The Prince of Wales will celebrate the work of leading Africa-based conservationists at the annual Tusk Conservation Awards to be held next month at Hampton Court Palace.

The Tusk Conservation Awards celebrate African-based conservation leaders and wildlife rangers, and their significant impacts to the field. This year will see the award ceremony held at the royal palace on Tuesday, November 1st.

Prince William has been royal patron of the charity since 2005 and helped launch the awards in 2013. This year will mark the prestigous conversation awards' 10th anniversary which has worked to provide a spotlight on the work of conservation leaders and wildlife rangers in Africa.

The awards' 10th year comes at a critical time for conservation. The future of Africa's wildlife and protected spaces have taken centre stage in biodiversity conversations taking place around the world.

To help mark the milestone, awards alumni from across Africa will come together to celebrate at this year's event, including Ben Kanyembo, a Law Enforcement Advisor at Conservation South Luangwa in Zambia, who helped to reduce elephant morality rates by 66% between 2018-2020, and Edward Ndiritu, Head of Anti-Poaching at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, who has sustained a poaching level of near zero for seven years and counting across the Lewa landscape.

Following the opportunity to meet with this year's finalists and learn more about their vital work, His Royal Highness will take part in the awards presentation.

The first of the three Tusk Conservation Award finalists is David Daballen.

Mr Daballen is an ambassador for elephants. During the past 20 years, he has been involved in more than 100 collaring operations and can identify 500 individuals.

David Daballen monitoring elephants in the Samburu National Reserve (Image credit: Sarah Marshall).

Next up is Miguel Gonçalves based in Mozambique. Mr Gonçalves has worked within the Maputo National Park since 1999, becoming Park Warden in 2008.

Under Mr Gonçalves' inspirational leadership across the last 12 years, the park has changed dramatically from a free-for-all-hunting ground to a landscape able to support the thriving populations of wildlife and recovering ecosystems, both in the ocean and on land.

Miguel with a school group (Image credit: Sarah Marshall).

Dismas Partalala Ole Meitaya, located in Tanzania, is the third finalist shortlisted for the 2022 Tusk Conservation Award.

Mr Partalala, a Maasai from the Loliondo district, is a true grassroots conservationist – someone whose first priority is helping indigenous communities secure their rights over their lands and natural resources, define conservation from their cultural perspective, and build a durable system of land and wildlife protection on that foundation.

Dismas Partalala in the field.

In his role as a programme coordinator for Ujamaa Community Resource Team, the 48-year-old self-taught conservationist has been instrumental in securing land rights for the local Hadzabe community, with 100,500 hectares of land secured by law since 2011.

Neddy Mulilmo, is the recipient of the 2022 Wildlife Ranger Award. For 36 years Mr Mulilmo has dedicated his life to conservation. His passion and drive  are the reason he was selected to run an elite and highly targeted Specialist Anti-Poaching Unit in 2008. 

Neddy Mulimo, Zambia, is the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award Winner for 2022.

As a mentor and instructor, he is an inspiration to many young rangers with whom he works. He assists all his units with a quiet determination, and actively lobbies on their behalf to improve working conditions.

Following the awards ceremony at Hampton Court Palace on the 1st November, the following day will see the Prince of Wales join this year's winner and alumni from previous awards and conservation experts at St James's Palace.

The occasion will offer an opportunity for Africa's leading conservationists to share their knowledge, collective experience and expertise with the goal of motivating greater collaboration, innovation and to build a greater resilience across the continent.

The trailer below provides further information on the Tusk Conservation Awards and profiles this year's finalists.

Visit the Tusk Conservation website here to discover more on this year's finalists, previous alumni and the work that continues to be carried out across Africa.