By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK A retired ranger and two other staff members of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism became the first employees to be given Annual Field Awards this week. The three, Jan Tsumib, a retired ranger of Etosha National Park, Gabriel Shatumbu, a warden in Etosha and Matambo Singwangwa, a ranger in the Mudumu-Mamili National Park, received awards for their contribution in safeguarding Namibia’s environment. The awards are part of activities lined up for the centenary celebrations of the Etosha National Park. Tsumib, a Hai//om San, who worked for the ministry for 30 years, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for playing a role in constructing rhino bomas at Chudop and for the management of the animals inside the boma. Singwangwa, now a ranger who joined the ministry as a leader labourer at Susuwe in Caprivi Region, was awarded the Welwitschia Award for his involvement in law enforcement activities, which led to the arrest of many people involved in illegal activities. The Springbok award was given to Gabriela Shatumbu, a science warden at Etosha Ecological Institute and the first black Namibian to attain a Bird Ringing License for his work in resurrecting the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme. Minister of Environment and Tourism Reverend Willem Konjore said prime protected areas such as Etosha and a section of the Namib Naukluft Park, both of which turned 100 in March, reached milestones due to people that worked behind the scenes within the game parks. He said the awards were a way of paying “homage and tribute to the unsung men and women who have worked tirelessly over the past century in demanding weather conditions and appalling working conditions to leave a legacy in place that has helped ensure that we are in a nation proud of our magnificent game parks and protected area network”. The awards, said the minister, would be an annual event that would acknowledge the work of staff members “who go an extra mile in performing their duties considering that the staff members are separated from their families for most part of the year”. “One has to look at the remoteness of most of our national parks and our stations to imagine the difficult situations that they are faced with daily, in fulfilling the objectives of our ministry,” he said. However, the ministry did not receive any nominations for the Lion Heart Award for valour, that would be presented to an individual who demonstrated great courage on the job. The minister also announced plans to pilot new performance monitoring systems in targeted areas such as /Ais -/Ais, Etosha and Bwabwata-Mudumu Mamili parks with the help of the Strengthening of the Protected Area Network (SPAN) project.