Orlando Chauke
LIMPOPO – Speaking at Southern African Wildlife College in Hoedspruit during a media tour organised by SANParks last Tuesday, rangers gave journalists a clear picture of how it feels to be a ranger in the face of the raging war against poaching.
Asked if they fear for their lives while working in the park, most of them replied they are used to it. “We don’t fear anymore, we have become accustomed to the thought of bumping into poachers while patrolling in the park,” explained Kallie Ubisi, a section ranger based at Skukuza. “Apart from that, once you sign up for this job it means you have accepted the consequences that come with it,” he added.
Another ranger who enjoys his job is Tonic Makamu, one of the young dog handlers. Despite the danger and challenges that come with the role of being a dog handler, Makamu said he loves his job.
“First of all to work with dogs you must be a dog lover otherwise you won’t be able to do justice to the overall work,” he explained, adding his dog is trained to trace a poacher on its own while the ranger follows using other modes of transport such as helicopters or cars.
“I enjoy working with my dog, and together we’re a team that responds to a call of an incursion in the park… just yesterday we had another incident where we successfully tracked down a poacher with the help of my dog,” he said.
Makamu is one of the lucky young South Africans who studied at the Southern African Wildlife College through a government sponsorship and returned to work at the college as part of the Reaction Team that fights poaching in the KNP.
According to Ruben de Kock, the manager of wildlife courses at the college, the government pays 80% of the tuition fees for all the students that are training to be rangers at the college while the institution contributes the rest of the amount making it free for the students to study there.
Although situated in Hoedspruit, the college is part of the KNP and therefore its rangers working within the KNP. De Kock said this is done in line with the Kruger National Park’s mission of empowering communities that borders the park by means of recruiting youth from these communities.
“Tonic is an example of many other young people who came here with nothing but got their lives changed through this college,” explained De Kock. He added that as the college is linked to the KNP, everybody who studies there is guaranteed a job as a ranger in the park when they are done with their courses.
