Last year, somewhere along a 21-kilometre Race Day course in the Botswana heat, carrying weight he could feel in every step, Shaka wanted to quit. He didn’t. But he went quiet. And he knows now that going quiet is when mistakes happen.
Shaka is a Wildlife Ranger with the Great Plains Foundation, based near Maun in northern Botswana. He has spent 12 years in conservation, the past ten with Great Plains, working long patrols through extreme heat, flooding and deep sand. When you ask him what nature means in one word, he says “Life,” and then keeps going: “The oxygen we breathe comes from the trees that surround us. Everything, from the homes we live in to the food we eat, comes from nature.”
This year he has come back to the Wildlife Ranger Challenge (WRC) more prepared. He trained harder and worked on leading by example. Not because he wants to be the fastest. “Being a good Ranger isn’t about being the fastest,” he says. “It’s about being reliable, staying calm and making sure no one gets left behind.”
The community Shaka works in faces real pressures. People lose crops and livestock to elephants and lions. Some turn to poaching for income. His job sits at the intersection of all of it, and he is clear about what the stakes look like from where he stands: “Africa holds the last great herds of wildlife on earth. If Rangers fail here, we lose it for the whole world.”
Ranger Shaka from Great Plains Foundation after a previous Race Day event.
“This is my first time participating in the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, and I am excited to be participating. What we do in our daily work is similar to the WRC, and I would like to participate again next year. I am especially excited about the 21km race day.”
Sharon Muwunganirwa, Akashinga Songo Rangers, Zimbabwe
Doubting herself, then proving herself wrong
Fungisai Hangaranga leads the Akashinga Phundundu Rangers in Zimbabwe, an all-female anti-poaching unit. During the WRC push-up challenge, she hit a wall. “I was doubting myself,” she says, “wondering if I would complete it. But once I started, I saw that it was possible.”
She is clear about the connection between the Challenge and her daily work. “What we often do in the field is not different from what is done during the Ranger Challenge. There’s a lot that people don’t know about the work we do. The job is more than just wearing the gear and patrolling.”
Fungisai Hangaranga who leads the Akashinga Phundundu Rangers
What she likes about the job, she says, is the physical work itself. It keeps her strong and healthy. Off duty, she channels that energy into netball, a sport she has loved since childhood. She plays centre, wing attack and goal defence, positions that all require reading what is happening around you and adjusting quickly. It is not hard to see how that carries over.
Fungisai is one of several Akashinga rangers taking on the Challenge this year, across their Phundundu and Songo teams. Each has her own reasons for being here, but for all of them, the job has changed more than just the landscape. Chitekhiwe Munsaka, a ranger on the Songo team, puts it in terms that have nothing to do with the bush: “Being a ranger has changed my life and the life of my children. As a single mother, I am now able to pay school fees for my children, and they have access to whatever they may need.”
From left: Chitekhiwe, Twabe, Byebit and Sharon Akashinga Songo Rangers
“When we do local or extended patrols, you might come across armed poachers. I have not yet experienced anything out of the ordinary, but it is important to stay alert and prepared for whatever you might come across.”
Byebit Mafwed, Akashinga Songo Rangers, Zimbabwe
The Wildlife ACT team at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
In South Africa, the Wildlife ACT team works at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, home to one of the world’s most genetically valuable black rhinoceros populations. The work here is constant, technical and rarely dramatic in the way most people imagine.
Sibusiso Mathe is a black rhino Monitor. He grew up attending Wildlife ACT bush camps during his school holidays and worked hard to finish school so he could join the team full-time. He describes his role without any ambiguity: “Being their voice. I walk with them, watch over them and fight so they’re still here for the next generation.”
Siphelele Cele works the boundary fence that separates the park from the communities living around it. Her mobile team walks the fence line daily, checking for breaks, testing electrified sections, repairing holes before wildlife can push through or people can slip in. It is the kind of work that only gets noticed when it fails. “Every distance I walk on the boundary, every volt, every wire, and every fence hole I close,” he says, “means keeping people and wildlife safe.”
Migail Nieman manages the boundary fence maintenance team and coordinates the camera trap survey across the park. He followed his brother into conservation and has a technician’s pride in the work: “I do this because I love it. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be putting in the effort.”
Janlu Nieuwoudt, a Priority Species Monitor with four years of field experience, sees his role as something closer to a calling: “My purpose is to be a servant to the wildlife and wild spaces around us.”
From left: Siphelele, Migail, Sibusiso, and Janlu from the Wildlife ACT WRC team
“At first I didn’t have any knowledge about conservation and protecting wildlife. I now have profound knowledge through working as a ranger.”
Twabe Mukulu, Akashinga Songo Rangers, Zimbabwe
Why the Challenge Matters
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge, organised by Tusk and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, runs from July to September each year. Rangers take part in a series of physical and mental tests, building towards a 21-kilometre race where they carry up to 22 kg of kit (10 kg for women). Since 2020, the Challenge has raised more than US$25 million for frontline ranger teams across Africa.
For teams like these, the money matters. But so does something less obvious. The Challenge connects ranger teams across African countries. It raises funds for welfare, equipment and training. And it gives rangers a platform to be recognised for what they are: professionals doing hard, necessary work in places most of us will never see.
Shaka put it simply: “The job is hard because the mission is important. If it wasn’t challenging, it could mean there was nothing left to protect.”
The Challenge is supported by founding donor Mark Scheinberg, who match funds $1 million dollars, alongside other match funding partners including the Disney Conservation Fund, Defender, EJF Philanthropies , Marriot International and Tara Getty Foundation who help the campaign go even further this year.
Any donations will be match funded, so your support goes twice as far.
“What I enjoy about being a ranger is the chance to protect wildlife and the environment. I get to take part in the protection of animals that my children will not only read about in books but also get to see.”
Chitekhiwe Munsaka, Akashinga Songo Rangers, Zimbabwe
