How a Zululand Childhood Inspired My Heart in Conservation

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Zululand, South Africa. It was very much a rural upbringing, no shoes, just nature and the great outdoors. We lived a modest life as a large family with many cousins, camping and growing up in a small farming community. Zulu became our second language, and lumpy, thick maas (fermented milk) is still my favourite food.

Coming from a large extended family of siblings and cousins, we grew up rafting the Tugela River, camping in the bush, and sleeping under the stars in the dunes of remote beaches. We would take nothing but water to drink and a few cabbages to barbecue alongside whatever fish we hoped to catch! It was many a campfire and starry night where the seeds of conservation were sewn...

How can I ever forget Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, the Big Five game reserve where we spent many weekends?

We would cram into the backseat of our family's small vehicle for self drive game drives, sharing a loaf of bread, a handful of bananas, and a packet of crisps among four children for lunch. It was enough, provided everyone stayed in their spot and didn't cross the invisible, imaginary lines we four children had institutionalised as law!

A Lifelong Mission: Saving the Rhino

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa and home of the white rhino, was and still is my backyard. My childhood coincided with the days of rhino conservation in the reserve, amidst the continual preservation of a species nearly decimated by poaching for their horns. Every wildlife sighting was magical. I still feel that same sense of excitement and fire among wildlife and wilderness that I felt as a child; it has never left me.

It was also my first glimpse of hope, following in the footsteps of Dr Ian Player and his rangers under Operation Rhino, who relocated rhinos to other game reserves across South Africa and the rest of the continent to save the species. Many of these rangers and conservationists lived in the same village as me and made an impact on my upbringing. My pocket money in the 1970s was entirely dedicated to a pink piggy-bank kept to "SAVE THE RHINO." My heart and passion for these iconic beasts have never faded.

Connecting Back to Nature

These were the seeds of youth that planted a love for nature, adventure, and the great outdoors into my heart and soul, a passion that has consumed me ever since.

Today I continue that journey, dedicating time to rhino conservation and awareness, and adding my experience and essence to our Overland trips in Africa.

If we can look back and relate to childhood memories, or just moments in nature that consumed or touched us, we have so much strength to draw on in times of need.

My continual hope is for people to experience Africa in a way that leaves them deeply connected to this amazing continent and everything it gives to one's heart and soul.

Haley