Almost 30 years since section ranger Joe Nkuna joined arguably the best tourist destination in the country, the Kruger National Park (KNP), he has decided to hang up his ranger boots.
Nkuna, who is known in the park as “Kokwani Ranger”, can tell a plethora of stories in the 29 years at the helm as a ranger, including that he was named best ranger when he was based at Letaba Rest Camp in 2004.
A familiar face to tourists at the park, Nkuna was a teacher at Mabunda Primary School near Giyani, Limpopo, before joining the park.
Being a teacher at the time, making a living was hard because the salary could not sustain a reasonable living.
He was 34 when he heard of a vacant post for field rangers at the park, where he applied and was selected after completing vigorous training, scoring second highest among a group of about 20 students.
“… so I had to submit three applications at Letaba, Mooiplaas and Mahlangeni … Mooiplaas ranger invited me for an interview and I was appointed as a field ranger for Mooiplaas.
“Before bringing me to Mooiplaas they took me for selection tests and paramilitary training which after I went to Olifants where I started working as a ranger in August 2004,” he said.
After that he went to Skukuza for interviews where he was appointed as a junior section ranger.
“That was my highlight because I had been proposed as a section ranger for a period of six months … I was then transferred to Shingwedzi then moved to Olifants where I worked for four years,” he said.
Going up the ranks, Nkuna worked in Phalaborwa and Letaba in 2004.
“I’m now retiring,” he told The Star.
Nkuna leaves the park at the end of the month with a heavy heart.
On March 7, Nkuna discovered that more than 80 vultures had died in the park as a result of poaching.
The vultures were feeding on a dead buffalo that had been laced with poison by poachers after trapping it with snares.
He could not believe his eyes when he got to the scene to investigate the cause of deaths.
He said when the KNP received a call from Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre about a tracked vulture which wasn’t moving, Nkuna, assigned his team of rangers to track the GPS location where the gruesome discovery was made.
“When they got here they found a snared buffalo and the poachers were able to harvest some meat from the buffalo and then the leftovers were laced with poison.
“From there the vultures came to clean up the buffalo carcass. But instead of cleaning up the carcass cleaned them up … so when we got here there were dead vultures all over. So they had to radio me and I drove up and called the police to come and attend the crime scene … It was terrible and was not healthy,” Nkuna said.
“I hate poaching, especially this kind of poaching because it leaves a trail of destruction. Poaching in general is bad in the natural world. Snaring has also become bad in the park … what I hate most is that they kill our creatures. I appeal to the authorities to teach people about poaching,” he said.
Nkuna says a lot has happened during his journey through the years.
“When I came into the park I had no diploma and the park encouraged me to study further. And the rest is history.”
Born and bred in Giyani, Nkuna completed his matric at Magulasani High School, but had to find employment since there was no money to further his education.
According to the park, Nkuna’s first assignment at the Kruger was in the ranger’s section at Olifants Camp.
In February 1995, he became a section ranger in Louis Olivier’s section at Shingwedzi, where he stayed for two years. His post became redundant with the first restructuring process at the Kruger in 1997. He was then appointed as an interpretive officer, staying on at Shingwedzi for the next six months.
“We must look after and preserve Kruger. It is a national asset and we should educate people to look after it.”
The Star
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za