DESTINATIONS ACTIVE & ADVENTURE |FEMALE RANGERS


CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Lornah Musanka and team attend to an injured giraffe; Holly Budge at a How Many Elephants educational event; elephants at play


PICTURES: Georgina Goodwin; Chags Photography/Amish Chhagan; Leela Bennett


exper expert ASK THE


Holly budge founder,


How Many Elephants


Holly Budge established UK- registered charity How Many Elephants to educate people about the negative impacts of the African elephant ivory trade. She also co-founded the annual World Female Ranger Day, designed to shine a light on female rangers and provide funding to organisations including the Cottars Wildlife Conservation Trust. She says: “We need to work


charged, but we all managed to get out unscathed apart from a radio, which was dropped and trampled by the buffalo…


Q. What is the perception of female rangers in Kenya? A. Being a female ranger here is interesting because people in the community don’t think it’s something women should be doing. They tend to believe being a ranger is reserved for men who work 24 hours a day, carrying guns, interacting with animals and training, while women look after the children. But we are showing that women can also do what men are doing.


Q. What are your goals for the future?


A. I hope to empower women in the community while still tending to and supporting my family. My ultimate aim is to always protect wildlife, move up the ranks and be respected as a ranger, while inspiring young girls growing up around the Borana Conservancy.


LORNAH MUSANKA, COTTARS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST


Lornah is a community ranger for the Cottars Wildlife Conservation Trust, a non-profit organisation working with local communities to conserve wilderness and wildlife corridors bordering the Masai Mara and Serengeti national reserves.


Q. What does your day-to-day work involve? A. My duties involve patrols, monitoring wildlife and controlling illegal grazing, poaching and other activities. As we border Tanzania, I also inspect vehicles at the main entrances to the conservancy. Growing up, I always had a passion for protecting nature, so it’s a dream job for me. Creating awareness in local communities has had a very positive impact on the population of elephants and other endangered species, so it’s great to be able to contribute to that.


Q. What’s been your most memorable experience as a ranger? A. It has to be the day we reported an injured giraffe in our conservancy. The management called out the Mara vets to come and treat the giraffe, but he woke up before the doctors had finished the treatment, so we had to hold him tight until it was done – that was really scary. Also the day we received reports of a person intending to sell a pangolin, while we were pursuing the poacher. Plus, I’ve seen some memorable things, not least elephants mating!


Q. What more could be done to encourage women to enter the field? A. I believe having women in the field will motivate others to realise that what a man can do, a woman can do better! I believe educating women in the surrounding communities will be key, as will motivating those who are already working as rangers.


TW 42 12 AUGUST 2021 travelweekly.co.uk


together in a global capacity to create real and long-lasting change for our planet. Across the world, incredible female rangers are working tirelessly to do just that, and their work is fundamental to the preservation of our natural heritage. “Less than 11% of the global


wildlife ranger workforce is female, but we have identified more than 3,500 female rangers across 18 countries in Africa so far, and we’ve discovered many more in other countries. By bringing these women together via the World Female Ranger Day online platform, they can share their knowledge, amplifying global conservation efforts. “By uniting and working


together, there is a greater chance of successfully preserving biodiversity.”


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