Ready, set, game…ranger

She packs a rifle to work, wears khakis or jeans, and drives a Land Cruiser. She can track any animal in the middle of the bush, and she will protect your life if, god forbid, you stupidly jump out of her vehicle and the animal happens to attack you.

Her name is Jacqueline Glover. Her profession: Game ranger.

Not too long ago, Jacqui spotted a leopard in the bush. Just a quick glimpse and then it was gone. But that made her day. She had made a promise to herself that when she saw a leopard first, then she’d see herself as a real ranger. Why a leopard? Because they’re very difficult to find and very good at camouflaging. "Leopards live in the thick bush," she says. "In this area, you have a lot of mountains and that’s where they are. The roads don’t go there so it’s only when they come down that you see them."

We met Jacqui two months ago during the Cathay Pacific Wilderness Experience in South Africa (for that story, see Young Star August 13) held at the Entabeni private game reserve in the Waterberg region. Jacqui is one of only three females of the 30 game rangers on the reserve. It is a profession that is still dominated by men. "A lot of girls don’t even think of going into something like this. Not because they don’t have the passion, but they think they’re not good enough to do it. The ones that are in the industry have proven that we are equal to men. So men are stronger, fine, but women are wiser."

It is a very competitive profession, even among friends. While game rangers radio each other when they spot any of the Big Five animals (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo), it is a matter of pride that you tracked it first.

So on the game drives that we rode with Jacqui, our lives were in her hands. Not that we encountered any real danger (the most threatening moment was trying to find a suitable place to pee in the wide expanse of the bush) but you never really know what could happen out there. At night, when we would go back to our tents at Wildside Camp, a place where lions could roam – but thankfully didn’t – Jacqui or her colleague Andre Morgan would walk us with their rifles loaded and ready to shoot. And in the early mornings when the skies were still dark, they would fetch us from our tents and walk us to the dining hall.

Jacqui says she’s had a few close encounters with lions in the bush, the closest being her first lion walk with a training manager. A lion walk is when you follow the animal’s tracks on foot in the bush. "We saw them when they started charging us. If you run away the lion thinks you’re prey. You have to stand very still and if they keep charging, you have about one and a half second to load your gun and shoot."

But isn’t that a bit of a dilemma for a game ranger? "Yes, it is. That’s why we give safety briefings to our guests. I’ve known rangers who’ve literally had to pick up guests and take them back to the vehicle. We explain to guests that if they don’t do what we say, we have to kill the animal because of them."

Jacqui knew she wanted to be a ranger early on. Born and raised in Johannesburg, she was influenced by her parents who were born in Kenya. "My father also spent a lot of time on a game farm in Tanzania when he was young."

Her parents would take the kids to game reserves and national parks but Jacqui describes those experiences as "miserable" because as the youngest of three siblings she was always stuck in the backseat between the older two. "Then I started to spend more time in the bush when my sister was working in a hotel at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. She organized loads of game drives and game walks with the rangers and I said, I wanna learn what these guys are learning. I want to be out there."

So what does it take to be a game ranger? "There’s a passion inside everyone. You have the passion for writing, then you have people whose passion is to become a doctor, then there are those who want to sit in front of the computer all day which I think is madness. The passion of a ranger is to be out in the bush. You want to learn about nature, about Africa, about the animals, about how the world worked before humans came along, before cities were built."

Today seems to be a great time to do it, when a lot of Africa’s previously agricultural farms are being turned into game farms and attracting loads of tourists from all over the world.

But how does one become a game ranger? Jacqui says majority of rangers do self-study and gain experience in the field, others take up game ranging at the university.

"To get into the industry, in South Africa we need to register with the Field Guide Association of Southern Africa (FGASA). You have three basic levels where you have written exams and practical exams on riflery and walking dangerous game, among others." Those unregistered with the association are called "local guides."

Like soldiers, they earn their stripes as field guides after exams and completing a year in the field. They also earn levels in tracking. When Jacqui qualified to be a tracker, she was the only third female to be a tracker in South Africa.

When asked about her most memorable experiences, Jacqui says there have been millions, but as far as bad experiences go, it was the five-day fire last year which burned down 75 percent of Entabeni reserve. For five days, rangers, fire fighters, locals and employees battled the fire that gutted the bush. "After that, I couldn’t bear to smell the burning wood of a bonfire. I will always remember that awful smell."

Do men find female rangers intimidating? They may not say so, but Jacqui thinks so. "Outside of rangers, we get mocked quite a lot. They say, ‘Oooh, ranger chick.’ My answer is, ‘If you’re such a big man, why aren’t you doing this?’"

A ranger’s life is not easy. At Entabeni, they work seven days a week for six straight weeks, and then get two weeks off. They start their days at 4 in the morning in summer and a little later in the cold winter. But it’s a job she loves, one that never bores her. "Somebody who gets tired of nature shouldn’t be here in the first place. If you get bored with this, there’s something wrong with you. The animals are never in the same place, never doing the same thing, and the people you drive are from all over the world. You can get tired and worn out, but not bored."

Doesn’t she ever want to trade her khakis for a skirt just for a day? She laughs and says, "If I go to a wedding or a funeral I might consider it."