The first of a new generation of female guides in Zimbabwe: Aminata Jackson

Professional or walking guides are required to take their training further, spending hours out in the field logging game encounters, and being assessed on their rifle handling and shooting proficiency. It's these hard-earned hours and rigorous testing that set the pros apart as the best of the best.

Due to the numerous additional courses and exams in place by the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), it takes a learner guide on average four to five years to qualify as a professional guide. Zimbabwe has roughly 5,000 qualified guides, of whom around 200 are professional guides. Now take a guess as to how many of those are women.

One. Just one active professional female guide in the whole of Zimbabwe. 

These numbers speak to a rigorous system that requires an individual to have the talent, dedication and resources to become a professional guide. They also reflect just how male-dominated the industry is and how challenging it is for women to enter the field — largely because of long-standing conventions that have limited women’s access to the same positions. 

However, where there are challenges there is also opportunity. The chance for someone to walk the path less trodden, to lead the way so others know it is possible. We call these leaders pioneers, and Wilderness is full of them. One such pioneer is Learner Guide, Aminata Jackson.

Based at Wilderness Davison’s in Hwange National Park, Aminata is the first female guide for Wilderness Zimbabwe in at least a decade. She was born in Zvishavane — formerly known as Shabani — to culturally diverse parents who immigrated from Mozambique and settled in Zimbabwe. Her mother's paternal family hails from Mozambique while her maternal family is from Zimbabwe. Interestingly, her father is Gambian with Muslim roots. In addition to this, Aminata completed her primary school education and part of her high school education in Botswana before returning to Zimbabwe. This unique upbringing and exposure to diverse cultures has resulted in Aminata having an almost tangible ability to connect with people from all walks of life, qualities of a true guide. She speaks English, Shona and Setswana fluently, can converse in Ndebele, understands Zulu and bits of Arabic, and is learning French and German.

When asked about the importance of language, Aminata replied, “I think, you know, with language, it’s one of those things that helps bridge the gap. You get guests that come from overseas and then they've learned one or two words of the local languages and you be like, ‘Really?’. You know, it surprises you. It just shows you that understanding of humanity that we may be from different regions, different countries, speaking different languages. But at the end of the day, we are one”. This sentiment holds true, particularly at a company like Wilderness, where our collective of staff from around the world is connected by a single purpose. Naturally, this led to the next question for Aminata.

For her, the answer to that starts even before being in the guiding industry. Post-high school she earned a diploma in IT and began working. However, after being in an office for a few years, she started to question whether there was more to life. Still being quite young and wanting a career with more purpose and fulfilment, she began her search and came across a guiding course with ZimParks. This was the start. She began doing a combination of online and in-person classes before writing her exams post-COVID. Following her results, Aminata joined the Zimbabwe Professional Guides Association, and started doing volunteer anti-poaching work.

At the end of 2022, as fate would have it, Aminata came across an opportunity at Wilderness Zimbabwe for female guides. She applied and upon being accepted, started as a Junior Manager at Wilderness Little Makalolo in Hwange National Park (common practice with new guides). This was followed by stints in similar positions at Wilderness Chikwenya and Ruckomechi at Mana Pools. 

Aminata then moved back to Hwange, completing the circuit, and started working at Wilderness Davison’s, where she began training with the senior Wilderness Zimbabwe guides. She gives credit to the likes of Elias Chiga, Edwin Muchenje, Peter Gava, Eustace Matavire, Livingstone Sana, Leo Mutsvangwa and Paul Mafuka for helping her in the process. All in all, it was a full year of management, lots of ride-alongs, and a slow transition into guiding, with Aminata finally earning her learner guide position in March 2024. As she puts it, “I'm actually grateful for that process because it helps build character. It helped build the skill that I needed”. 

When asked why she thinks there aren’t more women in the industry, her response was as follows; “From my experience, I still think that there is a stereotype of guiding being a male-dominated industry”, adding, “It can also be physically strenuous work. So, it's one of those things where the perception is ‘I'm not sure if a lady would be able to do this’. It also involves extensive periods where you are away from home. In the [patriarchal culture here], women and the kids are at home and whatnot. So, you're actually breaking that mould”. She elaborates that there are a lot of talented, amazing women out there with guiding licenses but they just need pioneering leaders willing to take a chance on them. And with Aminata being given that chance, hopefully, she can start to influence the industry to inspire the training and recruitment of more female guides. 

Her potential to influence future guides cannot be underestimated. For young women in Zimbabwe to see someone similar to them, who is working in an industry that they didn’t think would accept them, is massive. When asked, “What would you say to that little girl who might come on your jeep on safari, thinking that being a guide wasn’t possible for women?”, Aminata’s response was nothing short of inspiring:

“Firstly, a warm smile and that, I mean, it can be done. If you have the passion and the desire and the dream to do it, it certainly can be done. And I just, I believe that, when you're supposed to do something, everything around you begins to work towards that. As long as you've got that resolve deeper than yourself, that conviction that this is what I need to be doing in spite of… whatever. And for that little girl, I keep on saying, keep on dreaming. Don't let anyone or anything dim that light. You go for it”.