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"My true personality comes out only in the bush"

  • August 29, 2015 | Rhulani Safari Lodge

Nicky Mazzuchetti is the first female field guide at Rhulani. Her passion, qualification and experience make her an important asset for us in an environment, which has long been considered a male domain.

First Aid Kit, rain ponchos, toilet paper ... As every afternoon, Nicky makes the final routine checks before game drive, while the guests enjoy the high tea. "Since I am seven years old, I know that I want to be a Ranger," the young woman says firmly, as she spreads a pile of blankets under the seats. After sunset, it could get quite chilly. Hard to believe, when Nicky says that she was a shy girl at school. "My true personality comes out only in the bush," she says.

Nicky controls the spotlight with which wild animals are looked for with nightfall. "After school I studied Public Relations & Project Management," remembers Nicky with little enthusiasm, as if she had felt already there, that it is nothing else than an option for a later life and her true passion lay somewhere else. "In 2010 I finally started with field guiding in Bushwise College. Since then I live in the bush ".

Nicky Mazzuchetti, the first female ranger at Rhulani

Quickly a test of the radio system to stay in contact with colleagues during the game drive. Everything is ok. Nicky Mazzuchetti joined Rhulani in July 2015 in the ranger's team, which seems to be a true male domain. But she laughs. "They told me that I am the first woman here in this position". This must feel strange, one would assume. "No, no, there are many women right now who undergo this training," she says, while she puts a gun in the protective sheath and places it in front on the dashboard. "Some lodges take no female Rangers as a matter of principle, for fear that they cannot cope with all things".

"But that's nonsense," says Nicky. "Look." She points at the heavy spare wheel, which is screwed to the side of the vehicle. "Like all other guides I change a flat tyre myself." With the many off-road drives and the thorns of the thicker bush that happens quite often. "But maybe I need a helping hand to lift the wheel up here".

Besides her passion Nicky has many years of experience in the bush and best qualifications as a field guide. Does she sometimes feel being discriminated as a woman? "Not often”, she says and with a smile she adds, “when a guest tells me with a little sniff, that he has never had a woman ranger before, I respond: ‘Well, then enjoy it!’ Often, the guest comes back later saying to me: ‘I do apologize, I judged you and I should not have done that’”. In dealing with ranger colleagues, the gender issue is a bit different. "Here one gains respect through knowledge and the way you work on the radio".

Nicky stows the cooler box with the drinks for guests at the rear of the vehicle. Nicky tells: “To handle criticism and discerning guests applies equally for men and women. The key is not to take things too much to your heart. This would be the end in this industry."

“The key is not to take things too much to your heart. This would be the end in this industry.” – Nicky Mazzuchetti, Field Guide

Nicky opens the car door and sits on the driving seat. Where does she take the energy to get up every day with a smile and be curious about the bush and the animals? "That's not difficult at all”, she says. “Every day is different. Today, for example, we found cheetah tracks when suddenly hyenas were calling, which we followed, and so we suddenly ran into a pride of lion, which was fighting with the hyenas for a kill. These are indescribable moments."

How long a young, well-educated woman can continue to live her passion in the bush? "Times have much improved,” says Nicky. “Today it is no longer so that rangers must go back to the city, once they have a family and the children go to school." Nicky thinks of the new methods of homeschooling and self-teaching kids, which also in Madikwe means that staff plans their lives over a long term in the reserve.

Rhulani's guests have finished the high tea and are now looking forward to a wonderful safari. Voices on the radio indicate that activities are about to begin. “Nicky coming, what’s your log?”, one voice asks and the young woman answers. “Good afternoon, will depart in five minutes, going south”. Nicky starts the engine. “Thanks, enjoy!”, the voice on the radio says. In the south, four cheetahs were spotted this morning, maybe they are still there. Nicky drives off to meet the guests at reception. The sun is high in the sky. On Nicky’s face, a happy smile. Her hair is blowing in the wind when she disappears behind a cloud of dust.