Namibia's black rhino (Diceros bicornis bicornis) population which inhabits communal land in the Kunene Province (previously Kaokoland and Damaraland), was heavily poached in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kaokoland's rhino numbers were reduced to only 10 animals, while Damaraland had between 50 and 60 left. The entire population would certainly have been exterminated if it were not for the timely intervention of locally-based conservationists in 1981 and 1982, to which the Damara, Herero and Himba people gave their full support. Since then, patrols and monitoring of the rhino population have been part of a joint venture between NGOs, Namibia's wildlife authorities and the local community game guards, who give advice about wildlife problems in their communal areas and report to their headmen.