Since dawn, they walk the rocky paths in pursuit of poachers. With binoculars, they patiently observe the depths of clearings to take stock of livestock. Passionately inform foreign visitors on safaris about the local fauna. But behind the idyllic postcard, the daily life of African rangers is anything but a sinecure. Danger, insecurity and downgrading: the price to pay for those who devote their lives to protecting the continent’s fabulous natural heritage is often exorbitant.
Yet their role is more crucial than ever in the face of global upheaval. Between population explosion and increasing industrial predation on the last virgin spaces, Africa’s beleaguered biodiversity relies more than ever on these guardians of the shadows to ensure its survival. Untiring anti-poaching sentinels, attentive guides to exploratory tourists, scientists at the forefront of environmental monitoring : these are just some of the indispensable hats worn on a daily basis by these obstinate nature lovers.
But the facts are clear : chronic lack of resources, defenestration of careers, rampant corruption, vocations are being eroded among the younger generations. And staff numbers are melting like snow in many of the continent’s parks and reserves. How long can Africa’s islands of nature, left to their own devices, withstand the onslaught of easy money and resourcefulness ? The survival of the biodiversity treasures of our savannahs now depends more than ever on our collective ability to restore the profession of ranger to its former glory. Before it’s too late.
Trades essential to nature conservation
Far from the usual spotlight on charismatic species, they are the unsung but vital linchpin of nature conservation policies in Africa. Rangers, forest rangers, eco-guards… behind these sometimes vague names lie thousands of professionals who take turns on a daily basis to carry out a vital mission : preserving what remains of the continent’s jewels of biodiversity in the face of multiple aggressions. Close-up protection of animals, hand-to-hand combat against poaching, raising awareness among tourists… a behind-the-scenes look at these exciting, but unglamorous jobs.
Protectors up close to iconic animals
Unwavering front line against threats of all kinds: the “game rangers” in charge of the physical protection of large mammals in the continent’s famous national parks and animal reserves. Mountain gorillas, lions, cheetahs, elephants… so many iconic species whose daily lives they share in the bush among tall grasses and centuries-old baobabs.
Over hill and dale, they tirelessly survey the tracks and paths, on the lookout for the slightest danger to their protected : a suspicious wound suggesting poaching, human intrusion into a sensitive habitat, a suspected case of disease transmission… Very few incidents escape the sharp eye of these savannah veterans.
But beyond this close surveillance work, their most important mission is undoubtedly to patiently accustom the herds to a benevolent presence in preparation for the famous tourist safaris. For it is they, experienced guides to the wild, who will then orchestrate the magical encounters that are the prelude to unforgettable photos. Nothing could be more gratifying for these enthusiasts than to be able to share their inexhaustible fascination for the continent’s animal kingdom!
Anonymous soldiers against the scourge of poaching
But not all rangers work alongside the famous media megafauna on a daily basis. In the hinterland or on the bangs of protected areas, another equally essential category works behind the radar in the shadows of forests and mountains. Forest rangers, eco-guards, scouts : their names vary. But they all fight foot to foot against a merciless enemy: the mafia-style poaching networks that have been decimating the continent’s most fragile and lucrative species since the 1980s.
Ivory, rhinoceros horns, big cat skins… in this Far West, they are on the front line every day, trying to stop the bleeding. Green commandos, parachuted into the heart of an asymmetrical war with colonial overtones, often pitting under-equipped young guards against heavily armed gangs.
Night ambushes, perilous seizures of prohibited hunting arsenals, exhausting shadowing in hostile lands… For these soldiers of the shadows of the last primeval forests, the Hollywood glamour of the “rodeo ranger” is a far cry from the minefield. It’s a daily grind of constant vigilance and courage, fraught with uncertainty and high psycho-social risks in what amounts to a forgotten tropical ecological guerrilla war.
Essential interfaces between nature and society
Education, awareness-raising and biodiversity data collection are also crucial to the long-term success of conservation policies. For Africa’s parks and reserves are more than just besieged fortresses against poachers: they are also life-size laboratories for the resilience of ecosystems in the face of various external pressures, and the backbone of scientific species monitoring.
Hence the central role of the teams assigned to the most detailed ecological monitoring : periodic census of numbers and measurement of birth rates, fitting of radio collars to certain individuals, sampling and analysis to anticipate epizootics, monitoring of reproductive behaviour… A colossal sum of small, vital observations centralized over the long term by these discreet sentinels of the savannah.
And when international researchers or environmental NGOs carry out local campaigns, it is they again who serve as enlightened guides. Their reliability and unfailing dedication in all circumstances are the key to producing quality data on ecosystem dynamics in the face of global change. Valuable information which alone enables decision-makers to direct conservation budgets where species need them most.
Whether it’s raw protection, anti-poaching or scientific monitoring, these multi-skilled, multi-hatted rangers are the unsung but vital linchpins keeping Africa’s formidable Ark of Biodiversity afloat. But how much longer will it be before people’s consciences and resources are awakened?
A heroic but testing commitment
Behind the myth of the great outdoors and adventure in the heart of the wild world lies a far more appalling reality for many African rangers. Hostile working conditions, violent assaults, loneliness and the dereliction of outposts: the conditions are such that few can withstand the grueling pace for long without psycho-social problems. And yet, for reasons of passion as much as economic necessity, vocations are still pouring in. Here, we take an unvarnished look at the daily lives of these hard-working conservationists.
Harsh living conditions deep in the bush
The first tenacious myth to be deconstructed: far from the exciting adventure fantasized, the job of ranger in Africa has little to do with the high-end safaris sold to tourists. For most local rangers, there are no air-conditioned lodges with swimming pools or gleaming 4×4 vehicles to criss-cross their hunting grounds on a daily basis…
The reality on the ground ? Extreme living and working conditions in remote areas, where only a meagre network of dilapidated forest posts remains. Surviving self-sufficiently in basic camps with spartan comforts, random electricity, rationed food and water : far from villages, the agents deployed in these beleaguered forest fortresses live in complete destitution and isolation.
Gone, too, is the myth of the lone cowboy of the eternal savannahs. Crammed 6 or 8 to a room in cramped dormitories, prey to all the inconveniences of promiscuity and mosquitoes, intimacy here becomes a distant memory. In addition to the physical misery of the setting, there is often moral despondency in the face of a blocked professional and social horizon. Many forest rangers freely admit that this feeling of being dispossessed of their own existence and this timeless confinement wears on them as surely as the grueling walks under the abrasive sun…
The silent slaughter of poachers
But beyond the inherent harshness of this semi-desert environment, the most terrible risk is of course violent contact with unpredictable wildlife… or with humans either! In their perilous mission to combat poaching in the heart of remote areas left to their own devices, many rangers pay a heavy price to defend their cause.
Sad statistics on work-related accidents speak volumes about this other blind spot. UNESCO reports, “the Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) has recorded 59 ranger deaths in Africa, meaning that at least 384 African rangers have been killed in action since 2012.” And that’s only among officially reported cases ! Sadly, in Africa alone, almost a third of this grim toll has been recorded.
Just recently in Virunga, 6 rangers were shot dead in an attack by heavily armed men. In all, no fewer than 200 Congolese rangers have been killed in the field over the last decade in this tourist mecca in the east of the country!
Indelible psychological scars
It is estimated that between 50 and 100 rangers and guards are lost every year across the continent in this asymmetrical conservation conflict. In addition to the usual work-related accidents linked to the harshness of the conditions : drowning during flood crossings, fatal falls, fatal bites…
Beyond the macabre toll, these cascading assaults and traumas on isolated personnel also leave deep psychological scars on the survivors or the victims’ families. This is all the more worrying given that the subject remains largely taboo and unaddressed. And this despite the fact that nature-related jobs require more than any other a relational approach and constant vigilance, both in the field and when supervising tourists. So, the hidden suffering of these broken sentinels who continue to officiate out of duty or necessity is fuelling a deep malaise within the profession…
Everyday heroism forgotten
Yet, despite this bleak picture, it is also incredible dedication that continues to animate the majority of these men and women in the shadows of the African wilderness. As much out of passion as out of economic necessity, vocations are still pouring in, such is the motivation behind the cause of nature in Africa.
In total, there are several thousand professional or volunteer rangers and ecoguards working in the thousands of protected areas on the continent. Most of them come from remote rural communities, and are accustomed from childhood to cohabiting with exceptional wildlife, which they will defend body and soul for the rest of their lives.
With their militant spirit firmly anchored in their bodies, many of them will not hesitate to fight in the field with an unshakeable determination and sense of sacrifice, despite unworthy material conditions. And let’s face it, if it weren’t for the daily heroism of the grassroots in the face of merciless enemies, the continent’s last wildlife sanctuaries would have been wiped off the map long ago!
A forgotten cause ?
Although essential to the preservation of Africa’s last wildlife sanctuaries, these green soldiers of the shadows are nonetheless the continent’s forgotten men and women in terms of resources and social recognition. With derisory budgets, dilapidated infrastructures, indifferent public opinion and volatile international funding agencies, the situation is harsh but implacable. Without sufficient support, how long will these penniless ecological bulwarks hold out in the face of growing anthropic pressure ?
Unacceptable economic insecurity
The first striking feature of the blatant lack of consideration for these self-proclaimed defenders of the African Ark of Biodiversity is the extreme financial and material precariousness of their working conditions. On the front line of conservation policies against ruthless enemies, they are in practice the poor cousins of the meagre funding allocated by governments to nature conservation.
The institutions in charge of managing most of the continent’s national parks have a ridiculously low average annual budget to run their operations. In other words, barely enough to buy bullets for rangers to protect the miraculous flora and fauna that abound in their theoretical jurisdictions !
With such low operating budgets, it’s hardly surprising that the infrastructures and equipment made available to these zealous auxiliaries of public action are in a state of general disrepair. With the exception of a few showcase tourist enclaves and high-end private hunting concessions, the norm remains insalubrious buildings, limited equipment and an insufficient number of vehicles in poor condition. These undignified material conditions seriously compromise the effectiveness of day-to-day operations in the field, especially when it comes to tracking down poachers or combating pollution.
By way of comparison, this chronic decline in public investment in conservation is in stark contrast to the astronomical sums involved in the black market in illegal wildlife products. For ivory alone, the figures are edifying: $1.6 to $2 billion in annual profits worldwide from this traffic in animal appendages at the expense of living natural heritage! Compared to the number of elephants decimated each year in Africa (~30,000 pachyderms), this represents the equivalent of over $1,500 in sales per tusk harvested… When you consider that some of this dirty money is used directly to bribe certain rangers or finance armed raids, you get a better idea of the asymmetry of the balance of power !
A cause neglected by public opinion ?
But beyond the chronic lack of public funding, another major demotivating factor undermines the morale and prestige of the profession : the relative indifference of African societies themselves to the vital cause of conserving the continent’s living natural heritage. For behind the media façade of political summits, where official speeches vie with grandiloquent verbal commitments to biodiversity, the day-to-day reality in the field reveals a very different general state of mind.
A case in point is the systematically low media profile given to the issue of human and technical resources devoted to wildlife conservation in Africa. How many reports, broadcasts or hard-hitting articles have there been in the major national media, relaying the recurrent warnings from NGOs about the impoverishment and progressive idleness of chronically understaffed local rangers ? Hardly any…
Worse still, this guilty indifference sometimes even borders on a more or less assumed form of latent hostility on the part of city-dwellers towards the (rare) public funds sunk into what is perceived at best as an elitist pastime reserved for wealthy white tourists, and at worst as an anachronistic brake on the development of under-equipped remote regions. In other words, a cause perceived at best as secondary, if not outright illegitimate in the face of development issues deemed more pressing locally (health, education…).
As a direct consequence, forest wardens and rangers are also struggling to find recognition and social value for their indispensable mission in communities that do not always fully appreciate the diffuse stakes involved. A fatal lack of consideration from the general public, which logically undermines motivation and a sense of usefulness among the troops…
Versatile international solidarity
A final, less-than-stellar contextual parameter is the relative fickleness of international aid to the conservation sector in Africa. Over the past 20 years, generous capacity-building and material support programs have been deployed here and there on the continent, thanks to the occasional support of foreign agencies such as USAID, the German GIZ and international Geneva-based NGOs.
The viral IWRA “Ranger Campus” initiative, which promotes 100% dedicated ranger training campuses around the world, is a recent paragon. As is the ForRangers fund, financed by private patrons to provide top-quality equipment for entire national contingents of rangers (camouflage outfits, thermal binoculars, drones, etc.).
But despite these sporadic generous outpourings, there is also a prevailing sense of frustration at the all-too-common irregularity of international aid flows. NGOs are bitterly disappointed: while large, charismatic predators such as gorillas and elephants still guarantee long-term support via the emotional marketing of Western foundations, the anonymous devotion of their uniformed human protectors still struggles to win over fickle donors in perpetual search of “sexy” causes.
This constantly threatens the long-term viability of local conservation initiatives, in a climate of permanent uncertainty hardly conducive to serene action…
In short, whether in purely material terms or in terms of social recognition, it’s clear that, despite pompous political slogans, insufficient attention is paid to local rangers and forest rangers as the foot soldiers of biodiversity. When will we see a real surge in Africa itself, and internationally, to put these heroes of the shadows back at the heart of the system ?
Giving the profession its due
So, is it inevitable fatality or is it still possible to get these soldiers of the shadows back at the heart of nature conservation in Africa? Among professionals and specialized NGOs alike, a consensus is emerging in favor of an ambitious action plan based on three synergistic axes to upgrade these weak links. The aim is to professionalize, publicize and budget for these little-known professions, before it’s too late to stem the hemorrhaging of manpower and restore the appeal and lustre of the essential ranger function.
Enhancement and professionalization, the key words
The first essential pillar identified by all the experts to halt the downgrading of conservation jobs in the field is to reinvest massively in the training and certification of personnel, which has been neglected for too long due to a lack of resources. For behind the image of the seasoned guide or the unrivalled tracker lies the reality of a job with growing responsibilities in the face of intensifying pressure, requiring high-level technical and scientific skills.
From infrastructure maintenance to ecological wildlife monitoring, from veterinary first aid to the management of human-wildlife conflicts, the range of qualifications required has grown steadily in recent years. However, there are still very few courses dedicated to the ranger profession as such offered by the continent’s universities and technical training centers.
Hence the urgent need, highlighted in a recent report, to set up comprehensive professional training courses leading to officially-recognized national certifications. This would be at both Bac +2 level for future technical field agents and Bac +5 for officers in charge of forest and wildlife management. It’s also a way of raising the profile of these careers by giving them a genuine university identity and rewarding promotional outlets to stimulate vocations.
Mobilizing the media and the general public
The second key area for action in order to shake off the image of dusty rural rangers still too often associated with these professions is to focus resolutely on raising the media and cultural profile of these everyday fighters for the planet. And that’s what we decided to do with greenplanetwatch.com ! The idea ? To bang our fists on the table and make the cause of biodiversity and its protectors a legitimate environmental issue, in the face of the excessive focus of urban opinion on climate issues alone.
In concrete terms, specialized NGOs are calling for a vast coalition of the continent’s media, celebrities and other influencers to give a real spotlight in the public debate to the fate of these shadowy sentinels. Hard-hitting reports, documentaries, mini-series, event coverage of Ranger congresses: everything is needed to lift these last bulwarks against the ongoing destruction of the continent’s last wilderness areas out of contemptuous anonymity and indifference. The idea? To make African forest rangers the new glamorous heroes of the climate generation!
Beyond the media sphere, the challenge is also to place the fate of these protectors of Africa’s flora and fauna at the heart of school curricula, from primary to high school. Textbooks, lectures, presentations by retired Rangers : these are all welcome awareness-raising initiatives to spark interest among the younger generations at an early stage, and above all to deconstruct certain cultural prejudices. These seeds of enthusiasm can then be used to energize a burgeoning network of young people working for the animal cause in Africa, along the lines of the success stories in India and Nepal…
Public budgets : the imperative of results!
Last but not least, the sinews of war in this multi-faceted rescue plan : the indispensable budgetary overhaul of the conservation sector to guarantee parks and reserves, and their staff, the means to fulfill their public-interest missions with dignity. For without long-term funding to meet the continent’s immense challenges, there is little hope of retaining vocations and skills for much longer through mere symbolic incentives!
In fact, all the experts in the sector are unanimous: if we are simply to begin rebalancing the balance of power in the field with the poaching mafias, and ensure even decent scientific monitoring of the dynamics of key animal populations, we would ideally need to approach at least a tripling of average operating budgets. In other words, a major increase in national and international public funding for African conservation institutions !
This is quite a step to take, and could be achieved through a number of synergistic avenues identified by the experts: public-private partnerships with tourism operators, capturing the benefits of carbon finance, taxation of extractive industries, national equalization between parks… One thing is certain: without decent, stable resources to enhance the status of these positions in the field, there will be no lasting boost in vocations, and no renewed effectiveness in the fight against the catastrophic erosion of Africa’s biodiversity. The budgetary leap is now !
African ranger, a job for the future ?
Beyond the urgent need to support existing staff, the other strategic issue for the profession is generational renewal. With an ageing workforce and a chronic shortage of qualified candidates, a whole range of irreplaceable expertise in the field is at risk of disappearing for want of sufficient replacements. Hence the flourishing initiatives to encourage the transmission of knowledge, the feminization of careers and South-South exchanges… the beginnings of a truly transcontinental revivalist movement ?
Safeguarding and transmitting precious knowledge
The first crucial challenge identified by all observers is to ensure, at all costs, that the unique knowledge accumulated by successive generations of African Rangers is safeguarded and passed on – a veritable intangible heritage of the continent at risk. Behind every veteran of the parks and forests still lie priceless treasures of local naturalist knowledge in perpetual renewal.
Intimate knowledge of animal habits, empirical mastery of the seasonal evolution of vegetation, the ability to decipher the slightest clues in the field to track down poachers… these are all nuggets of practical ecological wisdom patiently acquired over a lifetime spent surveying the bush. But with shortened careers and declining numbers overall, all this formidable capital of field experience is in danger of being lost, unless it can be properly transferred to the next generation.
Hence the priority now being given across the continent to modern mentoring schemes between seasoned Rangers and newly recruited young agents. Systematic documentation of practices, in-house field training, mentoring… initiatives abound to enable direct transmission of the formidable empirical baggage of these veterans, nurtured within the continent’s most prestigious wildlife sanctuaries. In this way, we can guarantee the resilience of the profession’s age-old knowledge and know-how, the ultimate insurance policy for the preservation of emblematic species!
Give way to women rangers !
Another major challenge for the profession is to break through the glass ceiling that is so evident in this still ultra-masculine sector. Despite their undeniable strengths in conflict management and educational approaches, women rangers and eco-guards are still in the extreme minority in the field. Worse still, the proportion of female forest rangers and eco-guards on the continent has reached a ceiling of around 15%, and is even on the decline in several countries.
These figures are all the more worrying in that they contrast with the general feminization of environment-related higher education in Africa over the past 20 years. There are countless female environmental engineers and conservation biologists trained at the continent’s top universities… but with no attractive prospects for operational careers within the very institutions responsible for preserving their lifelong passion !
So, full parity and outrageous positive discrimination ? Of course not. But a reasonable target of a minimum of 30% female personnel recruited among forest rangers and Rangers, yes. And to achieve this, one thing is certain : we’re going to have to remove one by one the cultural and material obstacles that continue to dampen enthusiasm. Campaigns to promote the profession to female students, secure reserved infrastructures in isolated forest posts, a fair pay policy… so many simple measures identified in a recent report that would (finally) open the way to a more balanced gender mix !
Towards South-South Ranger networks ?
A final inspiring avenue to consolidate Africa’s role as a breeding ground for biodiversity talent is to focus resolutely on South-South technical cooperation. The aim is to foster inter-knowledge, the exchange of best practices and the massive sharing of skills between Rangers from different sub-regions.
The ecological contexts and conservation challenges are so similar across the continent, from humid forest ecosystems to savannahs and coastlines. And yet, how many large-scale cross-border professional networking initiatives have there been between these communities, whose work remains fundamentally the same in different latitudes ? Virtually none to date, deplore the sector’s NGOs!
Hence the repeated calls to encourage the spontaneous emergence of truly thematic continental networks of interconnected African Rangers. Firstly, dematerialized exchange platforms to enable the entire profession to benefit from the incipient innovations observed just about everywhere in terms of ecological monitoring, management of neighborly conflicts with wildlife, or anti-poaching strategies.
But also physical programs for temporary staff exchanges between parks and reserves in different countries. The aim is to accelerate the transfer of field-proven methods, while strengthening ties within the Southern Ranger community. The ultimate goal ? The beginnings of real transcontinental professional mutual aid networks, capable of finally bringing decisive weight to bear in the arcanes of international biodiversity conventions to defend the interests of their members loud and clear.
Saving the Rangers to save nature: the ultimate duty of our generation
At the end of this long journey behind the scenes of the profession, it’s clear that rangers and forest guards are our constant allies in a vital battle for the planet, which is now being waged largely in Africa. Their silent mission to safeguard the last pockets of wildlife represents a unique opportunity to reverse the dramatic trajectory of destruction of an irreplaceable heritage bequeathed by evolution. And it is these soldiers of the shadows, despite being on the verge of exhaustion, who often prove to be the ultimate guardians of this priceless heritage of biodiversity.
So let’s not let them down! Let’s strengthen their budget, enhance their skills, prepare the next generation of our children : anything that can strengthen the rampart is a good thing to support these sentinels of life in distress. Because the choice is now binary for our societies: either we collectively decide to protect those who dedicate their existence to protecting nature for us. Or we abandon them to a disastrous individual fate, which will inevitably precipitate our common future into the chaos of ecological collapse. We know what we have to do…
Rangers are our objective allies in the primordial battle against runaway climate change and the catastrophic erosion of life itself. So there’s no room for hesitation: they need us just as much as we fundamentally need them if we are to preserve a decent future for humanity. What’s more, we’re running out of time to consolidate these weak links before we reach the point of no return to the abyss. So, let’s put an end to our guilty indifference: it’s up to the African people and the international community to finally grasp the urgency of the situation!
