Solomon Chidunuka Honoured with Memorial Marathon
The Women for Conservation network took part in Masebe Ranch’s annual Tangila Trail Series marathon in Mkushi, which was held in honour of the late Solomon Chidunuka, a wildlife conservation hero.
The Tangila Trail Series is an annual event with three core activities: trail running, mountain-biking and open-water swimming. This year’s event, which had been postponed due to Covid-19, only hosted running activities, which came in three categories: a gentle 10km run, a challenging 22 km run and a punishing 33 km trail run.
What makes this year’s event special is that it combines two great stories. The first story is of a man who dedicated his life to protecting wildlife. The late Solomon Chidunuka, in whose honor the event was held, was the ideal Wildlife Ranger, having carved out for himself a career in protecting wildlife that spanned more than 30 years. He joined the then National Parks and Wildlife Services in 1987 as a Wildlife Police Officer and rose through the ranks to his last position, that of Senior Warden of Muchinga province. One of the highlights of his illustrious career is when he received the prestigious Tusk Wildlife Ranger award in 2017, in recognition of his immense contribution to combating poaching and ensuring that Zambia’s wildlife is kept out of reach of mafias profiting from the illegal wildlife trade.
The second story is that of women finally taking their place in conservation. One of the conservation projects that travelled for the event in Mkushi is Women for Conservation, a network that was created by Wildlife Crime Prevention and supported by the Woodtiger Fund, to provide networking opportunities to women interested in working in or already working in conservation. This came from the timely realisation that the conservation sector in Zambia was male dominated, while women were underrepresented and often on the side-lines.
This is despite the fact that women have proven that they are just as capable as their male counterparts and that if they are given a platform and support, they can deliver. Leaving women off the conservation top table also meant that the conservation sector wasn’t functioning to its capacity as women could contribute significantly to protecting Zambia’s wildlife resources. Women are an equal partner in conservation and their input is crucial if conservation efforts are to yield tangible long-term results.
The Tangila Trail Series event that was held at the Mkushi Country Club around the Masebe hills last weekend gave conservationists an opportunity to celebrate a brave man who protected Zambia’s wildlife from poaching gangs. Now that Solomon Chidunuka is no longer with us, more people will have to step into his shoes as the illegal wildlife trade continues to target our wildlife. But for us to win this fight, we mustn’t leave women behind. The hope for Women for Conservation is that organizations in conservation will create the necessary platforms and support for more and more women to develop careers in conservation.
For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/WomenForConservationZambia .