2012 Vogue Paris 'La Sauvage' Aligns With Faye Cuevas + Damien Mander Drive For Women Rangers In Africa

2012 Vogue Paris 'La Sauvage' Aligns With Faye Cuevas + Damien Mander Drive For Women Rangers In Africa

AOC is always interested in how fierce women are portrayed in fashion and pop culture. We dive into the archives for this Vogue Paris June/July 2012 editorial ‘La Sauvage’. Model Karmen Pedaru is styled by Geraldine Saglio in animal prints and other wild woman looks lensed by Hans Feurer.

The editorial brings to mind recent GlamTribal Blog posts about elephant conservation in Africa. We checked back in with Faye Cuevas, a former military intelligence expert now a key, front-line leader in Kenya’s anti-poaching effort.

Faye’s brand new effort is Team Lioness, the first all-female ranger squad in Kenya. Going forward, Cuevas wants one in four new hires among conservation rangers to be women. Right on, Faye. Faye is not alone in promoting women rangers in Africa.

We are admittedly caught off-guard by the loudest voice for hiring women rangers, Aussie sharp-shooter Damien Mander has just created Zimbabwe’s all-female ‘Akashinga’ anti-poaching force in Phundundu Wildlife Park. Mander pulls no punches and sounds like Hillary Clinton when the topic is women in the developing world.

Mander believes that putting the well-being of wildlife in the expertly trained hands of women could usher in a new way of carrying out conservation. In Mander’s vast experience, he believes that women rangers will create conservation practices that are far less violent, while empowers women and improving communities in the process.

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Team Lioness, a team of eight young Maasai women is one of Kenya’s first all-female ranger units — and the direct result of Faye’s consultations with the Masaii women leaders. Officially announced on March 6, 2019, Team Lioness joins the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers (OCWR) who protect wildlife across six bases and one mobile unit in OOGR through IFAW’s tenBoma, an innovative wildlife security initiative. Team Lioness is operating in this precious natural corridor created by Kenya and Tanzania under the majesty of Kilimanjaro.

“In the larger Amboseli region, out of almost 300 wildlife rangers, to my knowledge there was only one woman,” Faye explained, in introducing Team Lioness. “The need was apparent.”

 The women of team Lioness were selected based on their academic achievements and physical strength, as well as their demonstration of trustworthiness, discipline, and integrity. Typically, a Maasai girl leaves school around age 10 and have few opportunities to achieve a higher education.

“It’s very rare that Maasai women achieve a secondary education,” says Cuevas. “But all of team Lioness have the equivalent of a US high school education, and none of them have had a paying job before this. It’s breaking barriers.”

“As the first women joining the OCWR Rangers, each of the team Lioness recruits brings a new perspective and a different experience with wildlife than her male counterparts,” Faye continues. “They are important voices in protecting wildlife and reconnecting communities to the benefits of sharing land with the magnificent big cats and other wildlife that call OOGR home.”

Faye Cuevas Brings Higher Intelligence To Africa's War On Elephant Poaching

Faye Cuevas Brings Higher Intelligence To Africa's War On Elephant Poaching

Calling herself "the accidental conservationist," (Faye) Cuevas can pinpoint the moment she realized that she wanted to fight poaching.

"The first time that I saw an elephant in the wild was in Amboseli National Park here in Kenya two years ago," she said in Feb. 2016. "It was life-changing."

"At the current rate of elephant decline, my 6-year-old daughter won't have an opportunity to see an elephant in the wild before she's old enough to vote," she said. "Which just is unacceptable to me, because if that is the case then we have nothing to blame that on but human apathy and greed."

"The Kenya Wildlife Service and other many conservation groups are doing fantastic conservation work," Cuevas said. "However, the reality is that there are other challenges — from a cyber perspective, from a global criminal network perspective — that really necessitate security approaches integrated into conservation strategies."

Enter tenBoma -- or '10 homesteads' -- which uses technology to pull together diverse sources of information, from rangers to conservation groups. She analyzes the data to "create value in information in ways that it rises to the level of intelligence."