Women of ‘Black Mambas’ fight poaching 

(News4usonline) – “Black Mambas” won the Social Justice Award for Documentary Film at the  38th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). It’s easy to see why the Lena Karbe film managed to take that honor home. “Black Mambas” is about an all-female anti-poaching unit working within the confines of the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

It’s a unique look into how the members of the unit were recruited and how they operate. More importantly, “Black Mambas” brings out the human element as it showcases the everyday struggles of the women and portrays them as ordinary instead of the hyper hoopla overextension of trying to make them larger than life.

Each of these women has a different story than their comrades in the specialized unit. In the case of Qolile, she needs the income the job provides. She has children. Her boyfriend is unemployed.

She makes the sacrifice of being away from her family for 21 days straight at a time just to make things work financially. In her role as a member of the Black Mambas, Qolile partners up with Ella, a K-9 specialized in tracking. Kruger National Park is located in South Africa where rhino poaching is big business.

Just in 2021 alone, 451 rhinos were lost to poachers. Of that total, 327 rhinos were poached on government reserves, according to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (Republic of South Africa). One poacher had an interesting take during the film about the difference between poaching and hunting.  

We fight with the white people because they use our things,” the poacher said. “Because we can say this: everything in Africa belongs to us Black people. The people who founded those parks weren’t thinking about Black people. They protect rhinos and elephants, but they don’t care if we eat or not.”

At the beginning of the film, the Black Mambas and their superiors are locked in and concentrated on rhino poaching, especially the poaching of black rhinos. As the film progresses, the poaching concerns switch from rhinos to pangolin poaching.

According to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), half of the known eight pangolin species are now endangered. IAPF also states that pangolins are trafficked at a very high rate between Asia and Africa.

Despite all the good-natured intentions of those who founded and put together this band of an all-female anti-poaching unit, like any relationship, there is friction. Some of the women believe that their white superiors really don’t care about them and talk to them in any kind of way. And not all see working as a member of the Black Mambas as some sort of achievement. Instead, most are looking for a way out, something better to attain.

Naledi has an interesting journey into being one of the Black Mambas. She found out about the Black Mambas while searching the Internet. While searching for something that independent women could do, Naledi said she liked the fact that the Black Mambas looked strong in their uniforms.

Worried about her safety, Naledi’s family didn’t like the idea of her being a Black Mamba. Most in her village work in the mines. Naledi wanted to be different and do things differently with her life, so she opted to become a Black Mamba.

Being a member of the Black Mambas unit is almost a means to justify the end as those in the all-female outfit have other ambitions outside of walking the rough terrain at Kruger National Park and tracking down poachers.

It is a dangerous mission. The Black Mambas operate without a gun or any type of weaponry to use if they run into a confrontation with a poacher. What the film “Black Mambas” does more than anything else is show the hope and aspirations these women have outside of the regimented routine of seeking and finding poachers.

By the end of this film, the women no longer want to be part of a novelty act. They have dreams outside of the Black Mambas. Some are simply worn out by the three-week straight work schedule. However, there is a caveat to all of this. Nkateko, a member of the Black Mambas, actually has empathy for the poachers she is tasked to track and run down.

“I feel sorry for the bushman poachers,” Nkateko said. “They used to work, but they’ve lost their jobs and are now into bad things. They get into the reserve to kill for food so that they can give it to their children.”