WILD

Collectors Item from the 1st World Wilderness Congress

Today, I received something very cool in my email inbox.  With hints of your mom's old signed yearbook, this scan of the program from the 1st World Wilderness Congress (1977, South Africa) is most definitely a collectors edition.  Click through the slide-show below to see the program, and photos and signatures from all of the main participants/speakers. With 2,500 delegates from 27 countries, the 1st WWC: Introduced the wilderness concept as an international issue of importance, whereas formerly it had been only an issue of Western cultures; Presented programs for integrating cultures and races around the world in nature conservation; Incorporated economics and ... Read More

Toasting to Wilderness in Africa with Mexican Tequila

The WILD Foundation was born in the African wilderness. Last month I was in Southern Africa to review a few of our projects, attend board meetings, and to be with our network of colleagues and friends who form the backbone of our work there for wilderness, wildlife and people. It was a productive, warm, and enjoyable rainy season. Among many projects visited, for the first time in several years I went to the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. CCF was within WILD for 11 years, I am still a Trustee, and we remain good and close partners. Laurie Marker, Bruce ... Read More

Celebration of the Zululand Lions

Below is an expert from a story by Tim Condon in the Zululand Observer celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the lion named "Nkozi," his epic trek into the iMfolozi Wilderness and the great conservation heroes who played a key role in saving this lion and countless other animals - Dr. Ian Player, his mentor Magqubu Ntombela, Hugh Dent, Paul Dutton, Nick Steele and others.  This great trek is also told in Ian Player's Zulu Wilderness (page 50). This year marks another important milestone in the history of Zululand’s game reserves - the 50th Anniversary of ‘The Return of the Lions’. This ... Read More

World Wilderness Congress Legends: 1983, Scotland

This photo from the 3rd World Wilderness Congress (Inverness and Findorn, Scotland 1983) shows Ian Player (founder of the WWC, WILD and the members of The Wilderness Network), Sir Laurens van der Post (journalist, humanitarian, philospher, conservationist, etc), and Vance Martin (President of WILD). The 3rd WWC had many outcomes for wilderness including: The announcement by Mrs. Thatcher's government of their formal ratification of the World Heritage Convention; Formation of the Wilderness Associazione Italiana; and, The first address to an international conservation conference by a leading psychologist (by Professor C.A.Meier). Read more about the 3rd WWC > Read More

My memory of “The Horn”

(as a post script the the Ian Player Perspective - The Horn) I well remember the snowy day in 1982 in Scotland when I drove Ian around the Findhorn Bay, south of Forres, to the Cumming Estate. We were greeted by Gordon Cumming himself, had tea, and "talked rhino" for several hours. The anticipation in Ian was palpable as he spoke of and finally was able to see and hold "the horn." It was a singular moment for me, at 33 years, to understand and participate in this sort of personal moment in conservation history. You see, Ian lead the team ... Read More

Ian Player Perspective – The Horn

I remember very clearly my first encounter with the White Rhino, in the Imfolozi Game Reserve, which I have described in some detail in my book ‘The White Rhino Saga.' But some years after that experience I was talking with the renowned South African ecologist Jim Feely (living in Australia now for many years), and he mentioned that the largest horn of a White Rhino had come from what is today Namibia. I then acquired a copy of Rowland Ward's ‘Record of Big Game - Fourth Edition' and I started to look for the record of the size of the ... Read More

Ian Player Perspective – Lake St. Lucia

The current crisis on Lake St Lucia, the pearl of iSimangaliso Wetland Park (a UN World Heritage Area) as it is now known, began a long time ago, probably when the great Zulu king Shaka rose to power in the 1800's and began increasing the cattle herds in the Imfolozi catchments. The concomitant soil erosion apart from the natural erosion with the great floods of that period led to a gradual silting of the Lake. However, when I first visited Imfolozi Game Reserve in 1952 the White Imfolozi River was dry, but there were pools 20 feet deep in ... Read More