I am from Rumangabo. I was born there in April 1977. I met my wife, Odette Bayavuge, there too.

In 1998 I was a farmer. My father, who was a Park Ranger, was found dead. His death was a wake up call and I questioned where I was going in my life. I wanted to honour his memory and so I followed in his footsteps and continued his good work. My father had always taught me the value both of the natural world and of the work of protecting the park and the animals in it. One year after his death I was completely determined to become a Ranger.

The first thing to do was to apply to the ICCN. These first steps seemed to have been in vain, as I waited to hear from them for a year and, having heard nothing, I returned to my work as a farmer. Then, one evening in 2000, I came in from the fields, to find a Ranger who had come to tell me that I was to come to Rumangabo station to start work.

At the beginning, it all seemed very strange to me; I had to adapt to a lot of new people and places. A Ranger’s life is not easy especially if you join at a critical time! A love of nature is what motivates us, and through living in it we become inseparable from it.