We caught up with the Savé Valley Conservancy team on a video call, with their trainers speaking to us from an office on-site in the lowveld of southeastern Zimbabwe. “We’re responsible for recruiting and training rangers,” says Chief Training Instructor Charles. “But beyond training, we’re also involved in operations like anti-poaching, reaction and working with […]
Growing up at Cape Point gives you a different relationship with the outdoors. For Steve Mecinski, better known online as The Flying Dutchman, nature wasn’t a place he visited. It was home. He was born and raised inside what is now the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park, where his father […]
Badingilo National Park sits within one of the largest land mammal migrations on earth, but on the ground, that movement is rarely visible. From where the team is based, most wildlife sightings come not from patrols, but from the air. “We’re on the southwestern edge of the migration,” says African Parks’ Law Enforcement Mentor for […]
Roberto Serrini has a simple rule when arriving somewhere unfamiliar. “Grab a beer and talk to a local,” he says. “The more perspective you get,” he says, “the easier it is to be happy on earth.” He doesn’t believe in elaborate itineraries, spreadsheets, or endless restaurant lists saved on your phone before boarding the flight. […]
Some conservation work happens in stillness. Think tracking footprints, watching waterholes, and lots of waiting. And some of it moves fast, with helicopters overhead, teams on the ground, and, at the centre of it all, a two-ton animal waking up inside a crate. At Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, both are part of the job. Within the […]
Mount Kenya doesn’t make conservation easy. It’s cold, steep (the mountain’s highest peak reaches 17,057 feet), and unpredictable. Patrols move through dense forests, across open moorlands, and over rivers that swell without warning. In some areas, communication drops off entirely. In others, the only way to reach a fire is by helicopter, because on foot, […]
Growing up, Toast Coetzer spent most weekends on his family’s farm in Cradock, Eastern Cape. His parents would pack a picnic, drive to a far corner of the farm, and spend the day walking with little plan. They’d stop to turn over rocks, look at tracks, and identify birds. “You don’t realise it at the […]
In Zambia’s vast Game Management Areas (GMAs), where people and wildlife share the same space, conservation is less about boundaries and more about balance. Musekese Conservation works across landscapes where legality, livelihoods, and wildlife protection intersect in ways that are often messy, political, and human. “We’ve always found that the traditional ‘boots on the ground’ […]
Chrisjan Visser is on the road when we speak, driving back to Hoedspruit. He spent six years there, first as a field ranger, later as a dog handler, before moving on, as many in conservation do. “I’m just going back to see some old friends,” he says. Hoedspruit is where his career took shape. He […]
“You’re in the forest for a minimum of seven days at a time,” says Yoann Galeran. “Sleeping out there. Moving constantly.” Galeran has been working deep in the Congo Basin, in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, since 2018. He started as a ranger trainer, supporting law enforcement operations through a specialist conservation organisation. Today, he serves as […]
At twelve years old, sitting in the back seat of a game viewer in northern Kruger, John Kinghorn didn’t know he was starting something that would shape the rest of his life. The drive had been quiet. Somewhere near Shingwedzi, a spurfowl flushed from the side of the road. “I didn’t quite know what it […]
Some of the most important conservation work happens out of the spotlight. It’s the behind-the-scenes effort that makes everything else possible on the ground. The Great Plains Foundation (GPF) is a perfect example. Based in the United States but operating across Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, the Foundation functions as the non-profit arm alongside Great Plains […]
At 22 years old, Mark Heystek already speaks about the land like someone who has walked it for a lifetime. He’s currently based at Brandwacht Game Reserve, home to Garden Route Safari Camp, where he works full-time as a field guide and also lives on the reserve. “It’s my workplace and my place of residence,” […]
Situated just outside Gqeberha, Addo Elephant National Park was established in 1931 to save the last remaining elephants in the region, and has grown into South Africa’s third largest and one of its most ambitious national parks. More than 600 elephants roam its valleys and spekboom-covered hills, but the park’s significance stretches far beyond its […]
“Conservation is for the people.” It’s a line Kganya Moseneke repeats often, and it shapes every decision he makes at Great Fish River Nature Reserve. As Security Manager on a World Bank–backed rhino protection project of 45,000 hectares, he works in a landscape bordered by 14 rural communities, where protecting black rhinos starts with understanding […]
Rhino poachers don’t have far to travel to reach Nambiti. The reserve sits on a major corridor between Durban, Johannesburg, and Mozambique—an area where neighbouring parks have lost a dozen rhinos in a single night. And yet, for more than a year, Nambiti hasn’t had a single poaching incursion. The reason lies with a community […]
Callum Perry is currently based in Amersham, England, but part of him still belongs to the wild landscapes of Southern and East Africa. He first arrived in South Africa at 18 on a volunteer placement just outside Pretoria. What was meant to be a short stint quickly turned into something bigger. He fell in love […]
The first time Picket Chabwedzeka left home for the city, it wasn’t to become a ranger or a trainer. It was to juggle plates and textbooks. “I moved to South Africa and was working while studying part-time,” he says. “For three years I lived in Goodwood, studied at Pentech and UNISA, and worked as a […]
Before he was a freshwater scientist in the United Kingdom, Tapiwa Zimunya was a boy roaming mountains. “I’d say my love for nature stems from the environment I grew up in,” he says. Forests, rivers, and rolling peaks surrounded his grandfather’s homestead in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. “There wasn’t much technology back then. These […]
In the far eastern corner of Botswana, where the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers meet, and the borders of three countries fold into one another, lies the Northern Tuli Game Reserve: 72,000 hectares of rugged mopane woodland, sandstone outcrops, and some of the highest concentrations of elephants for private reserves in Southern Africa. It is a […]
First light in Kafue National Park arrives with motion. Puku step out of the grass as the light spreads, ground hornbills boom across the plains, and a thin ribbon of river wind glints in the early glow. On the far edges of this vast Zambian wilderness (well beyond tourist tracks), patrol teams are already lacing […]
Each morning, before the sun burns through the mist rising off Lake Upemba, rangers gather in formation at the HQ of Lusinga and the Upemba National Park’s substation. They salute the flag, receive their orders, and set off (sometimes for days at a time) into a landscape few outsiders have ever walked. Their job is […]
In Kenya’s northern highlands, where acacia-dotted plains rise towards the snowcapped peaks of Mount Kenya, the rangers of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy begin their day in darkness. They lace up their Jim Green AR8s, sling their packs over their shoulders, and head out across 62,000 acres of wilderness, one of the most successful conservation landscapes in […]
“When I was ten, I read When the Lion Feeds,” says Paul Stones, who today runs one of southern Africa’s leading safari hunting companies. “From that moment, I knew I wanted to work in the bush.” More than three decades later, that boyhood dream has taken shape as Paul Stones Safari Africa, a professional hunting […]
Rangers in Zambia’s Nsumbu National Park face some of the continent’s toughest patrol conditions. Rocky ground, thorny bush, snakes, and long hours on foot mean durable footwear is essential. That’s why Jim Green was proud to provide boots to patrol teams in the Nsumbu Area Management Unit, including the high-performing Alpha Teams. “Our rangers find […]
In 2024, rangers at Gonarezhou National Park collectively walked over 862,000km on foot patrols. That’s the equivalent of circling the Earth more than 25 times on foot. Covering that kind of distance requires more than grit; it requires gear that lasts. Rangers describe their Jim Green boots as “Very comfortable and highly durable, especially with […]
Originally from a small town in Norway, Rune Kjelseth’s journey into photography began long before social media made it a career. “I bought my first camera when I was eleven,” he says. “A little point-and-shoot film camera. I didn’t know you could actually be a photographer back then, there just weren’t many where I grew […]
Each pair of Jim Green boots that lands in the field tells a story of dust and endurance, of men and women walking the wild line between protection and peril. In Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley, those boots carry rangers across some of the toughest terrain on the continent, where The Tashinga Initiative works tirelessly to keep […]
When we caught up with filmmaker and storyteller Bose Bonda, he was back home in Maun, Botswana, a gateway to the Okavango Delta and a place he says keeps his creativity grounded. “I was born about 470km from here,” he says. “I came to Maun for high school, and somehow I’ve always found my way […]
Dust clings to his boots, the kind that comes from long dirt roads and river crossings on two wheels. For adventure guide Joe Fleming, the journey begins wherever the tarmac ends. “I once hiked 100km through the Karoo in these boots,” he laughs, “normally I’d wear dedicated hiking gear for something like that, but the […]
In Zambia’s game management areas and national parks, rangers walk further and face harsher conditions than most of us can imagine. Patrols stretch 20, 30, sometimes even 40 kilometres a day. They carry heavy gear across thorny bush, rocky hills, and floodplains, often with limited water. In this line of work, a good pair of […]
When we reached out to Delport Botma for this story, he was in northern Mozambique’s Niassa province, where he’ll be based for six months, working on a conservation project. Life here is anything but ordinary. Every day work here means flying rangers into remote areas, patrolling for snares, tracking wildlife, and covering terrain that chews […]
Jim Green boots were delivered to Project Rhino to support people like Moses Makalima, a field ranger and K9 handler. “The work we do is tough,” Moses says. “You don’t always know what you’re walking into. But having proper boots and uniforms gives you confidence. It makes a difference knowing you’re equipped for the conditions.” […]
On trips that test both man and machine, Aslam Mxolisi Tawana has learned that your boots are as important as your vehicle. The Kalahari Desert, the rocky trails of the Namaqua, and the sandy riverbeds of Botswana are just a few of the places Aslam has put our boots to the test. Other boots, he […]
Equipped with Jim Green boots, students at Tracker Academy set out each morning before sunrise to step into the bush, ready to follow and interpret the tracks of wildlife, including rhinos, elephants, lions, and sometimes, people. These students are learning to track. Their training includes track and sign identification, trailing and locating wildlife, and human […]
In South Africa’s North West Province, biodiversity is as vast as the landscapes themselves. From arid grasslands to rugged ridges, 14 protected areas stretch across nearly 200,000 hectares. Behind their protection is a committed team of rangers facing floods, fires, predators, poachers, and sometimes, inadequate gear. That’s where Jim Green boots step in. The North […]
“Mphathi” derives from the verb “ukuphatha,” meaning “to manage,” “to handle,” or “to rule.” Thus, the name signifies “manager,” “administrator,” or “leader,” often bestowed upon individuals who are expected to exhibit strong leadership qualities or assume positions of responsibility. On a dairy farm in the Eastern Cape, mornings start before the sun. By 4 a.m., […]
In the heart of South Africa’s Greater Kruger area, where the Big Five still roam and old models of conservation die hard, one reserve has been doing things differently. For over two decades, Craig Spencer, warden of Olifants West Nature Reserve (OWNR), has challenged the status quo: from the commodification of wildlife to the militarisation […]
In Zimbabwe’s Hwange, a vital wildlife corridor is under threat from poaching, pressure, and the push of human expansion. But the Conservation & Wildlife Fund (CWF) is holding the line. From pioneering AI tech to community-powered patrols, their rangers are rewriting the future of this buffer zone, and Jim Green’s boots are right there with […]
Deep in Zambia’s South Luangwa Valley, where wild dogs roam and giraffes stride through mopane woodlands, a quiet conservation revolution is underway. At the centre of it all is Conservation South Luangwa (CSL), an organisation working hand-in-hand with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife to safeguard 1.4 million hectares of pristine wilderness. Known as […]
