcycle, ride it across Mongolia, and personally deliver it so Enkhtaivan could do his job safely and effectively. Upon returning to the United States, Wesley shared the story with friends and asked, “Who’s in?” Rally for Rangers was born. “Having the motorcycles changes how we do our job. Before, we would spend three days going somewhere on horse, but now we spend a half day going on the motorcycle,” says Batdorj Davaa, a National Park Ranger in Mongolia.

The First Rally

The first Rally for Rangers was held in 2014, and nobody knew quite how it would unfold. The plan seemed simple enough: find fifteen riders, purchase fifteen motorcycles, and ride more than 1,500 kilometres across Mongolia’s northern steppe before donating the bikes to park rangers in need. The journey quickly proved far more demanding than anyone expected. On the very first day, one rider crashed and broke a collarbone. Two days later, two more riders were forced to withdraw. The rugged Russian military support truck soon began filling with motorcycles whose riders could no longer continue.

Then came the rain. The mud. The sand. Every kilometre became a test of endurance.

By the time the rally reached its final destination, only six of the original fifteen riders remained in the saddle. Yet despite the setbacks, every motorcycle made it to the finish line. Fifteen bikes were handed over to fifteen rangers, giving them a powerful new tool to help protect one of the world’s most vast and sacred landscapes. What began as an ambitious experiment became something much bigger: a movement. Inspired by the impact they had witnessed firsthand, the founders and participants kept going, and Rally for Rangers has continued to grow ever since.

Conservation in Mongolia

In Mongolia, Rally for Rangers partners with the Mongol Ecology Center, a non-governmental organisation working to protect and develop national parks around the country and create “sister park” relationships with protected areas abroad. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, 30 percent of Mongolia’s GDP vanished overnight. Economically devastated, Mongolia opened over half of its pristine landscape to foreign business to develop through the extraction of huge deposits of valuable mineral resources and the ever increasing demand for animal products.

Due to these unprecedented changes, unsustainable development and irresponsible decision-making, “Mongolia is now facing environmental challenges that threaten its natural resources and millennia old nomadic lifestyle. These changes are all the more distressing to many Mongolians because respect for the environment is an important cultural part of Mongolian history dating back to Chinggis Khaan. But how can economic growth be balanced with the preservation of Mongolia’s most valued natural and cultural heritage that ensures a sustainable future?” reads the the Mongol Ecology Center website.

Initiatives like Rally for Rangers could be part of the solution. Rally for Rangers has now delivered well over 200 new motorcycles to 20 parks across 8 countries including Mongolia, Peru, Bhutan, Namibia, Nepal, Argentina, Laos, and the United States. This initiative has helped reduce poaching, illegal mining, deforestation, and forest fires by giving rangers the tools they need to patrol larger areas and respond more effectively to threats. Adventurous philanthropists from around the world continue to flock to the movement.

How to Get Involved

For those interested in taking part, the process is very straightforward. Once accepted, participants are required to cover a rally fee, which includes; a brand new motorcycle purchased and imported for donation, accommodation and meals throughout the rally, support vehicles and mechanics, translators, cultural ceremonies and a farewell dinner.

You can ask friends to donate, seek sponsorship from businesses, or fund the trip yourself. How you make it happen is entirely up to you. For more information on how the Rally for Rangers initiative works, watch the documentary film trailer.

Our Experience

Our plan was to take part in the Mongolia Rally for Rangers in our Grenadier and support the effort firsthand. Unfortunately, the day before the rally began, our entire family became seriously ill. After weighing our options, we decided it was not wise to attempt filming and documenting a demanding off-road rally, covering more than 200 kilometres a day across some of the world’s most remote and challenging terrain, while unwell and travelling with two young children. (Even though we still really wanted to…)

As a result, we do not have a firsthand story to share this time. However, we still wanted to highlight the incredible work Rally for Rangers is doing and introduce it to those who may be interested in getting involved. The mission remains inspiring. Few conservation initiatives allow participants to experience remote landscapes, support local communities, and quite literally hand over the keys to a better future for the people protecting them.

Our time and the true beauty of Mongolia can be seen in the series of four videos that starts below. Enjoy!