The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘The first time I felt fear, then I found courage’
A park ranger who faced death threats and gun battles in Uganda is about to be honoured, says Sarah Marshall
Coiled and tangled like a mountain of metal spaghetti, thousands of wire snares rise to the ceiling of a storehouse in Murchison Falls National Park, some with tufts of coarse hair and shrivelled limbs still attached. Along with rusted spears and trigger-system wheel traps, these deadly poaching tools have been collected by law enforcement warden Julius Obwona and his team on patrols in Uganda’s largest national park. They serve as a chilling reminder of the wildlife losses this area once endured. A mixture of savannah and dense woodland shaped by the River Nile, the park is most famous for its thundering waterfalls. But as populations of elephant, kob (a type of antelope), hippo and buffalo increase, safaris are becoming the big draw.
Just over two decades ago, it was a very different story. In 1995, when Obwona swapped a well-paid teaching job for a risky life in the bush, the northern sector of Murchison Falls was overrun by rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army. AK47s were common currency and poaching was rife.
“In a day, we’d meet three or four groups of armed poachers,” recalls the 46 year-old, whose danger-laden CV resembles that of a soldier on the front line. “We heard gunshots all the time.”
All too often the role played by rangers goes unnoticed and their efforts receive little reward. Eager to provide them with a platform for international recognition, the charity Tusk launched the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award three years ago as part of its annual Tusk Awards for Conservation in Africa – a move prompted by its Royal Patron, the Duke of Cambridge, who reiterated his respect for rangers in a speech to the Royal African Society. “Too many brave rangers are tragically killed each year by poachers,” he reflected.
Charlie Mayhew, Tusk’s CEO, said: “It’s typical of Prince William to want to shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes and rangers who are poorly paid and under-equipped but putting their lives on the line.” Potential loss of life was certainly faced by Obwona, the winner of this year’s Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award. Working on a joint operation with the Ugandan army, he would recover up to three guns a day from criminals.
“There were situations where we’d fight with the rebels,” admits the calmly spoken Ugandan. “The first time I felt fear. But after seeing it was possible to win the battle and recover the guns, I developed courage.”
When I join him on patrol, we encounter a small herd of elephants leaf ears in the heat. “It required dedication.”
There were many low points, the worst being the discovery of seven elephant carcases in a day. “It was a very bad scene,” Obwona shudders, drifting to a memory indelibly inked in his mind. But any emotions of sadness or anger were channelled into bringing the culprits “to book”.
By gaining the trust of community members and seeking leads, Obwona eventually collected enough information to arrest the criminals, who were prosecuted and sentenced. It was a turning point for the ranger.
“I knew I had done a very good job,” he says. “From that day, I knew it was very possible to do the impossible.”
By 2014, all known poachers in the northern area of the park had been arrested and 11 automatic rifles had been recovered in two years. Regarded with a mixture of respect and fear, Obwona had become a formidable figure, leading some criminals to voluntarily surrender their arms.
Today, on average, five to seven elephants are lost in a year (compared with 25 in 2012) and the number of snares collected has fallen drastically.
But success has not been without sacrifice. Along with countless death threats – directed at him and his family – Obwona has suffered the slow-burning inevitability of a detachment from the outside world.
“This work requires you to desert town,” he explains as we head back to his HQ, a simple single-storey block in the bush which has become his home. “Friendships are limited. You are not current. Sometimes a newspaper of two weeks ago is the latest.”
Hardest of all has been the separation from his family. “I do not understand the characters of my children because I have not grown up with them,” he admits, praising his wife Doreen for taking sole responsibility for the household.
She plans to accompany him to London for the Tusk Awards ceremony on November 8, sharing in a moment which Obwona believes will validate his life’s work. “When I heard about this award, I was humbled,” he says. “I had memories of every single encounter, every single challenge. I thought, ‘wow – my contribution to conservation is being felt by the world.’”
Looking up, his eyes dance with the final flickers of sunset. “I am moved, I am motivated. It’s something big.”
In 1995, only 200 elephants were left. Now there are 1,600 to 1,800