AFRICAN PARKS

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. They currently manage 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The organisation was founded in 2000 in response to the dramatic decline of protected areas due to poor management and lack of funding. African Parks utilises a clear business approach to conserving Africa’s wildlife and remaining wild areas, securing vast landscapes and carrying out the necessary activities needed to protect the parks and their wildlife. African Parks maintains a strong focus on economic development and poverty alleviation of surrounding communities to ensure that each park is ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable in the long-term.

Their main goal is to manage 30 parks by 2030, the geographic spread of protected areas and representation of different ecoregions makes this the largest and most ecologically diverse portfolio of parks under management by any one NGO on the continent.

Wild Tomorrow

Escape Safari Co. is proud to support Wild Tomorrow, an organisation dedicated to the protection and restoration of South Africa’s most threatened ecosystems. Based in the biodiversity-rich region of KwaZulu-Natal, Wild Tomorrow works to ensure that wildlife has the space it needs to roam and that the communities living alongside these wild places are empowered as their primary guardians. By securing and rewilding critical corridors of land, they are creating a sustainable future where both people and the planet’s most iconic species can thrive together.

Strategic Habitat Restoration
Wild Tomorrow’s flagship achievement is the creation of the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, a project that serves as a vital piece of the conservation puzzle in the “Elephant Coast” region. This reserve acts as a critical wildlife corridor, linking the MunYaWana Conservancy with the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. By securing this land, they have achieved the highest level of legal protection under South African law, ensuring the habitat remains a nature reserve in perpetuity. Through active rewilding—removing internal fences and old farming infrastructure—Wild Tomorrow has allowed species like zebra and giraffe to return to their natural migration patterns.

Empowering Communities
The organisation operates on the belief that true conservation is impossible without the support and involvement of local people. This commitment is best seen in the Green Mambas, an all-women team employed from local communities to lead habitat restoration and manage invasive plant species. Beyond direct employment, Wild Tomorrow provides essential gear and tactical training to the rangers on the frontlines of anti-poaching efforts. This community-centric approach extends to the next generation, with the organisation supporting local creches and schools to ensure that the benefits of conservation are felt in the homes of those living alongside these wild spaces.

The Vision: A Conservation Hub
The impact of Wild Tomorrow continues to grow through the development of their Conservation Centre, a dedicated hub for research, education, and animal welfare. This facility provides a collaborative space for international researchers and local ecologists to study South Africa’s unique biodiversity while offering a specialised wildlife rehabilitation centre for injured or orphaned species. By hosting high-impact volunteer programs, the centre allows global citizens to contribute directly to essential field tasks like rhino dehorning and biodiversity surveys. Through this holistic model of land acquisition and community empowerment, Wild Tomorrow is providing a vital blueprint for the survival of the African wild.

TRACKER ACADEMY

Escape Safari Co. supports the Tracker Academy by sponsoring a student each year on their yearlong intensive tracker training programme. The Tracker Academy is a training division of the SA College for Tourism based in Graaff-Reinet, which is chaired by Mrs Gaynor Rupert and operates under the auspices of Peace Parks Foundation.

The Tracker Academy trains unemployed rural people in traditional skills of wildlife tracking for employment in the ecotourism, anti-poaching, and wildlife monitoring sectors of the conservation industry. The Academy trains 24 tracker students per annum at its three training sites: Samara Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape Karoo, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape and Londolozi Game Reserve in the Sabi Sands, Mpumalanga.

The Tracker Academy is the only formally accredited tracker training school in South Africa, enjoying both accreditations by the SETA (Sector Education Training Authority) as well as endorsement by FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa). Since 2010, Tracker Academy has trained 150 professional trackers of which 94% are currently employed in the conservation industry – an exceptional deployment success rate!

The Academy has also assisted ecotourism projects internationally, in Brazil, Malawi, Botswana, and Rwanda, with its tracker graduates habituating leopards and jaguars in those countries.