Hundreds of thousands of people live and work on the shores of the Great Lakes and rivers of East Africa where death due to drowning is a tragic reality.

Five years ago there was no independant waterborne search and rescue service; the National Lake Rescue Institute (NLRI) was founded to help fill this void.

NLRI uses an integrated approach to identify and address the issues and needs of these communities in order to develop appropriate search and rescue (SAR) capabilities .

The development of a search and rescue service is far more complex than simply providing “rescue boats and stations”, especially when the most basic infrastructure is often lacking.

We focus our activities on an integrated approach namely: Communication, Education and Floatation, which enables us to introduce the skills necessary for the evolution of a waterborne emergency response in some of the most marginalised areas in Africa.

In parallel we work with corporate partners and government to improve such things as mobile phone coverage and marine safety regulations.