Prince William honours African rhino ranger Edward Ndiritu

Prince William has always been one of the royals who promotes animal rights, and in support of this he recently honoured rhino ranger Edward Ndiritu, who had been fighting against the poachers in Africa.

The Duke of Cambridge awarded Ndiritu, the head of the Anti-Poaching Unit for the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya with the Wildlife Ranger Award, E! Online reported. With the accolade, the man has become the only one being honoured by William's conservation charity, Tusk Trust.

Kensington Palace tweeted the first recipient of the World Ranger Award:

Edward Ndiritu is the first recipient of The Duke's @TuskTrust World Ranger Award, recognising bravery of rangers pic.twitter.com/WfGltgvLHm

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 31, 2015

Ndiritu also took to twitter to express his appreciation for the recognition:

Ndiritu: "I am thankful for everyone’s support & greatly humbled by this recognition. Thank you’ #WorldRangerDay pic.twitter.com/gAbE8H4MYw

— Tusk (@TuskTrust) July 31, 2015

The 33-year-old son of Prince Charles congratulated Ndiritu and thanked him for his extraordinary contribution that he made towards both the protection of wildlife and increased security for the rural communities of northern Kenya. Notably, Prince William has always had an affinity for Kenyan wildlife and even proposed his wife Kate Middleton on a Kenyan safari.

William feeds a black rhino called Zawadi as he visits Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. Image Credit: Getty Images

Poaching took the lime light when one of the endangered black rhinos on the Lewa conservation was slaughtered by poachers and Cecil the Lion was tragically killed in Zimbabwe.

Watch: Ndiritu presented with the award