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.

SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST


As one of Africa’s oldest wildlife charities and a leading conservation organisation, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) embraces all measures that complement the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife.


Working across Kenya, our projects include anti-poaching, safe guarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness, addressing animal welfare issues, providing veterinary assistance to animals in need, rescuing and hand rearing elephant and rhino orphans, along with other species that can ultimately enjoy a quality of life in wild terms when grown.

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.