Women in Conservation - Ranger Virginia Senteiya

Clad in olive green camouflage uniforms, carrying wooden batons and water backpacks, the women move stealthily as they scan across the wilderness. One of them raises her fist. They all crouch as they whisper and peer into the bush. After a while, they all stand. Over tea back at base ranger commander Virginia Senteiya explains that they’d suspected there was a lion ahead, but, on this occasion, it turned out to be wind rustling through the bush. Recruited mostly from rural communities neighboring Segera, these women are proud graduates from East Africa’s first all-female ranger training academy,

“Women should be given equal opportunities with men and this unit has proven that conservation is no longer a man’s world. I challenge the Head of Security not to send us on joint patrol with the male rangers because we are equally as good or even better,” said Virginia, during their colorful and emotional graduating ceremony in 2019.

The Long Run Founder Jochen Zeitz echoed her sentiments, “In communities that have coexisted with wildlife for generations, women are natural custodians of the environment and astute managers of resources. Education, female empowerment, community engagement, and conservation are some of the pillars of the ZEITZ Foundation and Segera. The ranger academy is just one example of how we can create employment, sustainable income, and encourage the empowerment of women,” said Jochen Zeitz.

“I saw the initial interview videos before the training and I can’t believe the progression the ladies have made. They were unsure, intimidated, some looked outright scared, but now they are confident, can express themselves better, and are ready to mix it up with the male ranger team,” he added.

While a new chapter is slowly being written in Laikipia’s conservation effort with local women playing a key role, unbridled by cultural practices, traditions and the patriarchy that is rampant in northern Kenya, Virginia’s journey has been a challenging one. “Girls’ education was never a priority in our family, the community, and most parts of northern Kenya. Girls were there to be married off, raise children, and look after livestock. My dad was stubborn and didn’t want me to go to school. I had to force him and make him understand it was a good thing. My mother helped a bit but was timid,” says Virginia.

After starting school when she was a bit older due to financial constraints, she later dropped out of secondary school, returning to finish her education years later. After school, she got married and had a child, but she and her husband separated; Virginia wanted more than the traditional norm of raising kids and looking after livestock and began working whilst pregnant with her second child to support her young family.

At 30, the mother-of-two heard about the recruitment at Segera from her local community, it lit a spark within her, and she applied, undertaking an intense 10-day selection process. An intensive sixmonth training period followed. The first 3 months at Segera were spent learning a diverse set of skills - encompassing drills, defense, first aid, intelligence gathering, communication, map reading, mission planning, and meditation.

Following that, advanced tracking training occurred at Tsavo East National Park. Virginia vividly remembers the most challenging segment of the training: a rigorous three-day hardship session in Samburu, involving trekking through hostile territory.

“We had all lost hope, were dehydrated, hungry, and desolate but we all thought of the hardships we had left at home, our families and found renewed energy to finish the mission. We realized that teamwork is such a powerful tool,” says Virginia.

“Ever since I graduated as a ranger, I have a constant salary and have improved the life of my family and community around me. The community now respects me, and I get to be a role model to many young women in our area,” she adds. In 2021, she got an opportunity to visit the UK and Switzerland to meet some of the ranger program sponsors. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be sharing her life story with people across the world.

Each morning Virginia starts her day with a yoga session, before beginning patrol at 8 am. Unlike their male counterparts, the troupe doesn’t carry guns in the bush. “We have been highly trained to track and evade wildlife instead, and besides we grew up with wildlife in the community and understand their behavior,” she chuckles. As for the future, she urges parents from pastoralist communities to prioritize educating their daughters, as she knows first-hand that: “By educating a woman, you educate the whole village because women are nurturers, teachers, and the original conservationists.”