The Black Mambas, South Africa’s All Women Anti-Poaching Unit

Women in wildlife conservation just make sense and continue to demonstrate that they are key to protecting nature and their communities. Patrolling the critical areas of the Greater Krueger National Park is South Africa’s first all-women anti-poaching unit, The Black Mambas.

The Black Mambas are women who are selected, trained and deployed rangers which avoid a gun-first approach instead working to deescalate conflict towards potential poachers protecting The Big 5 and countless other animals.

Today on the podcast, I speak to the founder and director of Transfrontier Africa and founder and manager of the Black Mambas, Craig Spencer.

Craig discusses his innate traits to protect nature along with the growing success of The Black Mambas since founding the team in 2013. The team have a gruelling schedule patrolling the African landscape but are also creating sustainable incomes for their families and communities including supporting, feeding and teaching children the importance of wildlife conservation through the Bush Babies Environmental Education Program.

We discuss the traits that women possess to see them successfully disrupt the poaching space without the violence helping create a happy and peaceful landscape.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

You can support The Black Mambas here or follow them on Instagram for updates.

Learn more about Transfrontier Africa here including the Bush Babies Environmental Program.

This audio is edited by Peter Magill.