U.S. outfitter REI donated a container of gear worth about $100,000 to outfit Namibia’s 500 game wardens who fight poachers on 25-day shifts with little more than the clothes on their back, according to a report in Outside.

Five hundred men working for their communities to keep track of Namibia’s rhinos, elephants, lions and other big game will now have REI sleeping bags, backpacks, Black Diamond headlamps, Gerber knives, Smartwool socks, Columbia sun hats, lip balm, T-shirts and water bottles, the report said.

Namibia has the lowest incidence of poaching in Southern Africa, a region plagued by diminishing wildlife. That’s because the Namibian people are invested in keeping wildlife alive, Outside reports. Since its independence in 1990, Namibia has become the most successful example of community-based tourism and the most successful example of big game recovery in the world.

Twenty-three years after independence, Namibia has 49 Namibian-owned joint venture lodges. In 1998, it had four conservancies. Now there are 69 occupying 19 percent of the country, including one that is part of a five-country park. Namibia’s most-wanted poacher became a leader of its 500 game guards. The game guards are at the heart of Namibia’s wildlife recovery success, Outside reports.

It’s these game guards that caught REI’s attention. They rotate through 25-day cycles in the bush tracking and monitoring animals, curtailing poaching however they can with little more than the clothes on their backs.

REI plays host to adventure trips in Namibia, and this isn’t the first time it’s made a big gear donation in a country where it hosts adventures. It has invested in green energy projects in Nepal, worked with the Nature Conservancy on reforestation efforts in North America, and runs voluntourism trips to Machu Picchu, Yosemite and other locations. But the Namibia donation is making REI rethink how it supports “the triple crown of community, environment and tourism,” Outside reports.

“The stories we heard on the ground in Namibia reinforced over and over that tourism can change local people’s lives for the better,” said Cynthia Dunbar, General Manager of REI Adventures.  “And it can help sustain cultures. The stories that I heard in Namibia personally and professionally inspired me to get involved, to get REI involved.”

Namibia has some of the lowest incidence of poaching of any countries that are home to the “Big Five” – elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion and rhino. It has the largest free-roaming population of black rhino, a growing population of lions, and the biggest cheetah population in the world. Elephants are recovering while migration routes for many animals are being re-established.

Recreational Equipment Inc., commonly known as REI, is a privately held U.S.-based retail corporation organized as a consumers’ cooperative, selling outdoor recreation gear, sporting goods, and clothing.