Can you actually make your dreams come true? Indeed you can.

Tom Mitchell
Johannesburg – South Africa
16 November 2009

I first met the founder trustee of SanWild way back in 2001. At that time Louise Joubert was a feisty, spirited woman, with piercing blue eyes and an amazing will to succeed with her project of setting up a protected sanctuary for wild animals rescued from illegal hunting and game relocation operations. I had contacted her while doing research for some of my articles written for various publications on canned lion and illegal leopard hunting.

I soon realised that SanWild was so much more than just one person’s passionate drive to help individual animals; SanWild was truly the first animal welfare organisation in South Africa that became a force to be reckoned with. Many other animal welfare organisations had set up shop in South Africa, but most of them were hesitant to take the lead in opposing the exploitation of wild animals, neither did they actually have solutions to the plight of numerous misplaced, illegally trapped, injured or orphaned wildlife that needed help and a new home. They certainly did not want to tackle controversial issues and remained questionably silent while animals were suffering at the hand of mankind.

The founder trustee of SanWild, Louise Joubert on the other hand, lived and worked amongst those that had set up hunting and game relocation operations and she had gained substantial silent support from many private game farm owners. Her no-nonsense attitude and strong commitment to animal welfare is broadly respected and she has extensive, in-depth knowledge of the hunting and wildlife industries. Her uncanny approach and commitment to expose many illegal and cruel activities in South Africa has certainly made her a controversial individual, but Louise’s love for wildlife and accurate information in relation to illegal and cruel activities remains unchallenged. Her commitment and dedication in the face of opposition and controversy has proved to be quite extraordinary.

Louise also gained valuable knowledge of animal behaviour, basic veterinary treatment and rehabilitation techniques and it is this knowledge and experience that Louise uses to better the lives of many unfortunate, injured and orphaned wild animals.

Over the years I have followed the successes, the set-backs, the achievements and the failures of this unique project run with one objective only; the welfare and best interest of any animal that needs help.

In 2000 Louise Joubert, Andre Grobler and Rozanne Savoury, officially formed the SanWild Wildlife Trust and registered it as a non-profit animal welfare organisation whose main objective was to secure land to provide a safe sanctuary for animals that had been rescued by an emergency response unit.

Today SanWild is run by the SanWild board of trustees with Louise overseeing the emergency rescues, wildlife rehabilitation, fundraising, PR and admin, while Andre runs the daily resource management of the SanWild Sanctuary.

On a recent visit this private reserve I stood in awe at the determination and commitment that drove the SanWild project and the self sacrifice of individuals committed to the project motivated me to continue to do my bit in return by writing about the many atrocities facing wildlife in South Africa.

SanWild is unique in their way of operation and although there are many special rescues that is worth mentioning, one cannot write up all rescues for one publication, but there are those very special success stories that make this project so unique. It makes one realise that in today’s world it is necessary that your chosen animal welfare project should meet certain criteria and should be in a position to not only help individual animals in need, but also be in a position to protect bio-diversity, highlight the importance of habitat protection, the protection of wild animals in a natural environment and should have a genuine commitment to environmental education and wildlife rehabilitation. SanWild certainly met all my criteria.

I have seen the daily struggle for survival at SanWild on the many occasions when the stress of meeting goals and budgets became almost too hard to bear or when the fight for an individual animal’s life was lost. I have seen a special lady; and the driving force behind this organisation on her knees and have seen her get up time and time again to ensure the safety and welfare of the more than 4500 wild animals that call the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary “home”.

Despite SanWild’s huge success rate with emergency animal rescues and rehabilitation there have been times where animals in need could not be helped because funds have been lacking and it has been on occasions like these that I have experienced Louise’s sometimes dark depression. The frustrations to deal with the lack of funding when an animals life depended on it must prove quite demoralising.

Against the odds however, the SanWild team has done a tremendous job. Their success at setting up and running a unique wildlife reserve is a tremendous challenge that not many individuals would have been able to achieve.

A wide range of wild animal species have found a new home in the SanWild Sanctuary; from small tree squirrels to a herd of African elephants saved from culling in 2006. White rhinos saved from poachers’ snares and a giraffe calf that was resuscitated after 18 minutes of CPR are only some of the rescued animals that can be found in the reserve. Then off course there is also the 16 lions rescued from canned hunting in South Africa. SanWild is the only animal charity in the world that has taken on the responsibility of feeding and caring for these very special lions rescued from this horrible industry. Many other have claimed to help the victims of canned hunting, but to my knowledge SanWild is the only organisation that actually has the animals in their care.

As a non-profit animal welfare trust, SanWild is totally reliant on international donor funding for their emergency wildlife rescue unit.

To help fund the increasing need for animal emergency rescues and the daily resource management of the reserve, the SanWild Wildlife Trust has two private camps that accommodate visitors in the heart of the private wildlife reserve. The Savannah Bush Camp was named after a rescued leopard female and Bukisa’s Camp is named after one of the rescued elephant bulls that found sanctuary in the reserve. Bukisa’s family was culled in the Kruger National Park and he and other calves from the same herd was captured and relocated to the Thukela Bio-Sphere Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

At SanWild every wild animal has a name and an amazing story of survival. By making your next reservation for an African wildlife experience at either the Savannah Bush Camp or Bukisa’s Camp you will experience how rescued animals have adjusted to a new home while your money will already be working to save the next animal in desperate need.