Many of us dream of living life as a game ranger, a “job” that doesn’t feel like a job and allows one to enjoy the great outdoors, wildest Africa and incredible animal sightings, all in a day’s work! Most game rangers live a life of interacting with interesting people from around the world and get to educate and entertain these people through showing them what Africa has to offer on their game drives and guided walks. Game rangers also have a massive role in taking care of the game reserves and conserving the environment. So, encouraging your children or at least nurturing an existing interest in this profession, is not a bad idea.
Role of a Game Ranger
A ranger’s job is far more “environment conservation” oriented than you think. Game rangers are responsible for the maintenance of game reserves and parks and some of their tasks include game counting, fence repairs and of course the extremely necessary anti-poaching work. Game rangers work closely with specialists such as ecologists to manage animal population and monitor diseases that the animals or plants may pick up. The environmental responsibilities of the game ranger also include taking care of erosion, alien plants, floods or water shortages and collecting samples too. Game rangers often educate their guests on the environment and eco systems in the hope of creating awareness of the conservation and care that needs to go in to this world in order to maintain it and keep it as it is today.
If your child answers yes to any of the below questions, he or she may have a bright future in this field…
- Passionate about nature and animals?
- Enjoys hiking?
- Organized and hard working?
- Confident or possesses good communication skills?
What does Emdoneni offer for your children?
Emdoneni Lodge has identified that this is a job in demand and one that many children consider from a young age and have therefore put a program together that allows children to explore this interest in wildlife. It is important to nurture this interest and encourage it. Too many children are more interested in technology, televisions and iPads than animals, nature and the great outdoors.
How Does it work?
The qualified guides at Emdoneni Lodge take kids ages 4 to 12 years old on a 3 hour training course. Each child will receive their own pack consisting of a game ranger canvas backpack, a note book to use for “tracking”, drawings and field notes and a cap to protect their faces from the harsh African sun.
The course covers;
- Teaching the children about different cat species (Cheetah, African Wildcat, Serval and Caracal), their habitats, feeding patterns and basic identification.
- Resident animals will be looked at too, these include; antelope, birds, crawling insects and others
- Some tree identification will be covered by the rangers
- Animal tracks are key for any future game ranger to understand and learn about, this will also be covered in the course.
- Basic direction is also part of our game ranger course.
Bring your children to Emdoneni Lodge with Cheetah Project, stay for a few days and enjoy our cats and game drives. Let your children take part in the game ranger course and help us to conserve and appreciate our environment for the future!
Contact Emdoneni Lodge on +27 (0)35 562-7000, find all the contact details and directions online.
