Game ranger
People who enter this field usually have a deep love for nature and are concerned about the environment, conservation, water preservation, animals and anything to do with the sea and the creatures who live in its watery depths.They enjoy working with people and animals and spend a great deal of their time studying the ways of animals in their natural habitats. If you are interested in becoming a guardian of nature, you will have to be fascinated by everything that walks on two legs or four, has wings, leaves, flowers, scales or feathers, that wriggle or slither, that hiss or snort or talk and you would also have to learn everything about them including their Latin names. It is very difficult to protect something when you do not know what it is that might endanger that species; it would be like carefully placing a wild lion cub in a busy market square because you think that the traders will feed the cute little animal - the lion will most probably eat the traders or vice versa.
You would also have to learn about indigenous, endemic and endangered species and how to tell the difference between, for instance, a tree which is natural to the country and another which looks almost identical but which must be eradicated.
Many years ago, Port Jackson trees were imported from Australia in order to help stabilize the shifting dunes in the Cape Province but they quickly became a major problem which is only lately being controlled by the use of imported fungi. The rabbits in Australia were once so invasive that a viral disease called Myxomatosis was used to control them - they died out rapidly but other pests thrived in their absence.
The courses offered are interesting and the yearly practicals which must be attended by students allow excellent learning experiences for pupils. If this is the kind of lifestyle which you wish to have in the future, it would be wise to begin doing projects while still at school that can be listed on your application; involvement in cleaning up beaches or rivers; assisting the local conservationists with their daily chores; projects involving water conservation and so on.
An athletic ability or an interest in hiking, mountain-climbing, cycling or similar sports is almost a must for game rangers because the job calls for a great deal of outdoor activity. People who enjoy staying at home or inside buildings should look for more sedentary work - possibly in the administrative field of this same occupation. It is a people-orientated profession and a friendly and helpful attitude is a definite asset. No-one wishes to be shown the country by a scowling warden who only likes wild animals!
You might find that certain aspects of the course seem boring but later on you would realise that nothing that you had learnt was worthless and that things which you thought were superfluous became extremely important when you wished to understand a specific problem. Just as an example, there are so many types of bats that many of them are either not known yet or little is known about their breeding habits.
Bats are essential to certain types of farming but due to a misconception about bats, many farmers indiscriminately kill them - unwittingly damaging the fragile ecosystem that is essential in that particular area. Wild African bees - known for their viciousness - were imported into America where they bred with local honey bees and created an entire new species which terrorised the entire state.
Some of the most well-thought of schemes of scientists concerning imported non-indigenous species have wreaked havoc on endemic species. The natural balance is a tenuous one at best and should not be tipped either way by the acts of ignorant people. Therefore, every fact which you would learn would be vitally important when dealing with the conservation and protection of the natural fauna and flora of any country.