WITH AK47 assault rifles on their shoulders, Ms Siqedumusa Ngwenya (36) and Ms Catherine Kandemiiri (30) trudge through the bush and the rocky outcrops in the Matopos National Park.

Their mission is to ensure the safety of the country’s iconic species and Africa’s most endangered one, the black and white rhinoceroses roaming the national park.

Rhinos are being targeted for their horns, with more than 7 000 killed in a decade in Southern Africa.

Theirs is not an easy job.

It’s a typical bush life where only the strongest survive. Every day, these women working in the frontlines of wildlife conservation, risk their lives to keep poaching at bay in the areas they patrol.

Ms Ngwenya and Ms Kandemiiri represent an emerging crop of incredible women who are redefining the wildlife conservation industry, which for years, has been viewed as a man’s domain due to the tough and rigorous training.

However, as the world is becoming increasingly aware of the many threats faced by wildlife, among them sophisticated poaching, more boots on the ground are therefore, required to save animals like rhinos from being completely wiped out.

Like all rangers, Ms Ngwenya and Ms Kandemiiri are working tirelessly to protect rhinos from extinction.
For Ms Ngwenya, growing up at Hwange National Park surrounded by wildlife, she quickly developed a passion to become a ranger at a tender age.

“I grew up at Umchibi Camp in Hwange National Park where my father worked for Zimparks as a ranger. That natural curiosity, which you develop as a child, the love of nature, bush life and wildlife inspired me into joining Zimparks as a ranger in 2009,” she said.

After completing a gruelling month-long wildlife ranger training course at Zimparks Sinamathela Camp in Hwange, Ms Ngwenya was deployed to Chete Safari area situated on the shores of Lake Kariba.

In October 2010, she was then transferred to Matopos National Park where she constantly leads an all-female anti-poaching team operating at Whitewater.

Whitewater is a section of Matopo National Park, which has been turned into an intensive protection zone for endangered black and white rhinoceros.

Rangers undergo rigorous anti-poaching training exercise, which involve handling of firearms and learning about animal behaviour.

Ms Ngwenya said as a female ranger, she believes women have brought new perspectives in the field of wildlife conservation.

“To me, it’s all about the love for the job, dedication and sacrifice. I’m actually passionate when it comes to protecting animals, especially rhinos, which are mostly targeted by poachers,” she said.

“My mission is to preserve those treasured iconic wildlife species for future generations so that our children are also able to get an opportunity to enjoy the natural heritage.”

Ms Ngwenya said over the years, despite being a woman, she has learnt valuable skills on how to survive in the bush.
She said rhinos are very smart and able to differentiate between a poacher that poses danger to them and a ranger.

Ms Ngwenya, a mother of three, said her husband who is also a ranger, has been supportive in her career.

“I was fortunate to find a husband who is also a ranger like me, someone who understands me when I go out in the field for weeks,” she said.

Like Ms Ngwenya, Ms Kandemiiri who also joined Zimparks in 2009.

Her mission is not just to put an end to poaching, but most importantly to preserve the cherished iconic wildlife species for future generations.

“I’m passionate when it comes to protecting rhinos and most of my friends look up to me as a hero. They actually wonder how a woman can manage this sort of risky job, which in most cases entails spending weeks in the bush and encountering dangerous poachers armed with sophisticated weapons,” she said.

After completing a one-and-a-half month long training at Mushandike College of Wildlife Management in Masvingo in 2009, she briefly worked there before she was deployed to Matopo National Park.

Ms Kandemiiri said the recruitment of female rangers has actually dissipated misconceptions that a girl child cannot do certain jobs long regarded as a preserve for men.

She said her job and the love for wildlife will help inspire young girls to take up the enormous responsibility of protecting the country’s precious natural heritage.

“Some people think that being a ranger is a man’s job. It’s not like men are the only ones who can be wildlife rangers, but even women are equal to the task,” said Ms Kandemiiri.

Protecting Matopo National Park’s rhinos is Ms Kandemiiri’s favourite part of the job.

“Wildlife, especially rhinos, have the right to live and I want my kids to have the opportunity to see these animals, not only in photos and books, but alive and in nature,” she said.

For the past 10 years, Ms Kandemiiri and Ms Ngwenya together with their colleagues have made or contributed to several arrests, seizing snares, clearing out poachers’ camps and patrolling vast wilderness areas.

Zimparks senior area manager at Matopos National Park Mr Innocent Mupedze said rhinos are the most targeted by poachers hence surveillance mechanisms have been put in place to protect them.

“The movements of rhinos are closely monitored with rangers conducting daily patrols in the national park. We also dehorn rhinos after every two years, but that also depends on the budget since the exercise is costly given that we need to buy tranquilisers and hire helicopters,” he said.

“As these animals grow, some of them don’t have earmarks and this year in September we are supposed to carry on the earmarking and dehorning exercise.”

Mr Mupedze said rangers monitor and constantly track rhinos, taking note of their identification marks and that information is kept in their database.

He said Matopos National Park has been zoned into a recreational site, which is the central wilderness area where people can also camp.

The intensive protected zone to the west of the park, which is Whitewater, is a maximum protection area for both the black and white rhinoceros.

“Unlike in the central wilderness area where there are many State roads dissecting through the national park, the intensive protected zone has no public roads passing through the park. We open that park from 6AM to 6PM and thereafter, no visitors are allowed inside the park, it’s only rangers who will be conducting 24-hour patrols,” said Mr Mupedze.  — @mashnets.