Rewilding One million hectares of thandi’s homeland…
Get Involved
Donate
Support our fundraisers with a direct donation – 100% of your donation will go to the Conservation Landscapes Institute – a non-profit organisation registered in South Africa.
Volunteer
Help Expand the message by joining our virtual team of volunteers – we are looking for help with social media support, fundraising, website management and project co-ordination.
7 day expedition
An unforgettable experience…
Our Mission
Improve lives by connecting people with nature.
Protect one of the world’s most biodiverse areas in South Africa called the Albany Biodiversity Corridor and share the knowledge globally.
The Albany Biodiversity Corridor spans nearly 1 m hectares and sits within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot – one of 3 such hotspots in South Africa. This hotspot contains 7 of 9 Biomes in Africa and harbours an enormous diversity of fauna and flora.
Many people, communities and charitable projects have been working together in partnership to safeguard and rewild the Albany Biodiversity Corridor.
The primary objective of Expand is to empower a global community connected and enriched by the thread of raw nature to bring financial assistance to these projects.
For thandi and our planet
Why rewild?
Rejuvenating the lands where Thandi and her kind once roamed freely creates huge impacts locally, regionally and globally. The simple act of removing fences and allowing mega herbivores like Rhino and Elephant to wander, kickstarts a chain of ecological regeneration of the land and animals. Regionally this regeneration ensures future generations of a sustaining landscape. Globally, healthy wild spaces are essential to the survival of the human race.
Roam Freely
Remove fences to create a single contiguous space for animals to roam freely across the nearly 1 million hectares in the planning domain known as the Albany Biodiversity Corridor.
Empower Communities
Educate, uplift and empower local communities through a combination of goal directed projects; enterprise development initiatives and flow of revenue into community-owned and directed Non-Profit Organisations.
Thrive
Protect White and Black Rhino from poaching and allow them to thrive and increase their populations across the landscape as fences are removed. This will kickstart land rejuvenation.
Global Movement
Share learnings and techniques from this landscape to accelerate the re-wilding and rejuvenation of other significant landscapes across the globe.
Protect & safeguard the landscape
Create a viable land protection model whereby private land ownership is transitioned to ownership by global conservation in the long run.
Successes
Thandi – first Rhino ever to survive poaching. Now mother to 5 calves and 2 grand-calves.
76,000+
Hectares of conserved land, spanning 3 municipalities and many land owners – provides the precedent and template for further expansion.
350
Local children graduated from the social and emotional education programme run by the Kariega foundation.
7,000
hectares of dusty farmland decimated by draught – now a rich grassland supporting a huge ecosystem, despite the current 8 year draught
Real people.
Real transformation
Without the support of the local people who live in this landscape, it is impossible to achieve sustainability. The conservation and community model is an integral part of the strategy. These are some of the stories.
Sisekho
A young man with a passion for flying who has become a commercially qualified pilot flying anti poaching reconnaissance flights and drones. Sisekho is an amazing inspiration to a whole new generation of young people.
Anti Poaching Unit
The Kariega anti poaching unit is a stand out example with the majority of the team coming from the local community. Funded directly by the Kariega Foundation, this unit supports many local families and provides a vital role in the protection of endangered species.
Alien Species
Boot strapping a team of young men from the local community to remove alien invasive plant species – providing equipment, training and part time work contracts, the the freedom to offer themselves for projects to other areas.