Conservation Organisations – the kind of jobs they provide

As well as rangers Big Life employs 29 teachers, 2 nurses and a nurse attendant, 6 mechanics, drivers, accountants, 2 chefs, a store keeper and IT manager. They have 8 programme coordinators (for the Predator Compensation Fund, Education Scholarships, In-school Conservation Education program, Maasai Olympics, Conservancy Development, Rangeland Management, Crop-protection Fence and Sustainable Farming). There are four programme assistants and five people working on monitoring and evaluation. They have a director of operations with 21 admin staff; Finance, Admin, and Human Resource Officers; a finance assistant; Grants and IT Managers; a team of cleaning and ground staff and driver.

Big Life’s Field staff of 52 includes Bore-hole Attendants, Crop-protection Fence Attendants, Crop-protection Fence Attendant, Supervisor, Lion Tracker, Verification Officers for livestock compensation program, Predator Scouts, Maintenance and Water Rangers. Eighteen Maasai warrior leaders/chiefs are employed, a Ranch Committee secretary, Conservancy House caretaker, Conservancy Gate Clerks and Herder.

Mokolodi Nature Reserve, Botswana

Mokolodi Nature Reserve is near Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. It was set up in 1994 on 3700 hectares of bushveld land previously used for cattle farming. It is home to a wide variety of animals and plants endemic to southeastern Botswana. Some are extremely rare or endangered. The reserve has giraffe, zebra, leopard, cheetah, crocodile, numerous antelope and important bird species. Between 1994 and 2019 eighteen rare white Rhino calves were born at Mokolodi.

The land was donated into a Trust for the children of Botswana, to provide a natural area for learning about nature, conservation and the environment. More than 9,000 school children visit the Education Centre each year. The education centre employs five teachers, a team of cooks and cleaners and an administrator. They work with drivers, animal keepers in the sanctuary, security staff and the conservation and wildlife guides.

Education for young people at Mokolodi is funded by income from commercial activity, including eco-tourism. There is a restaurant, tea-room, a shop, chalets for overnight stays. There are beautiful venues for conferences, workshops, weddings, bush braais (barbeques) and other occasions. Tourists can go on game drives, rhino and giraffe tracking and cycling.

Staff in the main reception at Mokolodi are responsible for welcoming and orienting visitors. They keep records, take payments and bookings. They work closely with colleagues in the adjacent shop and tea garden. They are both receptionists and administrators.

The Events team prepare the venues for weddings, conferences and other occasions. They will serve refreshments, arrange entertainment and anything else that customers require.

The Mokolodi Conservation team maintain roads, control erosion and fire hazards on the reserve. They keep enclosures secure and monitor wildlife and habitats.

The activities and facilities teams take visitors –tourists, family and workplace groups - into the reserve. The Staff housing, offices and facilities at Mokolodi are maintained by their technical team, including electricians and mechanics, while a security team keeps Mokolodi safe. The management and administration team includes people with business, accounting, marketing, human resources, legal and fundraising experience.

The educators liaise with schools and teachers, and with bush camp organisers. They take kids into the bush camping, game viewing and many other learning experiences. They run practical classes that are part of the national curriculum –soils, ecosystems, water, wildlife, ecology, etc.

In 2018 Mokolodi employed 90 people, 75 from neighbouring communities. The busy restaurant employs more people again.

Mokolodi in Botswana is one example of an African Nature Reserve. There are wildlife and nature reserves, conservancies and parks all across Africa. Some are smaller, some larger. Some employ more guides and guards, some have larger facilities for visitors, hotels, lodges or camping sites, some have air strips, some keep horses, some like Ol Peteja Reserve in Kenya also rear livestock. Ol Peteja is large, it employs a thousand people. Some have sanctuaries for wounded, or other animals in need. You can see that the diversity of employment they provide is very great.

Conservation Organisations – the kind of jobs they provide

Project Grande Singes. Science tourism - Cameroon.

Project Grande Singes is a Cameroonian organisation. It was set up in 2001 to protect Great Apes in a part of the Congo Basin rainforest in the East region of Cameroon. PGS provides jobs and income to local communities through scientific tourism. The project set up and maintains facilities for scientific researchers to come and study great apes and other aspects of rain forest ecology. They provide all the support that the visitors need while they are in the area doing their research: transport, lodging and feeding, clean water, a field laboratory, well trained guides, internet. They have a modern office and living accommodation in the capital city and a research camp near the forest, 10 km from the nearest village. PGS uses the income from scientific tourism to help local communities live in harmony with wildlife –alternatives to hunting for example, and efficient farming that doesn’t cause deforestation.

PGS researchers study the wildlife. They learn about the social, feeding and reproductive behaviour of wildlife. They also study botany, the plants in the forest, what species grow, where they grow, its ecology and phenology. Phenology is the timing of flowering and fruiting. They study the plants that people use and that the great apes use. They study the impact humans have on wildlife, the impact of hunting, agriculture and timber extraction and ways to reduce conflict between humans and wildlife. The research is used to understand the needs of the great apes, and how they, the forest and human communities can thrive together.

Grande Singes means Great Apes in French.

There are four species of Great Apes: Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Bonobos and Orangutans. They are primates.