One Woman's Mission To Empower Female Rangers And Fund Frontline Conservation

Forbes

23-06-2025

Holly Budge and the Black Mambas, an all-female wildlife ranger unit.
"We need one million more rangers if we want to reach the 30x30 target," declared Carole d'Antuoni, president of Gardes Nature de France, at the latest World Ranger Congress.
Today, 286,000 rangers patrol the planet's wild places, roughly one for every 28 square miles. To protect 30% of Earth's land and oceans by 2030, about 1.5 million rangers, one for every 10 square miles, are needed.
Will the world's most ambitious environmental pledge could fall flat without them?
In an exclusive interview, I talked to Holly Budge, one of the speakers at the World Ranger Congress, via Zoom to discuss the rise of the female ranger movement and the pivotal role women on the front lines play in achieving the 30x30 conservation target.
Inside The All-Female Ranger Unit Defending Africa's Wildlife
Holly Budge is the first woman to skydive Mount Everest, jumping from an aircraft at 29,500ft and landing at 12,500ft, the world's highest landing area. She also summited the North side of Everest and spent 47 days on the mountain above 16,400 feet.
While she is immensely proud of these achievements, she shared that climbing Mount Everest felt like child's play compared to her first night patrol with the Black Mambas in Olifants West Game Reserve inside Greater Kruger in 2014.
"We walked in the dark, looking for any signs that poachers were in the area. It felt scary since we were the only ones out there who could do anything about it if they are indeed there. It was daunting," said Budge.
Craig Spencer, the founder of the Black Mambas with two female rangers in the middle of the night.
"However, it was also inspiring since these female rangers were not waving around guns and egos but showed remarkable resilience and strength to protect the area they patrol," she continued.
Craig Spencer founded the Black Mambas in 2013 to be the eyes in the bush. They are an unarmed, all-female anti-poaching unit monitoring day and night 50,000 acres of Olifants West Game Reserve.
They remove snares and search for signs of poachers, such as track marks or roadblocks, relaying any findings to the operations center to request backup from an armed patrol unit.
"We started Black Mambas with no gadgets like night googles or tracking technology," said Felicia Letange Mogakane, one of the founding members of the Black Mambas, who also joined the call.
Felicia Letange Mogakane, one of the founding members of the Black Mambas, on a night patrol.
Since its inception, they never took a break. Day and night, teams of 5-10 patrol the area of 50,000 acres. "We have to be there; otherwise, the poachers win. They are not relaxing even for a day, so we cannot as well," she said. 'Compared to the early days, thankfully today, we have the technology to act faster.'
Mogakane proudly shared that since the Black Mambas began patrolling the area in 2013, they have successfully prevented rhino poaching within their patrol zone and significantly reduced bushmeat poaching.
"We are confident now. We have proven ourselves despite the social stigma and have earned the community's respect because they see our impact," she added.
Why Are Rhinos Under Siege? And How Can Conservation Keep Pace With Poaching?
Two rhino species live in the African continent: the White Rhino and the Black Rhino. Poachers target rhinos for their horns since Traditional Asian Medicine attributes healing properties to them.
The Northern White Rhino is functionally extinct since only two females, Najin and Fatu, remained after the last male died in 2018. Both are under 24/7 protection by armed rangers at Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
The Southern White Rhino is more common with around 10,000 mature individuals. However, the species is still marked as 'Nearly Threatened' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
According to the latest 2024 figures from the IUCN Red List, just over 3,100 mature Black Rhinos remain. While the population is slowly increasing, the species is still classified as 'Critically Endangered.'
A mother and baby rhino approach a pond for drinking
In 2024, 420 rhinos were poached in South Africa. 76% of them were killed within national or state parks, and more than half of the total (55%) happened in KwaZulu-Natal, according to data from South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, presented by Helping Rhinos.
Despite decades of investment, more than $74 million across 11 southern African reserves, rhino poaching continues at alarming rates, driven by global horn demand, inequality, corruption and organized crime.
While traditional anti-poaching methods such as ranger patrols and surveillance have led to hundreds of arrests, people working in rhino conservation are continuously researching for new ways to protect this species.
Dehorning is one example that emerged in recent years. According to a study published in June 2025, dehorning cut poaching by roughly 78%. Another recent study revealed that gathering human DNA samples from rhino horns could potentially link suspects to crimes that could lead to arrests.
Education Is A Powerful Weapon Against Wildlife Crime
"Poachers are part of the community but must be caught red-handed to arrest them. Patrolling is one way to protect the animals who have no voice; the other way is education," Mogakane shared.
A group of female rangers of the Black Mambas.
She told me about their 'Bush Grannies' program since kids' education in South Africa starts with their grandparents.
As part of the program, the Black Mamba rangers took grandmothers to Kruger National Park to teach them about wildlife and conservation.
"They have lived their whole lives among the Big Five, but many had never actually seen one," she said. 'We wanted them to see the animals up close and to understand why protecting them matters.'
"Now, I feel proud to see how many of them changed their minds. They became a great help in alerting us if someone in the community tries to sell bushmeat illegally," she continued.
Mogakane also told me about the 'Bush Babies' program, where rangers visit schools to teach kids about nature and why it is wrong to kill rhinos for their horns.
"The poachers are the fathers of these kids. We hope that educating the young generations will help them question this way of life," she added.
Rangers visit the children at a local school to teach them about nature and wildlife as part of the ... More Bush Babies Program.
A $2 Million Call To Action To Fund The Frontlines
Budge has been working with over 5,500 rangers across the globe since she established How Many Elephants, a charity to help amplify the voice of female rangers.
She noted that only 11% of the world's rangers are women. A figure she believes is far too low.
In her experience, the ripple effect of hiring even one female ranger can be far-reaching. Not just because, in South Africa, one woman often supports up to 16 family members or because 90% of a woman's income typically goes back into the community, but because of what female rangers represent: 'a beacon of hope.'
A female ranger of the Black Mambas, an all-female anti-poaching unit.
"Women are caretakers and role models of their communities. If we can put more female rangers in other reserves, the impact of that would be phenomenal both for the individual and the whole local community," Budge said, echoing broader trends across Africa, where women are breaking barriers to lead in conservation and community development.
Budge hopes to rally global support to raise critical funds for women on the frontlines of conservation. She set the goal to raise $2 million during the 5th Annual World Female Ranger Week, taking place this week (June 23–28, 2025).
She emphasized that these funds could cover the costs of 20 new teams of 5-10 members to be trained and dispatched for patrolling.
This campaign is essential for the survival of the Black Mambas as South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment ended their funding in March 2022, leaving them to rely solely on private sources.
Sustainable Tourism As Another Tool To Explore
Budge also started a travel company, Wildlife Positive Travel, offering travelers a chance to spend time with the rangers, experience their daily life and visit the local community.
"There is a wave of new eco-conscious travelers who want more than silk sheets and luxury game rides. However, the Black Mambas are not tourist attractions," she explained.
She calls this trip 'Deeper Luxury Travel' since, in her eyes, it is a privilege to be there. "Sustainable tourism should be a key conservation tool, but it has to be done right," she summarized.
Indeed, around the world, and not just in Africa, there are compelling examples of tourism serving as a viable business model to safeguard vulnerable ecosystems and protect wildlife.
What Will It Take?
As the world races to meet the 30x30 conservation target, protecting 30% of Earth's land and oceans by 2030, a critical gap remains: people.
As Budge launches a $2 million fundraising campaign, her call to action is clear: "We need more boots on the ground." But how will the world respond?
What will it take to scale this model of community-led, women-powered conservation? Can sustainable tourism help fund frontline efforts without exploiting them? And who will invest in the people who risk everything to protect the planet's most endangered species before it is too late?