‘This World Ranger Day we decided to zoom in on some of our woman rangers to showcase their interesting jobs and find out what their experience has been like working at our reserves. We are proud to have individuals such as these three hard working and nature-loving women whose work in safeguarding the future of our natural environment in this ever growing City is often overlooked.
‘We currently have 25 field rangers, who are women, deployed at our reserves. These include 10 reserve supervisors; 11 field rangers; one senior field ranger, two area managers and one regional head, all carrying a wealth of knowledge and experience in nature conservation,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
Over the past year, the City has supported many ambitious and eager woman field rangers by funding various training courses and providing financial support to further their education. These opportunities included financial support to complete and obtain their matric certificate or a degree in Environmental Management and Administration, as well as their learners and driving licences. Various other training opportunities, such as Fire Marshall training; First Aid training; Snake Handling and practical courses to operate light equiptment such as chainsaws were also pursued by this group.
In winter, the field rangers focus more on soil erosion control and in the warmer seasons, their work includes the cutting of fire breaks, trail and picnic area maintenance and vegetation monitoring. Collecting rainfall, capturing it and feeding it to the South African Weather Services also forms part of their duties as well as bird counts, nocturnal animal night counts and small to large mammal surveys. Environmental education for visiting schools and groups is also provided by these rangers all year round. With the recent storms in Cape Town, many of the teams have been busy opening trails where trees have fallen so that these areas are safe for visitors to use.
Victoria Day – Reserve Supervisor at the Zeekoevlei section of the City’s False Bay Nature Reserve in Pelican Park
Day from Rondebosch has had a love for nature since a very young age where she enjoyed looking for insects in the mud and catching frogs, this was further cultivated by her parents who would always take her for walks in nature come rain or sunshine.
Day went on to complete the nature conservation course at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and started her career at the City in 2006 as a student. She was appointed as a Field Ranger at the Strandfontein Birding Area within the False Bay Nature Reserve in 2008. Her dedication to volunteering started in her teens by serving at SANCCOB during school holidays and when fires occurred on Table Mountain, she would spend hours making sandwiches for firefighters.
‘It is truly a privilege to work with the special vegetation and animals we have here in Cape Town. The fact that I live in a city and am working with hippos is just amazing. The training opportunities are also very empowering, I recently got my Code 10 driver’s license and I was much more excited about being able to drive a truck than a normal Code 8 car. Working with the inspiring staff at the False Bay Nature Reserve has been one of my career highlights,’ said Day.
Vuyokazi Rubushe – Field Ranger at the City’s Helderberg Nature Reserve in Somerset West
Rubushe from Khayelitsha started her career at the City straight out of high school as a learner, and became a ranger after she completed her learnership in 2016.
‘I never knew we had hippos in Cape Town and before I knew it I was doing my learnership at the False Bay Nature Reserve: Rondevlei section where I had the opportunity to work with them. I then went onto completing another learnership at the Helderberg Nature Reserve, where I learnt we have leopards roaming the mountains all the way through to the Steenbras side of the reserve.
‘I’ve always loved nature and the outdoors and through these learnerships, I got a full on experience in the nature conservation field which has led me into furthering my studies in Environmental Management. I am working to protect diverse ecosystems and endangered species, ensuring the survival of countless plants and animals. This is priceless to me,’ said Rubushe.
Rubushe formed part of a restoration project team at Helderberg Nature Reserve at one stage where they cut pines from a pine plantation, scheduled an ecological burn on this section and in between collected seeds of four different Protea species in the reserve. These seeds were sown about two to three months after the burn in efforts to restore the degraded habitat. She has witnessed the Fynbos veld grow back, which is now as old as the time she has been at the reserve. Another one of her highlights include conquering the Helderberg Dome four times already.
Nwabisa Majali – Senior Field Ranger at the City’s Wolfgat Nature Reserve in Mitchells Plain
Nwabisa Majali from Mfuleni started her career at the City in 2017 as a work integrated learning student and became a field ranger in November 2019.
‘Growing up in the Garden Route, surrounded by all the beautiful fynbos vegetation and forest, I witnessed communities working together in making conservation a success. I was sure from a very young age that I was definitely going to become a nature custodian and I can proudly say I lived up to that dream and the City of Cape Town made it possible. The highlight of my career thus far was being appointed as a Senior Field Ranger in May this year,’ said Majali.
Some of Majali’s daily tasks include foot and vehicle patrols; bird counts; hiking trail maintenance; coordinating litter pick-ups and fixing broken fences etc.
‘Competencies such as knowledge of relevant environmental conservation legislation, as well as fauna and flora are essential when considering a career as a field ranger. This is also not an ordinary nine to five job as field rangers are required to work in all weather conditions and must be willing to be on stand-by for disasters such as fires and oil spills. A certain level of physical fitness is also required to conduct the daily activities in and around the reserves,’ said Alderman Andrews.
The minimum requirements to become a Field Ranger are as follows:
- NQF Level 2: With labour skills and valid certification of competency in the operation of small plant and equipment
- A Code 8 driver’s licence
- Two years practical experience of wildlife management, with specific skills in basic map reading and navigation
For more information on a career within Environmental Management at the City or skills development opportunities please visit: https://bit.ly/3ykDKeo and https://bit.ly/3WqhyYf.
