Wildlife is not simply about beautiful animals, spectacular landscapes or unforgettable safari experiences. It is about our heritage. It is about what we choose to leave behind. I believe it is about recognising that conservation and economic development forces in South Africa can, and must, work together.
My personal connection with wildlife started much earlier than my understanding of the industry. At the age of 11, I was exposed to life on a game farm, and that experience created a connection with the bush that has stayed with me ever since.
But interestingly, I only really began to understand the wildlife economy in 2015. In 2016, I decided to step into the industry, not simply as someone passionate about wildlife, but as someone who wanted to understand its commercial role and help contribute to its future.
The bigger wildlife story
When most people hear the words wildlife industry, they immediately think of tourism. They think of the Kruger National Park, luxury lodges, game drives, and international visitors coming to experience the Big Five.
And yes, that is an important part of our story. But it is only a part of it. There is a much bigger story unfolding across South Africa on thousands of privately managed wildlife properties, game ranches, and conservation landscapes.
The wildlife ranching industry is helping to protect enormous areas of natural habitat while creating economic activity in rural areas. This is not a niche activity. Wildlife forms an important part of the economy.
It is agriculture, tourism, conservation, hospitality, and veterinary science. It also encompasses genetics and breeding, transport and logistics, professional services, and manufacturing. It is also about food production, hunting, technology. And increasingly, it is an investment opportunity.
Economy-driven conservation
One of the things I am particularly passionate about is changing the way we talk about conservation. For many years, conservation has sometimes been presented as something that costs money. And certainly, protecting wildlife does cost money.
There are fences to maintain, people to employ, and anti-poaching as well as veterinary costs. Then there is habitat management, roads, water infrastructure, and security as well as research and monitoring.
The question we should therefore be asking is: How do we create an economic model that makes conservation sustainable? Because when wildlife has economic value, there is a greater incentive to protect the habitat in which that wildlife exists.
That is one of the fundamental principles behind sustainable wildlife ranching. The economic activity generated by wildlife can help fund the very conservation that makes that economic activity possible.
Conservation creates value, while value creates economic opportunity. Economic opportunity creates incentives to conserve.
Why this matters to South Africa
South Africa has something extraordinarily valuable: we have biodiversity, wildlife, and landscapes that the rest of the world wants to experience. But more importantly, we have an opportunity to turn that natural capital into sustainable economic capital, and we need to do that responsibly.
Our rural communities need jobs and young South Africans need opportunities. Our women also need access to ownership, entrepreneurship and leadership. Emerging farmers and wildlife entrepreneurs need access to markets and capital, while landowners need sustainable commercial models that allow them to keep wildlife on the land. Our conservation efforts need sustainable funding.
The wildlife economy sits right in the middle of all of these issues. So, when we speak about wildlife, we are not simply speaking about animals, we are speaking about people.
The role of women
I believe there is enormous opportunity for women in the wildlife economy. We need more women as entrepreneurs, wildlife ranchers, and in conservation science and veterinary services. We need women in tourism and hospitality, marketing, finance, technology and professional services.
More women should be sitting around the tables where decisions about the future of our natural resources are being made. The next generation must see wildlife, not simply as something beautiful, but as an industry in which they can build careers, businesses, and legacies.
We must tell our story
This is where my role as marketing director of WRSA becomes particularly important. One of the greatest challenges facing our industry is not necessarily what we are doing, but how well we are managing to tell our story.
There are thousands of people doing extraordinary work in wildlife, like ranchers restoring degraded land and breeders contributing to species conservation. Communities benefit from wildlife enterprises, with entrepreneurs creating jobs. There are conservationists protecting biodiversity and women building businesses in this sector, as well as young people finding careers and purpose through wildlife.
If we don’t tell our story, someone else will tell it for us. Marketing is not simply about selling an industry, it is about creating understanding, showing the world what responsible wildlife ranching looks like. It demonstrates that sustainable use and conservation can coexist. It is about celebrating the people who dedicate their lives to the land.
Long haul sustainability
There is another word we need to take seriously: sustainability. This means that what we do today must still make sense tomorrow. It means protecting biodiversity, responsible management, ethical practices and healthy ecosystems. Economic viability is also important, which means communities benefit and opportunities are created for the next generation.
Wildlife cannot survive simply because we love it. Wildlife survives when we create systems that make its protection possible and that is the responsibility of our generation.
A personal responsibility
I have always believed that there is something profoundly humbling about being in nature and seeing wild animals living as they were intended to live. There is a connection there that is difficult to explain.
When you stand in the bush and watch an elephant move through the landscape, or see a herd of antelope across an open plain, you realise that we are looking at something much bigger than ourselves.
We are temporary custodians; we don’t own the future. We borrow it from those who come after us. And that is why conservation matters to me. I want my children to experience the same sense of wonder, and I want their children to experience it too.
But passion alone is not enough. We need policy, investment, education and responsible land management, as well as innovation. We need strong industry representation, and commercial models that make conservation economically sustainable.
See wildlife differently
People need to make a paradigm shift when It comes to wildlife. Don’t see it only as something that belongs in a game reserve. It is not just tourism, or hunting, or conservation. It is an interconnected ecosystem of people, animals, land, enterprise, and opportunity.
See the entrepreneur, the farmer, the conservationist, the community – the young person looking for a career or the woman looking for a business opportunity, or the investor looking for sustainable assets.
But most importantly, see the wildlife itself. Because ultimately, everything we are discussing exists because of those animals and the ecosystems they inhabit.
South Africa’s conservation success story
South Africa has built one of the world’s great conservation success stories. WRSA believes that private wildlife ranchers have an important role to play in protecting biodiversity, securing habitat, and growing the Green Economy.
But our work is far from finished: we need to grow, to transform, to innovate and bring more people into the industry. Greater economic participation is required, and we need to ensure that the benefits of our wildlife economy are increasingly felt by the communities and people who live alongside these landscapes. Because ultimately, conservation must have a human face.
