'Believe in yourself, the rest will follow': five trailblazing women you've never heard of

Angel Vendeline Namshali dresses in khaki with big, laced military boots on her feet. She is armed with nothing more than a walkie-talkie and torch, but the bush of Tanzania’s Serengeti is her second home.

“The bush has many challenges for women,” she says. “But of course we can do it.”

The daughter of a poor subsistence farmer, Namshali has established the only safari resort in the world run entirely by women. Last week, the camp climbed to second spot on TripAdvisor’s list of the best places to stay out of the 128 in the Serengeti.

In a country where social norms dictate that women stay at home to care for their husbands and children, every one of her 22-strong team has overcome prejudices and resistance to work here at Tanzania’s Dunia camp.

From the guides to the chefs to security, the women take enormous pride in their achievements at grinding such stereotypes into the dust.

“It can be a real challenge here in Tanzania for women to join the tourism industry. Many owners of the big companies do not trust women. They think women cannot do much,” says Namshali. “Women do not get many opportunities. But if you give her a chance to work, she will do even better.”

Namshali grew up in a mud hut in the Usambara mountains, the third of six children. Her family are from the Pare tribe, an ethnic group indigenous to the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania.

Source: theguardian