our wild

Partners

hand-in-hand

Partnering
to a wilder
future

Partnerships are the symphony of strengths, where together we compose the ancient rhythm of Africa towards a wilder Cape and the rewilding of the Gora Wilderness.
marcel van der merwe ii
Founder, Gora Wilderness Foundation

In our pursuit of rewilding the Gora Wilderness and reestablishing the ancient elephant migration routes from the Indian Ocean shores of the Garden Route into the arid Little Karoo, we have endeavoured to form partnerships with individuals, entities and organisations in order to ensure the successful rebirth of the Cape wilderness that was lost. Here are some of the relationships that we have forged with visionaries that share our common pursuit to the rewilding and restitution of wilderness.

A herd of impala (Aepyceros melampus) on the verdant grasslands of the southern Outeniqua Cluster of the Gora Wilderness. (Robert Hofmeyr/Moving Pictures Africa)

VetX

Wildlife capture & conservation

Aligned in our goals to rehabilitate abandoned and marginal agricultural land and local community upliftment and development around a green new economy, VetX  aims to develop a long term self-sustaining natural environment, create community awareness, expand the existing reserve, continue our successful free roaming cheetah breeding and research, and most importantly, to make a difference! This immersive wildlife project offers you close encounters from the safety of a vehicle with some of the most charismatic mammals in Africa.

During the night you will hear the roar of lions, and wake to the early morning calls of the hadeda ibis birds. Volunteers take part and run all research on various wildlife species in the reserve. We have numerous research projects running and all data is collected and compiled into a detailed monthly report. We make sure that the volunteers get training in all the fields of work they will be involved in from tracking courses to approaching animals on foot. Hard work is also part of a normal day with projects like invasive alien plant clearing and erosion control.

Hein, the founder of VetX and project coordinator has dedicated the last 18 years of his career to the wildlife industry. He has countless of captures under his belt and has worked with and treated most African wildlife species. While, Josephine is a highly passionate wildlife veterinarian and conservationist from Denmark. Together they form an impeccable team and share their knowledge and skills as they help to develop the Gora Wilderness Reserve.

Sayari Earth

Nature-Based Carbon removals platform

Sayari Earth is a global nature-based carbon removals platform that is geared to develop both terrestrial and aquatic carbon removal programs which target strong atmospheric, social impact and conservation benefits. They provide services to Governments, communities, NGO’s and landowners to develop jurisdictional carbon removal programs that integrate different nature-based carbon pools. They have partnered with Gora Wilderness Reserve in their goal to secure co-management agreements across the proposed 1,100,000 hectares of wilderness being restored, which is a small drop in the 45,000,000 ha goal that they aiming for. This will allow for the removal of 45,000,000 mt CO2e/year and impacting 9 million beneficiaries by 2032.

Born and raised in Kenya, Hassan is a career conservationist with 20 years plus experience. His career started in rhino conservation, and it was at this early point in his career that he realized that there was a need to incentivize people to protect ecosystems as the way forward for conservation. Prior to founding Sayari Earth, Hassan founded BioCarbon Partners and was the vice president of Wildlife Works Carbon. Hassan’s PhD thesis from Oxford University earned the Audrey Richards Prize for the best Africanist thesis over two years in the UK. He holds an MSc degree from Oxford University and a BA from Middlebury College.

Joke Hoffman-Sachedina is a senior executive and business leader currently completing her MBA. With a financial background and extensive experience working within the climate change and sustainability sector, along with husband Hassan, she is the co-founder of Sayari Earth. Together, their goal is to benefit millions of hectares of biodiversity strongholds and people, through high-impact, carbon-financed conservation.

Dr. Hassan Sachedina
Joke Hoffman-Sachedina
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