Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto (second from right) told Mongabay she takes great pride in how far she has come since joining Zimbabwe’s Akashinga ranger force in 2017. Photo courtesy of Akashinga.
Mongabay: What exactly did you do? Did you run, stand still or try to move away?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: One thing we were taught is that when you encounter a lion, you must not run away. You cannot outrun a lion. If you try to run, you are putting your life in danger.
So, we had to face the lion and remain firm. We kept looking at it while slowly moving backward. You need to be brave enough to do that because you know this is a dangerous animal.
It wasn’t easy, especially because we had never been in that situation before. But we remembered our training.
Mongabay: And what did the lion do? Did it remain there watching you?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: It eventually started walking away. We kept facing it and slowly moved away as well. I think the lion became less interested in us. But at that moment, you have to remain very careful. You cannot afford to panic. That experience really showed me the importance of our training. When you’re in the bush, you can suddenly find yourself facing a dangerous animal, and what you’ve learned can make a difference.
Mongabay: What advice would you give someone who suddenly finds themselves face to face with a lion? And how do rangers avoid such encounters during their patrols?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: The most important thing is to respect wild animals and avoid getting too close to them. We were taught not to run when facing a lion, but to remain firm, face the animal and move away slowly.
As rangers, when we’re on patrol, we’re not supposed to make unnecessary noise. We listen carefully to what is happening around us in the forest. Most of the time, lions and leopards will detect your presence before you see them. During the day, they tend to avoid people. Sometimes you can spend a very long time on patrol without actually seeing a lion, although you might come across its tracks. So, encounters like the one we experienced are not common. But when they happen, you have to remember your training and remain calm. The best thing is always to avoid getting that close to a wild animal in the first place.
Mongabay: Patrolling in the wild certainly comes with multiple risks. Was there any other frightening encounter you had while working as a ranger?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: Another time, we came across a herd of elephants. It was during our first deployment without our instructors. We were walking through thick vegetation, and when we came out of it, there were elephants. We hadn’t seen them coming. During training, we had practiced how to respond to animals. But when it happened for real, we almost forgot what we had learned. It was a frightening moment.
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto (first from right) told Mongabay she takes great pride in how far she has come since joining Zimbabwe’s Akashinga ranger force in 2017. Photo courtesy of Akashinga.
Mongabay: You’ve described some frightening experiences. What is one of your happiest memories from your time on patrol?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: Seeing a pangolin. Pangolins are very rare to see in our area. When I was growing up, if someone found a pangolin, they would take it to the chief, and that person might receive a small reward. One day, while patrolling with my colleagues, we encountered one. I felt very proud because I knew how rare that animal was. For me, seeing that pangolin reminded me why our work was important. There are rangers who can spend years without seeing one.
Things have changed now. When people in the community encounter pangolins, they can inform us as rangers, and we can help relocate them to protected areas.
Mongabay: Poachers are often portrayed as criminals threatening wildlife. But some are also people struggling with poverty and limited opportunities. What was your first experience of arresting poachers?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: The first poachers we arrested were subsistence poachers. They were hunting for food. They resisted us at first because they didn’t believe women could arrest men. They were surprised when we arrested them. But during our training, we were taught that arresting poachers should not be about fighting the community.
We should also use those encounters as opportunities to educate people about conservation and the importance of protecting wildlife.
Mongabay: You eventually became a commander, leading other women in the field. Was gaining the trust of your fellow rangers easier than gaining the respect of men outside the organization? What did leadership teach you about yourself?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: I started as a ranger in 2017. In 2019, if I’m not mistaken, I was promoted to become a sergeant. I was surprised. I didn’t know what my superiors had seen in me to choose me as a leader. But I was happy that they trusted me. One thing I learned about leadership is that you must listen more and sometimes talk less. When you are leading rangers, you need to understand what they are experiencing in the field. They are the people encountering animals, poachers and all the challenges.
If you’re sitting in an office, you don’t know everything that’s happening on the ground. You have to listen to the people you’re leading before making decisions. And as a leader, you must also help other people become leaders. If I lead 16 or 20 rangers for five years and cannot identify anyone who can take over from me, then I have failed.
Mongabay: You had been unable to continue your education after secondary school. What made you decide to return to school?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: After joining Akashinga, I started thinking about education again. I asked the organization if it could help me continue my studies, and I was fortunate to receive a scholarship. I was accepted to study part time at Chinhoyi University of Technology. It was not easy because I had to balance work, school and family. Sometimes I would spend two weeks at school, then return to work, then go home for a short time. During the day, I was doing my ranger duties. At night, I was doing my schoolwork. For those four years, I often slept only four or five hours a night. There were times when I couldn’t spend much time with my family. Even my days off sometimes became days for studying. But my parents and my supervisors at Akashinga were very supportive. I started my studies in 2019, completed them in 2022 and graduated in 2023.
Nyaradzo recalled the demanding training she underwent, saying that a strong sense of sisterhood and mutual support helped the women persevere through its challenges. Photo courtesy of Akashinga.
Mongabay: After earning your degree, you became a biodiversity officer. What did that promotion mean to you?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: When I completed my studies, I submitted my results and transcripts to the organization. Then I was told that Akashinga was opening a new research and science department, and I was being promoted to become a biodiversity officer. I was very proud. I had started as a ranger, and now I was going to be involved in research, applying the things I had learned at university. For me, it was also a chance to give something back to the organization because it had trusted me and supported my education.
Mongabay: Can you give me an example of how information collected by rangers becomes a decision that helps protect wildlife?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: When rangers go on patrol, part of their job is to collect data. They record animals they see, signs of animals and other information about what is happening in the reserve. When I started working as a biodiversity officer, one of the first things we did was a baseline survey of wildlife populations and vegetation. We analyze the data to understand where animals are found and how they move through the reserve. That helps with patrol planning. For example, if the data show that certain animals are concentrated in a particular area during a season, we can advise the ranger teams to pay more attention to that area. We also compare the information over time. If a species was regularly recorded before but is no longer being recorded, that raises questions. We have to investigate what is happening.
Mongabay: You have seen the landscape in which you work both as a girl growing up in the Zambezi Valley and as a conservation professional. What has changed in the forests and wildlife populations over your lifetime?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: Yes. When I was growing up, we didn’t see many of these animals. The area where we work now was previously used for hunting. As a child, I knew many animals from books and magazines at school, but I had not seen them in real life. When we first started patrolling, we didn’t record many sightings. Sometimes we would see signs of animals rather than the animals themselves. Now, during our patrols, we are seeing more elephants and other species. Even at the camp where I am now, elephants sometimes come close and spend time around the area. What I have also noticed is their behavior. Before, when animals saw rangers, they would often run away. Now, in my experience, many remain where they are, feeding or drinking. I believe they are becoming more comfortable with our presence. That gives me hope that the work we’re doing is helping.
Mongabay: Like in other places around the world, many organizations are involved in conservation in your region, but local communities may not always see its value or feel connected to these efforts. From your experience, who is actually benefiting from conservation?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: I think conservation is benefiting my community in different ways. The first thing is employment. Akashinga recruits women from local communities to become rangers. It also employs men and women in other departments, such as maintenance, infrastructure, kitchens and administration. So, when someone from the community gets a job, that money goes back to the family. When we receive our salaries, we support our families and buy things from local shops. There are also education programs, scholarships and support for some local health facilities. And for children, there are opportunities to learn about wildlife. When I was growing up, I didn’t have an opportunity to see elephants or lions. But my daughters now have opportunities to see these animals and understand why we protect them.
Nyaradzo said many men in her community doubted that women could stand up to poachers or cope with the physical demands of ranger work. Photo courtesy of Akashinga.
Mongabay: But surely not everyone in the community supports conservation or Akashinga.
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: No, not everyone supports what we’re doing. Some people still believe that animals should be hunted because that’s how they used to get meat and some income. There are people who have not yet accepted the work Akashinga is doing. That worries me because those people can influence others who have started supporting conservation. We have to keep talking to the communities and finding ways to involve them.
Mongabay: Farmers living near protected areas sometimes lose their crops to elephants or livestock to predators. How do you convince someone who has suffered such a loss that conservation is worthwhile?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: We understand that living with wild animals can be difficult. You cannot just tell people to coexist with wildlife without helping them deal with the problems. We are working on measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict. For example, there are methods used to discourage elephants from entering farms, including chile bricks and other deterrents.
These measures are not 100% effective, but they can help reduce conflict. We also work with communities near the boundaries of protected areas because those are the people most affected. One thing we try to explain is that animals do not respect boundaries. You can draw a line and say this is where the reserve ends and the community begins, but an elephant doesn’t understand that line. So, we have to find ways for people and animals to live alongside each other.
Mongabay: Akashinga is often presented as a model of conservation led by women from local communities. But do communities genuinely have a say in how conservation decisions are made? Can you describe a time when community concerns changed an Akashinga decision?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: We try to involve them. Recently, we carried out a review of our management effectiveness, looking at how we were managing the area in 2025. We asked village leaders to select people from the communities to participate and share their opinions. We wanted to hear what they thought we were doing well, what we were doing badly and what they wanted us to change. That information is important when we’re planning how to manage the area in 2026 and 2027.
Mongabay: Looking back over the past nine years, what has changed most in your own life?
Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto: A lot of things have changed. But I think one of the biggest changes is how I see myself. When I had just divorced, I didn’t have confidence in myself. I didn’t believe I could become someone who could do something important or make a difference. Now, I can stand in front of a thousand people and speak. I have even given a TED Talk. That’s something I never imagined when I was growing up in my village. I have learned to believe in myself. And I’ve also learned to believe in other people.
When we started Akashinga, we were women from different villages, but we learned to work together like sisters. That experience changed the way I see people and the way I see leadership.
Source: The uplifting story of one of Zimbabwe’s pioneering women rangers
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