International Women's Day

International Women's Day provides a global platform for celebrating women's achievements, raising awareness about gender inequalities, and increasing support for women worldwide.

Around the world, women are on the frontlines tackling conservation challenges - as influential leaders of grassroots activism, as pioneering female rangers and as implementers of innovative conservation projects. 

Yet despite progress, women are still underrepresented in leadership and decision-making positions in the conservation world.

At Olo Safaris we believe that inclusivity is fundamental to conservation success. Globally, our chances of effectively conserving wildlife and wild places are vastly improved if the viewpoints of different genders, races, ethnicities, and cultures are considered and included.

We are forging partnerships with communities and local women to support their involvement in conservation and are working towards making space for more female guides which until recently, has been a male-dominated profession. 

Today, on International Women’s Day 2023 we shine a light on five female role models who are changing the game for conservation.

‍Dr. Jane Goodall

A list of female conservationists would be incomplete without the household name Dr. Jane Goodall. Arguably the most famous female conservationist, British born Goodall is most known for her long-term research on the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.

Asides from her work protecting chimpanzees from extinction, Goodall is credited for revolutionising species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, a global community conservation organisation, which works to protect chimpanzees in their habitats and inspires people to conserve the natural world.

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Team Lioness

Team Lioness are the first all-female Maasai community ranger unit in Kenya. An initiative of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the eight women which make up Team Lioness patrol Kenya’s Amboseli National Park protecting wildlife from poaching.

Team Lioness are redefining gender norms, creating new opportunities for women and acting as role models for the next generation of female rangers.

‍Dr. Krithi Karanth, Centre for Wildlife Studies

Dr. Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bengaluru, India. Karanth has 25 years of research experience on the human dimensions of wildlife conservation and has launched innovative programmes to manage human-wildlife conflict in India. 

In 2012 she was recognized as a National Geographic ‘Emerging Explorer’ and in 2021 became the first Indian and Asian woman to win the ‘Wild Innovator Award’. 

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Paula Kahumbu, Wildlife Direct

One of Africa’s leading wildlife conservationists, Dr Paula Kahumbu is the CEO of Kenya-based NGO Wildlife Direct and board member of WWF International and National Geographic.  

She is passionate about local participation in conservation decision-making and has been successful in engaging the Kenyan population in wildlife conservation, including through the Hands Off Our Elephants campaign. Like Dr. Karanth, Kahumba is a National Geographic ‘Emerging Explorer’ who has won numerous awards and commendations.

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The Amazon ‘Women Warriors’

The ‘Women Warriors’ are an all-female Indigenous group who are working to protect the forests in the Caru Indigenous Territory of Brazil, which are under threat of mass deforestation and land conflicts.

This group of fearless women, who put their own lives at risk to defend the Amazon rainforest, have been instrumental in enforcing protections and preventing loggers from entering Indigenous territories.