The Human Elephant Foundation is making positive strides in conservation success in KwaZulu-Natal and beyond, and through its linkages with Rewilding Africa CIC, Project Rhino, CWC Projects and other supporting organisations is helping give birth to a new wilderness area known as Loziba Wildlife Reserve.
Situated in the beautiful Thaka Valley in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Loziba is adjacent to Babanango Game Reserve, another incredible rewilding project aimed at securing land for animals to live in today and thrive into the future, and for local communities to benefit through tourism by providing services within these wildlife reserves.
The Human Elephant Foundation was the brainchild of acclaimed South African sculptor Andries Botha, who in 2009 saw an opportunity through his artwork to create an organisation to help stimulate conversation and debate encompassing topics such as earth’s fragile ecology, disintegrating human value systems, xenophobia, human conflict, the disintegrating family unit, human and animal rights, endangered natural resources, and the global migration and refugee crisis. Botha approached his good friend, high-profile business leader John Charter to join him in this important work. Charter was delighted, and immediately became the managing director of the Human Elephant Foundation. Since those early days, the organisation has enjoyed incredible success.
Recently Grant Fowlds, renowned conservationist and director of Project Rhino, and David White, KZN business leader and wildlife advocate, joined the Foundation, bringing with them their passion for positive change, powerful networks, and creative funding and community development considerations.
The Human Elephant Foundation has placed Botha’s life-sized elephants in prominent places around the world helping to encourage conversations around the precarious state of our planet. The concept was successful and has helped ignite innovation and creativity to foster understanding of the importance and value of caring for and promoting conservation and rewilding activities.
The Human Elephant Foundation’s more recent aim is to support rewilding efforts through encouraging the purchase of unutilised farms in the Thaka Valley to create the 36 000-hectare Loziba Wildlife Reserve. Thereafter it will encourage joining game reserves such as Babanango, Mziki, Phinda, Hluhluwe, and Umfolozi, thus creating corridors for elephants and other animals to move freely between defined wilderness areas. Rewilding Africa and making it possible for elephants and other wildlife to thrive in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and in Africa at large.
Please join our campaign, and even if you are not a philanthropic donor, a corporate sponsor, or individual contributor, please support and encourage this initiative and the important work being done by people all over the world. There are many people desperately working to reverse the damage done in wildlife areas over the past decades. The intention is to restore the health and beauty of natural areas, so that animals can thrive in their preferred habitats, communities can prosper, and future generations may enjoy the splendour and wonder of our animal and vegetation kingdoms.
Please contact John Charter (john@blackegret.co.za), David White (david@drg.co.za) or http://www.humanelephant.org to hear more about how to become involved in Loziba Wildlife Reserve and other Human Elephant Foundation initiatives.
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