Beatrice Lepore: Why I love my job as a female ranger in Mara Siana
My name is Beatrice Lepore. I am a female ranger here at Mara Siana Conservancy. I have been doing this job for two-and-a-half years now.
I love my job and I do it because of my love for wildlife and conservation.
My job is exciting and I am passionate about it. What I love most is patrolling and monitoring wildlife since I get to keep track of where they are, especially giraffes, which are my favourite animals.
My typical day starts with a word of prayer, which we collectively do with my colleagues. After prayer, we have a cup of tea, freshen up and then sit down to plan the day’s activities and allocate duties.
The morning planning helps to know where I will be stationed for the rest of the day and it keeps order among us.
My shift is typically 8 hours long. We are usually organized in groups of about four.
One group may be assigned to the swampy areas of Mara Siana Conservancy while others head to the hilly regions.
The number of elephants in the conservancy has been growing and sometimes they can get to around 200 in one location.
They freely move from the conservancy to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. I have observed a pattern of their behaviour. They usually stay here in the conservancy for about two weeks and then migrate to the reserve, which is just neighbouring us.
During the rainy season, we conduct our patrols as usual since we have been equipped with raincoats.
One of the challenges in our daily jobs is remembering to apply the skills we were taught when we encounter wildlife up close. We were once chased down by a buffalo so we had to run and abruptly lie on the ground and later climb up a tree to avoid it.
When on foot patrol, we always first identify what we could use or where we could hide, such as trees and big gulleys that wildlife cannot easily cross.
By Chris Kirimi, Communications Assistant, WWF-Kenya
