My responsibility is to collect the forest entrance fees and protect the area. I make sure visitors do not leave rubbish behind, remove wood or take plants from the forest.
Most tourists cause no trouble, but about one in five questions or refuses the payment. These are usually people travelling without a guide. They do not realise that the forest fee is compulsory, and when I stop them, they sometimes think I am simply asking them for money.
The language difference makes the situation harder. My English is limited, and very few tourists speak Swahili. I know the rules and I know why the fee matters, but I cannot always explain that clearly enough.
The disagreement is usually not about the amount—it begins because an unguided visitor does not know the fee is a rule rather than a personal request.
When we cannot understand each other, I have to walk the visitor back to the Tourist Information Centre in Lushoto. There, somebody can translate and explain how the system works. Once tourists understand that the money is an official forest fee, they normally pay without further complaint.
A guide prevents most of these situations before they begin. The guide tells visitors what they must pay, what they may take into the forest and what must remain there. That makes my work easier and protects the experience for everyone.
The more difficult part of my job involves local people. Some villagers enter the forest to collect wood or plants. If I catch them, I have to apply the rules and sometimes issue a fine.
It is easier to explain a fee to a stranger than to fine somebody from my own village and meet that person again the next morning.
Those decisions can become personal. A neighbour may stop liking me because I did my job, even though the forest belongs to all of us and needs protection. I stand between the rules and people whose daily needs may lead them to break those rules.
My contact with tourists is brief because of the language barrier, but I enjoy the exchanges I do have. I only wish it were easier to tell visitors directly why the work matters.
Protecting the forest means translating its rules to strangers and enforcing them among neighbours, even when neither conversation is easy.