Celebrating 20 Years of Impact.
World Elephant Day is a moment to celebrate one of Africa’s most iconic species, but it is also an opportunity to reflect on what it takes to conserve the landscapes elephants depend on.
For African Bush Camps Foundation, conservation has always extended beyond protecting wildlife. It means supporting the people who live alongside it and building the partnerships needed to create meaningful, long-term change.
This year, World Elephant Day also marked an important milestone: 20 years of African Bush Camps Foundation impact across Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
To celebrate, the Foundation brought together 58 guests at The Cellars-Hohenort in Cape Town for an afternoon of lunch, storytelling and conversation. The gathering included African Bush Camps employees, African Bush Camps Foundation board members, partners and close industry friends, creating an opportunity to reflect on two decades of work and look towards the future.
A Story Twenty Years in the Making
One moment during the afternoon brought the Foundation’s approach to life.
Guests saw a Somalisa-inspired malva pudding listed on the menu, without knowing the story behind it. Only when the dessert was presented were they introduced to the woman who had made it: Chef Sheron, who had travelled from Zimbabwe to Cape Town for the occasion.
Sheron began her hospitality journey as a trainee waitress at African Bush Camps’ Somalisa Camp in Zimbabwe. Through the Foundation’s Women in Tourism Program, she received training and support that helped her progress into the kitchen and build a career in hospitality.
Today, she is a professional chef, a mother, and able to support her family through the career she has built.
The malva pudding she prepared for the gathering was one of the first desserts she ever made, bringing a little piece of Somalisa and her story to the room.
“I always wanted to wear the ABC jacket,”
– Chef Sheron
Her journey also brought her to Cape Town, where she had the opportunity to be immersed in the kitchen at The Cellars-Hohenort, a MICHELIN Key property. Working alongside the kitchen team gave her the opportunity to experience a different professional environment and further develop her culinary skills, an experience she described as an “opportunity of a lifetime.”
“When I got this job as a chef, I could support my mother and three brothers. Now, as a mother myself, I can care for my daughter, pay her school fees, and support my family,” she says.
Sheron’s story is a powerful example of what opportunity can make possible: a pathway into a career, greater independence and a different future for a family.
From Data to Storytelling
The afternoon also explored another side of conservation: how we understand the species and landscapes we are working to protect.
Lizette Moolman, a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist with SANParks, shared insights from her research on elephants in the Knysna region, highlighting the complexities of elephant conservation and the importance of data and evidence in understanding the landscapes these animals depend on.
Simon Hartley, Founder of Thorndale, storyteller and leadership advisor, brought a different lens to the conversation, reflecting on his journey into storytelling and its role in driving change.
Building on Lizette’s insights, Simon explored the relationship between data and story: how evidence helps us understand an issue, while storytelling can help people connect with it, remember it and understand why it matters.
Together, their perspectives highlighted the importance of both understanding the evidence and communicating its significance.
Twenty Years on Display
The conversations were complemented by a 20 Years of Impact exhibition, bringing the Foundation’s history into the room.
For two decades, the African Bush Camps Foundation has worked alongside rural communities across Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, supporting initiatives spanning conservation, education, healthcare and sustainable livelihoods.
The exhibition highlighted the breadth of this work, as well as the communities, landscapes and partnerships at its centre.
It also reflected an important truth: lasting impact is built over time, through relationships, local knowledge, investment and collaboration.
Beyond Compliance
The Foundation’s approach is grounded in the belief that conservation investment should extend beyond simply meeting the requirements of operating in protected or conservation-sensitive areas.
As Ian Mills, Chief Conservation Officer for African Bush Camps Foundation, put it:
“Paying fees is compliance. But compliance alone does not equate to impact.”
For the Foundation, meaningful investment means understanding what communities and conservation landscapes need and working alongside local partners to address those needs.
This is where tourism can become a powerful force for positive change. Guests travel into some of Africa’s most extraordinary landscapes to experience wildlife and wilderness. Tourism can also contribute to the long-term wellbeing of the places and communities that make those experiences possible.
A Shared Purpose
Safari companies may compete commercially for guests and bed nights, but the challenges facing Africa’s landscapes and communities are shared.
Habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, community development and conservation funding cannot be addressed by one organisation alone. They require collaboration across communities, conservation organisations and the tourism industry.
For the Foundation, this shared responsibility is central to its Vision 2030: Connected Landscapes, Thriving Communities.
Twenty Years Behind Us. A Shared Future Ahead.
World Elephant Day provided an opportunity to look back at two decades of work, but also to consider what comes next.
The Foundation’s vision is rooted in the understanding that thriving communities and healthy landscapes are part of the same future. Creating opportunity, protecting ecosystems and supporting people to live alongside wildlife all contribute to stronger, more resilient places.
The afternoon was therefore more than a celebration of an iconic species. It was a celebration of the people and partnerships behind 20 years of work, and a reminder that the next chapter will be shaped through collaboration.
The future of Africa’s landscapes is something we are sharing & conserving, together.