Wild Tomorrow’s ecosystem restoration team, The Green Mambas, are proud to have completed Dangerous Game Awareness training last month thanks to a grant provided by L’Occitane South Africa. This training is vitally important to prepare the team for the arrival of elephants, rhinos and buffalos once fences are dropped between our Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve and the Munyawana Game Reserve. Read more about their training in our blog post below.

*The excited Green Mambas posing with their Dangerous Game Awareness booklets.*

The Green Mambas are always ready and excited to learn new skills in wildlife conservation! It was an exciting day of training for the team thanks to a grant from L’Occitane South Africa as part of their philanthropic focus on empowering women.

The course was vital to ensure these brave and hardworking Zulu women stay safe while they are working around potentially dangerous animals while carrying out their restoration work at our Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve. These 14 Zulu women and one man can be found hard at work restoring habitat hectare by hectare every day. Their work restores ecosystems, contributing to global restoration efforts while supporting their livelihoods, their families, and their equitable participation in conservation.

*Class is in session with Bhejane owner and trainer, Dylan Panos, and the brilliant Green Mambas.*

The “Dangerous Game Awareness” training was presented by Dylan Panos, founder of Bhejane Nature Training. Bhejane is recognised as a leading nature guide training provider in South Africa, and is conveniently located right next door to Wild Tomorrow’s Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve.

The Green Mambas received training in how to react when encountering the following animals: Lion, Leopard, Rhino (Black and White), Elephant, Buffalo, Hippo, Crocodile, Hyena, Cheetah and Wild Dog. Training topics included:

General principles of animal behavior
Characteristics, habits and behaviors of key species
Basic track identification
Situational awareness for living and working in areas with dangerous game
Protocols for close encounters with dangerous game

The course started with lectures and discussions in the classroom, followed by practical in-the-field training. Classroom training included discussing respecting the personal space of wild animals and situations that can cause animals to behave differently towards humans, such as feeding, mating or fighting, animals with young, animals that are wounded, or animals that are already stressed. The in-the-field component included learning habits such as walking in groups or pairs whenever possible and using ones’ senses to become aware of environmental indicators such as birds or monkeys alarm calling. A simulated dangerous animal encounter, during which the candidates got an opportunity to practice encountering and reacting to various scenarios, initially had the Green Mambas apprehensive and nervous. After some encouragement, there was excitement and enjoyment in learning how to react to potentially dangerous situations. A key focus in this training was learning when it is appropriate to safely retreat, and when it is more important to stand your ground.

Wild Tomorrow is grateful for the vital support of L’Occitane, and we express our enormous gratitude for contributing to our wildlife conservation efforts and the training of our Green Mambas, of whom we are very proud! We are delighted that L’Occitane’s commitment to protecting & restoring biodiversity globally now includes the amazing sand forest of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and our Green Mambas team of powerful women.

“Thank you to L’Occitane group for respecting and protecting biodiversity from the lavender fields of Provence France threatened by the impacts of climate change, and now to the endangered sand forest of KwaZulu-Natal. It’s an extraordinary example of a company going beyond sustainability to actively restoring nature while empowering women”, said Wild Tomorrow Fund’s co-founder, Wendy Hapgood

Thank you L’Occitane and congratulations to the Green Mambas!

*A group photo to commemorate a fulfilling and empowering day. Congrats Green Mambas!*

Click below to learn more about L’Occitane’s projects supporting empowering women and respecting biodiversity.

#WeActLocally #biodiversity #generationrestoration #rewild #wildtomorrow

THE GREEN MAMBAS COMPLETE DANGEROUS GAME AWARENESS TRAINING