Cathy Hue

WILDLIFE MONITOR: HLUHLUWE iMFOLOZI PARK (HiP)

My immense love of wildlife and the African bush began at a young age, during my very first visit to the Kruger National Park with my parents. I was immediately hooked! Growing up in the big city of Johannesburg during a time when girls did not do boys’ jobs, it was not taken very seriously when “Game Ranger” kept popping up in my Career Testing Profile at the end of high school!

Life thus took me in an entirely different direction for far too many years – I studied Public Relations, Teaching and Psychology; I did a variety of jobs (waitressing, swimming coaching, casino work, general office work, tour guiding, lecturing at a university, etc.) I travelled extensively and worked in London (UK), Eilat (Israel) and Mwanza (Tanzania). It always seemed as though I was still searching – as though a huge chunk was missing from my life.

When my Dad passed away a number of years ago, the realisation of how fleeting life is hit me hard, and I decided to chase my dreams rather than financial and material stability. I completed the Field Guiding course at Phinda Private Game Reserve in Zululand, and worked at one of their lodges for a while. Even then, though, I knew that I wanted to be involved in the conservation and research side of wildlife – not the tourism side.

Various jobs in Zululand came my way, and I loved each one – but I was still searching for that missing chunk. I joined a volunteer conservation group in 2004, and befriended the Swemmer family. Michelle Swemmer (Wildlife Monitor at Thanda) and I both decided to study Nature Conservation through UNISA, in order to be involved in conservation and research in the bush. When she began working for Wildlife ACT, I asked her to put my name forward if another position came up in the organisation. Surprisingly it did, and thankfully I got the job! And finally I feel as though that missing chunk from my life has been found.