Our People
A Note from our CEO
What fills me with pride at Honeyguide is our people. From tech-savvy graduates and the innovative HWC team to drivers, mechanics, and data analysts, each member brings something unique and essential to our work. Together, our 50+ Tanzanian experts turn challenges into real solutions for communities and wildlife.
Our team is young, ambitious, and full of dedication, caring deeply for wildlife, communities, and each other. The “Honeyguide Way” celebrates individuality, mentorship, and integrity, ensuring we grow better, not bigger. It’s an honor to work alongside this team as we build a future where people and nature thrive together.
—Sam Shaba, CEO
Finance and Administration
Francis Mhalafu
With a Master of International Business degree, CPA Mhalafu has extensive experience overseeing finances in Ecotourism. His decade-long passion for nature drives his active involvement. Leveraging expertise, he efficiently handles financial and administrative aspects of the organization.
Happyness
Happiness has over a decade of experience across various organizations and a Master of Science in Human Resource Management. She is very much a people person committed to organizational development and advocacy of employees.
Fatma
Fatuma, a Certified Public Accountant (T) with eight years of experience, excels in budgeting, donor-funded program management, financial reporting, analysis, and regulatory compliance. With an MBA and a relentless drive for excellence, she ensures organizations achieve value for money through her meticulous attention to detail and expertise.
Tobico
Tobico comes from a pastoral community in Manyara region. Holding a bachelor’s degree in Commerce & Finance from the University of Dodoma, he has helped Honeyguide’s finance department produce financial reports on time and and is responsible for managing the donor accounts and reports.
Nasma
No profile for now
Lucky
No profile for now
Anna
No profile for now
Emmanuel
No profile for now
Petronella
Petronela grew up just outside of Arusha in the foothills of Mount Meru. She has made extraordinary strides in learning new skills and in assisting Honeyguide in the countless ways that never receive the due recognition they deserve.
Regina
Regina always arrives first in the morning and makes our office look immaculate. Then she brings us tea and coffee during the day, makes our guest feel welcome. She is just dedication and smiles and keeps our team feeling grateful and happy.
Ester
No profile for now
Parmello
No profile for now
Programs
Angelo Kihaga
Angelo has over a decade of experience as a programs manager, a background in integrated health and environment projects. As a technical overseer, he empowers his team and communities by implementing our annual workplan and strengthening WMAs programming. With a master’s degree in community development, he displays a passion for positive grassroots change.
Meleck Laizer
Well-known “Meleck” started working with Honeyguide since 2012 as Monitoring Officer in the field in Kilimanjaro-Amboseli Ecosystem. He is working as a Senior Programs Manager supporting the COO as well as overseeing our K9 unit, the Chimpanzee habituation project and the scaling up of the HWC program.
Max Msacky
Max is responsible for all internal operations, including supervising protection and law enforcement, infrastructure maintenance, fleet management, and logistics planning. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental management, and enjoys working in rural areas.
Sylivester
With 16+ years in project management for local and global entities, he served as an Enterprise Development Specialist at the Community Wildlife Management Areas Consortium. Passionate about fostering sustainability in Wildlife Management Areas, he advocates for professional management and inclusive local leadership in enterprise projects to drive positive change.
Fatma
Fatma is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management from the Nelson African Institute of Science and Technology. She has many years of experience working in the natural resource governance sector. Her passion for people and love for wildlife shine through her governance training facilitation.
Kateto
Kateto, or ‘Cowboy,’ was born and raised in Ngorongoro. A Mweka graduate, his passion for animals was inspired by his father, who manages a community ranch. Kateto is our anti-poaching trainer, where he helps to plan the strategic protection approach of WMAs with the management team and trains rangers how to capture poachers in accordance with proper legal procedures.
Namnyak
Namnyak is a graduate of MBA from Mzumbe University and prior to Honeyguide has spent years managing microfinance schemes with community cooperatives, smallholder farms and SME’s in the world of agricultural value chains. With her experience and patience, she will build the communities capacity to manage their finances in the WMAs.
Kaaya
Kaaya’s commanding voice makes him perfectly suited to training village game scouts (VGS). Working in Makame and Randilen, he has trained more than 50 VGS, and will continue to train more to ensure communities are always ready to defend wildlife and nature from poachers.
Danny
Danny, a Mweka college graduate and former volunteer HWC officer, is our field monitoring officer currently based in Makame. A true “people person,” he loves what he does in this organization because he can learn and problem-solve through cooperation—with those in the office, the field, and communities.
Lemuta
Born and raised in Mswakini Juu in Randilen, Lemuta is responsible for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data from Randilen. His expertise in using smart apps for data analysis helps Randilen’s decisionmaking, ensuring decisions are made that enforce positive community perceptions of wildlife.
Seleman
No profile for now
Gladness
No profile for now
Hitler
No profile for now
Fundraising and Communication
Damian Bell
Damian, a Tanzanian, began working in community-based tourism and conservation before such terms even existed. n entrepreneur and visionary at heart, Damian constantly strives building the network of partners and followers of the organization. He, along with Ole Kirimbai, founded Honeyguide in 2007.
Jamal
Jamal, born and raised in Arusha, is responsible for Honeyguide’s films and short videos. While he has always loved wildlife, his filmmaking gives him the opportunity to connect with nature by exploring our program areas while also working with communities.
Lizzy
Lizy is responsible for overseeing grant processes, ensuring compliance with donor and regulatory requirements, and supporting teams with reporting, budgeting, and documentation. She brings strong organizational skills and a collaborative spirit to keep teams aligned, reports accurate, and donor relationships thriving.
Francis
No profile for now
Monitoring and Evaluation
Daudi
Daudi is responsible for all providing services such as logistical support, managing the workshop, construction and the M&E of all our projects. He is great in the field and has a passion for strategic planning, data collection, monitoring and analysis. He has trained over 80 rangers in the field to use smartphones for data collection.
Patrick
Patrick is a dedicated monitoring officer, he is responsible for collecting, analyzing and reporting on the many metrics that Honeyguide collect to monitor our results and impact. He is passionate about working alongside the local community to develop sustainable conservation management.
Michael
No profile for now
Workshop and Logistics
Jonas
Known by many as ‘Kanunga,’ Jonas is our anti-poaching driver and mechanic in Randilen, where he is also a ranger. By sharing his experience from Enduimet, he and his team have been able to reduce poaching in Randilen. He loves seeing the environment thriving, as it shows the results of the effort he puts in with his team.
Leonard
Leonard is known as ‘Chinaa”, sometimes up all night protecting crops from elephants, patrolling the area during the day, Chinaa loves being a ranger and is a great 4×4 driver. He started with Honeyguide as a mechanic and was committed to learn to drive and become a ranger, he is living his dream.
Eliud
Honeyguide field teams always camp out, Eluid is a driver and also a cook, mechanic, navigator and just good company in camp. For the larger team trips into the field, Eluid makes sure everybody is happy and well fed.
Samwel
Samwel is a graduate of Nairobi institute of tourism and hotel management, his dream is to become a tour guide, so he joined us as a volunteer to learn about mechanics and conservation. His dreams have been put on hold because of COVID 19 and we hope one day he will be able to fulfil his dreams.
Burhan
No profile for now
K9
Emma
Emmanuel is a Maasai from west Kilimanjaro and joined Honeyguide’s K9 unit when it was formed back in 2011. Will Powell of Canine Specialist Services said of Emmanuel ‘he is one of the best dog handlers and trackers I have ever met’; he has a unique gift of understanding exactly what his dog is capable of.
Saitabau
Saitabau is the youngest recruit from west Kilimanjaro to join the K9 unit and is based at the Manyara Ranch kennels. His gentle and positive nature is encouraging for both his work colleagues and the dogs he works with, Saitabau is very proud that he is part of this special team.
