'I'm here to save Mother Nature' – meet the man battling poachers in Zambia!
Benson Kanyembo is this year’s winner of the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award, initiated by the Duke of Cambridge. Sarah Marshall shares his story.
Frowning with concentration, Benson Kanyembo stares through the window of a Cessna 180, scanning every inch of Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. Flying low and slow, the light aircraft glides above a sun-scorched savannah, where mopane trees cling on to their last remaining leaves, sandbanks are streaked with hippo trails and herds of elephants march towards the river in a weary, thirsty parade.
Although scenic, these flights have far greater importance. The law enforcement adviser is searching for smoking embers from fresh fires, tell-tale signs that poachers have invaded the park. This morning – to everyone’s relief – only old scars pockmark the landscape, although they serve as a reminder of why Kanyembo and his team can never give up.
Employed by NGO Conservation South Luangwa (CSL), the 48-year-old ranger leads a team of 66 community-based scouts to protect one of Africa’s most popular safari destinations.
In an announcement today, he was named 2019 winner of the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award – a prize initiated by the charity’s royal patron the Duke of Cambridge four years ago, to give international recognition to the men and women risking their lives to defend Africa’s wildlife. On Nov 21, he will be presented with a medal and a grant of £10,000 at the Tusk Conservation Awards in London.
“This is my national heritage, my birth. I’m here to save Mother Nature,” explains Kanyembo while walking briskly from the airstrip to his four-wheel drive. The robust mountain of a man takes everything in his giant stride. “This isn’t work for me,” he says.
