When Naomi Simaloi expressed interest in becoming a community ranger, members of her Maasai clan thought her idea was crazy.
That role belonged to men, she was told.
Unfazed, Simaloi went ahead and did interviews in August 2021 before being enlisted in September.
“The Maasai see the work of community ranger as a man’s job,” Simaloi says with smile on her oval face.
Simaloi says wearing a trouser is also a challenge, going by the community she comes from.
“We have however been empowered and we are showing that what men can do, women can also do perfectly,” she says.
Today, Simaloi is among community rangers dubbed ‘Team Lioness’ tasked with the protection of precious species, a job that is extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
They operate in Amboseli National Park, Kajiado county.
Sometimes, rangers 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.
Though the job is tough, Simaloi is not alone.
She is among the 17 women in Team Lioness tasked with the protection of iconic species.
Simaloi says they go for physical exercise at 6am before freshening up for the daunting task.
One team remains behind while the other treks for around 25km a day protecting wildlife species.
As they head out for their daily routines, they ensure that they have GPS and other communication gadgets.
Even though the job is risky, Simaloi reveals that they have never met dangerous wildlife such as elephants or buffaloes.
Sharon Nankinyi is Simaloi’s teammate having been enlisted in 2019.
Nankinyi says women are not weak as they have in the past been portrayed.
The team is deeply connected to their communities and land.
Team Lioness was created in 2019.
They were picked based on leadership, academic achievements, and integrity.
The team of young Maasai women is now defying constraining social and cultural norms and creating new opportunities for women.
Team Lioness is based under the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers on the border of Tanzania and Kenya.
The work of Team Lioness 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.
They protect the traditional community land that surrounds Amboseli National Park.
The rangers serve as the first line of defense against the poaching and retaliatory killing of elephants, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, and other iconic wildlife frequenting the land’s wildlife corridors.
Unfortunately, they are not armed as their counterparts in Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service.
This is despite the fact that community rangers just like other rangers are the frontline defenders of the breathtaking wildlife and wild lands of the country and beyond, ensuring the safety of magnificent animals like elephants, lions, giraffes, and countless others.
On Monday, Simaloi and Nankinyi will be among the thousands of Rangers celebrated for their selflessness and hard work when Kenya joins the rest of the world to Commemorate World Rangers Day 2023.
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.
In the absence of community rangers, wildlife security is threatened as conservancies are likely to collapse, leading to loss of space for wildlife.
Rangers from KFS and KWS are also celebrated.
KFS manages 6.4 million acres of forests and helps counties manage another 4.2 million acres.
KWS has the mandate to conserve and manage wildlife in Kenya, and to enforce related laws and regulations.
The service undertakes conservation and management of wildlife resources across all protected areas systems in collaboration with stakeholders.
This year, the theme of the ranger’s day is ‘30 by 30’.
The theme is picked up from the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework that outlined a requirement that at least 30 per cent of the planet is effectively conserved and managed by 2030: the so-called ’30x30’ target.
Ivy Wairimu, Tusk’s Africa Programmes Manager, said the ambitious target cannot be achieved without adequately resourcing and training frontline conservation workers, especially rangers.
“It will require a five-fold increase in the number of rangers globally, from about 286,000 to over 1.5 million, and improving their working conditions and capacity to enable them to discharge their duties on behalf of the local communities they serve and the biodiversity they help conserve,” she says.
Wairimu says a more effective way to increase the efficiency of managing protected and conserved areas is to boost the support provided to ranger teams and to catalyse the development of the ranger profession as a whole.
“This can only happen with increased recognition of the fundamental contribution rangers make to conservation.”
For this reason, African-driven conservation charity Tusk, alongside the Game Rangers association of Africa, launched the Wildlife Ranger Challenge in 2020 to fundraise and support the welfare of rangers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge pits more than 100 teams of rangers spanning the African continent against one another in a series of challenges between June and September, culminating in a coordinated 21km race across their respective protected areas on 16th September 2023.
Donors and supporters worldwide train and run in support wherever they are.
They have also helped to mobilise over $16 million so far.
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge campaign has also connected thousands of rangers from 24 African countries with many thousands of supporters from more than 90 countries around the world – uniting the global north and the global south in a common goal.
This years’ World Ranger Day serves as a key milestone on the path to the Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2023, which will spotlight the ever-diversifying role of rangers to demonstrate their wider roles as conservationists, teachers, community support workers and leaders, contributing not just to their immediate communities but to global UN Sustainable Development Goals.
As the challenge develops, it aims to become a movement amongst rangers and their colleagues across borders – driving global recognition and support, along with improvements for the welfare of rangers in the field across Africa.
