It is a chilly Monday morning and the wind lazily blows from west to east at Amboseli National Park, Kajiado county.
A group of eight women aged between 20 and 30 years are busy exercising, getting ready for the day’s work.
They serve as community wildlife rangers in the Amboseli ecosystem.
Eunice Peneti is among them.
“We do some exercises as early as six in the morning before taking tea. We then go for patrols from 7.30am,” she said.
They patrol over 20km, protecting wildlife within the expansive park, including lions, buffaloes, zebras and the longest studied group of wild elephants.
On July 31, Peneti and her team were celebrated during World Ranger’s Day.
The day is celebrated worldwide to honour rangers killed or injured in the line of duty and also to acknowledge their work.
The aim is to accord the world the chance to show solidarity with rangers, empathise with them, as well as to change the attitude towards the job of a ranger by awakening in everyone the spirit of conservation.
Kenya Forest Service also joined in celebrating the good work its rangers were doing.
KFS chief conservator Julius Kamau said they lost two rangers over the last year. Another 18 were injured in the line of duty.
“This is an improvement from the previous financial year where we lost three rangers with 21 injured in the line of duty,” Kamau said.
KFS manages 6.4 million acres of forests and helps counties manage another 4.2 million acres.
Kamau said it was unfortunate that some of the rangers have had to lose their lives in the line of duty.
“We pay tribute to the rangers we, unfortunately, lost in the line of duty which is a very sad scenario. We also recognise the good work that the rangers are doing under very challenging circumstances,” Kamau said.
The honorary warden said rangers work round the clock under difficult circumstances for the benefit of the people.
“They are protecting our natural heritage which is the forests which play a critical role in society. Sometimes people are against them, they injure them or even cause loss of life. It is highly disturbing.”
Peneti cannot allow would-be poachers to destroy some of Kenya's iconic species. She and her team have dutifully protected them.
Not even the Covid-19 outbreak that has wreaked havoc around the world can dampen her spirits.
She has adapted to working with a face mask on.
A few years ago, however, Peneti and her team would not be doing this.
Their highly patriarchal Maasai community would not allow it.
Ordinarily, women of their age would be going about their daily chores in or around their grass-thatched manyattas.
These include tending animals, breastfeeding babies, fetching firewood, carrying water containers or building and repairing the manyattas.
Peneti's team is, however, charting a new path and destiny. For them, there is no resting in securing the iconic species.
“I have been working for one year and two months now,” Peneti said.
In November last year, rangers such as Peneti were lauded for their “heroism” by Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma.
Jack Ma was speaking at the second annual African Ranger Awards ceremony in Accra, Ghana.
“The men and women who protect Africa’s wildlife are the real heroes who deserve more support because conservation is everyone's responsibility,” Jack Ma said.
ESSENTIAL SERVICE
Peneti’s team ‘Team Lioness,’ is the first-ever cadre of female rangers in the Maasai community.
The team protects wildlife from poachers and safeguards people from conflict with elephants and other wildlife in the densely populated community lands surrounding the park.
Their work extends to the Tanzanian border, which is porous and susceptible to poaching.
The group in Amboseli has been declared by the leadership of the community lands in which they serve as providing an essential service.
They, however, do not return to their homes and families after completing their usual patrols.
They are confined to their base to wait for outbreaks between field duties.
Across Africa, community wildlife rangers remain at work to protect wildlife and conserve landscapes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Peneti's colleague Anastacia Kupayi has also worked for a year and two months, protecting wildlife and responding to cases of human-wildlife conflict.
She said her family depends on her work. “I have a family that needs to eat and go to school,” Kupayi, 27, said.
She said men from her community initially used to belittle the role women can play in wildlife protection.
“They now understand and appreciate what we do,” she said.
“This work is dangerous as you meet with dangerous wildlife, such as elephants and buffaloes.
The work of Team Lioness and the rest of a 76-strong group of rangers is supported by International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Since 2012, Ifaw has collaborated with the local community in Amboseli to secure 26,000 acres of important wildlife habitat that links Amboseli to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
This land is now part of the Kitenden Community Wildlife Conservancy.
It aims to provide livelihoods for communities through tourism development and investment, as well as being a protected wildlife habitat.
CORONAVIRUS IMPACT
Constantly at threat from armed poachers and sometimes dangerous wildlife, the pandemic has made the work of Team Lioness more treacherous than ever.
The economic fallout on communities dependent on a thriving tourism industry has been catastrophic.
Tourism revenue, which has already been hit by the pandemic, supports land leases, community rangers and livelihoods.
In the absence of community rangers, wildlife security is threatened as conservancies are likely to collapse, leading to loss of space for wildlife.
The government announced a stimulus package of Sh1 billion to engage 5,500 community scouts and a further Sh1 billion for 160 community conservancies.
With the coronavirus outbreak, players in the industry believe the ability of the rangers to conduct patrols will be severely hampered, with the likely consequence that poaching will rise.
Ifaw regional director East Africa James Isiche said now more than ever, rangers need to conduct regular patrols to deter would-be poachers from putting wildlife in harm’s way.
“The contrary could only mean devastating consequences to elephants and other wildlife.
"We are taking every care to ensure Team Lioness and all rangers are kept safe and healthy through observing the Government of Kenya and World Health Organization safety protocols,” he said.
From elephants targeted for their tusks, to a smaller game at risk of poaching for the pot, no wildlife is safe from the spear or the snare.
At the same time, there has been an upsurge in human-wildlife conflict and poaching for bushmeat.
Community wildlife rangers are often the first-responders to these incidents.
The sad state of affairs means the presence of community rangers in the community wildlife habitats is now more critical than ever.
The pressure is on Team Lioness and other rangers to protect wildlife, knowing they will not see their children and other family members any time soon.
Some of them are now the only breadwinners in their extended families.
They are dependent on each other for companionship, emotional support and keeping each other safe.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)