NAIROBI (KENYA) – Purity Amleset Lakara, as she prepares for her own marriage this month, has a different story to tell. The year has been spent by her taking hold of armed poachers, escaping from an aggressive buffalo, and warming up around a campfire reading “A Day Before my Wedding”.
The 24-year-old is part of an elite all-female ranger unit named “The Lionesses,” who are in charge of patrolling a conservation area near Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. The recruits are zeroed in on from the Maasai community who live around the park.
For Sharon Nankinyi, another ranger, the day she was chosen for the team was the best day of her life.
The 20-year-old said,”It’s rare for a woman in our community to be a ranger. With us being the first women rangers we are changing the taboo and men and our dads respect us. We have fought for the rights of girls in our community.”
When Kenya confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus in March, the unit was already out on duty. They opted to stay away from their families for four months.
Lakara said, “A few weeks ago during our patrol we came across people slaughtering a giraffe.”
The unit of eight women – one from each of the local clans – patrols the Olgulului community conservancy conservation area, There is a total of 150,000 acres of land shared by wildlife and human beings.
Funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the unit formed in 2017 was aimed at encouraging more women to be active in conservation.
As the women patrol, it is evident that they have a strong bonds – they intermittently answer the residents on whether predators are bothering cattle or if any strangers are loitering through the area.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.