The Green Griffons, the new women rangers on the Wild Coast, are pushing through reports at 2am on Saturday night.
Their trainer, Dr Div de Villiers, says his phone is going off through the night on spoor found and matters to report from Mkambati Nature Reserve.
“These women are operating day and night. They don’t just work nine to five and then it’s beer time!”
The nine have survived a gruelling year of the physical and mental training at the hands of the formidable Green Scorpion’s investigator.
They told Off Track their entry into this tough world of poachers and danger, has been a personal revelation.
They do not carry guns. They do carry batons, tazers and pepper spray. However, they carry a weapon possibly more powerful – the art of persuasion.
They are good negotiators, good listeners and will stand their ground when it comes to informing the public about environmental compliance and why poaching is not good for the community-owned reserve.
It is the deeper story to these women, which provides the reason for their courage and determination to succeed.
The Dispatch interviewed three members, and it was made clear that eight of the group are single moms and between them they support 17 children, some their own, others from siblings and the neighbourhood.
It was striking that the women felt they were on a life-and-death mission to protect their children and dependents.
They are fit, smart, and growing in confidence. They have held each other emotionally through the push-ups, 2.4km daily runs, the squats and sit-ups.
Among the common themes of hardship at home and in the training came was one story that instils most pride. It was a push-ups shoot-out with the Working for Fire project men who were billeted nearby.
When the men were groaning and shouting “I can’t any more!” or “I have a cramp” and started caving, the women were still going for it, doing 40, 50, 60 push-ups!
What is remarkable is that most of the women arrived at the start in poor physical shape. One of the rangers previously worked as a housekeeper for the EC Parks and Tourism at Msikaba.
She had lost 12kgs, sparking concern in the village about “what are they doing to you there!”
She said her life had been radically changed and she was, like all the other women spoken to, extremely proud of her new life.
When Off Track arrived at the camp last Tuesday, they marched and walked patrol.
On Wednesday they sang and cheered as they clambered aboard an inflatable boat and were taken out through the surf to open ocean on their first-ever ride out to sea.
One suffered from sea sickness, but every other Green Griffon was full of enthusiasm, courage and delight.
Entering deeper into marine conservation component was definitely going to happen, said De Villiers.
He believed that rangers at this coastal reserve needed to be able to handle themselves and boats in rough seas.
He said patrolling was only one aspect of their work. They carry phones which are linked to the Earth Ranger system. They are able to record all aspects of the reserve, from footprints to endangered plants, any damage and ecologically significant information.
Earth Ranger plugs this into a data base.
The Green Griffons are supported by Africa’s Most Endangered Species Foundation (AMES), which is German funded.
It has been decade upon decade of environmental abuse here, and now local village women are being trained to stand on an environmental and culture frontline to defend a most precious asset, a fenced, maintained and protected chunk of land which has been returned to the community.
Daily Dispatch
