While there’s no doubt that being alluded to as the Brangelina’s of the safari industry is quite a compliment, there’s much more substance to the work of Dereck & Beverly than appearances. Tiara Walters of South Africa’s Sunday Times weaves a story which we hope will “turn around a billion Chinese”. But it requires your [...]

On 22nd February, Ride Kenya assisted a vet from the David Sheldrick foundation in darting and treating an elephant with an arrow wound wandering near ol Donyo Lodge and the Ride Kenya stables.                   Ride Kenya managers Paddy and Kim were on hand to track the elephant and follow it [...]

GREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION OUTREACH TEAM Young Explorers Conservation Camp 2013 In December Great Plains Conservation hosted the Young Explorers Conservation Camp at the, aptly named and new, Selinda Explorers camp on the Selinda Reserve for five nights, 3rd to the 8th December 2012. The aim was to educate and bring awareness to 20 young Conservationists [...]

All too often in the world of conservation, we are peppered with tragic stories. De-horned rhino here, speared lion there, but today we bring to you a conservation story which might just give you great hope for 2013 and beyond. Sure, you might say, “but it’s just a set of games, who cares, what’s that [...]

First Maasai Olympics in Kenya creates new tradition: The track and field competition uses warriors’ lion hunting skills for athletics “The Maasai Olympics is not just a sporting activity and event. It is a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity given by the Maasai elders to save this ecosystem,” Dereck Joubert, CEO of Great Plains Conservation, said. In Kenya’s [...]

After 20 years of sole operation under Richard Bonham’s guidance, Maasailand Preservation Trust is proud to announce its merger with Big Life Foundation. Co-founded by conservationist Richard Bonham & photographer Nick Brandt in October 2010, Big Life’s conservation philosophy is so similar, and goals so identical, that it became obvious to both organizations that the [...]

Dereck and Beverly Joubert have spent more time filming and living among lions in the wild than anyone alive today. The discoveries they’ve made over 30 years of wildlife filmmaking have challenged conventional wisdom about Africa’s big cats.

Great Plains Conservation is not simply a tourism venture. As our name suggests, we are actually primarily focused on conservation and use tourism as a vector to achieve our conservation goals. Hence we we call ourselves a “Conservation Tourism” company. To this end, Dereck & Beverly Joubert founded Big Cats Initiative in partnership with National [...]

Recently our friends and colleagues at Ellerman House, based in Cape Town, hosted the annual ArtAngels charity art auction and party for the first time this year, following the success of the inaugural 2011 event at CIRCA on Jellicoe in Johannesburg where R1.6 million was then raised for charity This year, and going forward, ArtAngels [...]

As many of you know Dereck and Beverly recently made a new movie called The Unlikely Leopard Why not take 2 minutes and enjoy the short clip available here ? Easy Prey scene – The Unlikely Leopard

Since the Selinda Pack of Wild Dogs left their den over a month ago, they have been flip-flopping in and out of the Selinda Reserve to the North. In the last 3 days though, they are well and truly back in the concession – appearing close to the North of Selinda Camp and their return [...]

After around 8 weeks at the den site not too far from Selinda Camp our Wild Dog pack was spooked by a trio of Lionesses whose tracks lead directly to the den. We estimate the Lionesses were at the Den around the 19th of August. The Wild Dogs were savvy and moved the puppies which [...]

Night drives can be time well spent in the bush. Each day as the sunlight ebbs and flows, back and forward over our piece of paradise – a shift change takes place. The diurnal animals seek refuge toplaces of safety to spend the night, and the night creatures come centre stage to play out their [...]

It is with great excitement that the Selinda Reserve shares this wonderful news. About 5 weeks ago now the alpha female of the Selinda Wild Dog pack denned in an area we call Fish Eagles nest which is about 25 minutes from Selinda Camp. At that point we closed off all the roads leading into [...]

Great Plains Community Outreach has been very active in all spheres of our outreach over the last few months. Our conservation education program has continued with a follow-up holiday workshop with the Gudigwa Primary School Environmental Club and our craft groups have been working on new products. A workshop was held over 2 days during [...]

At the 2012 Wildscreen Panda Awards, the Last Lions, a Dereck and Beverly Joubert film, is in contention for  three awards ! Good luck to them! www.sa-people.com/2012/07/12/sa-wildlife-on-the-big-screen/

The past month, and especially the past few days have seen the Big Cats of Selinda Reserve in full action. Yesterday Selinda Camp had 3 vehicles out in the morning and they were treated to sightings of the Selinda Pride male Lion, a male Cheetah who frequents the area and 2 separate sightings of Leopard’s [...]

The Unlikely Leopard, a brand new film by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, which premiered recently in New York City and Washington DC will be released on the National Geographic Wild Channel on the 15th of July in the USA at 9pm, with a  roll out internationally following that. “Enjoy a heartwarming tale that follows the [...]

We spent about 10 minutes watching these water monitor lizards mating very close to a water crossing and before heading off to  host a guest’s picnic. We came back after an hour and 45 minutes and the two were still there doing the same act. You could tell from their faces that they meant business [...]

The Last Lions DVD is now available in South Africa at all leading retailers.

In February 2012, Botswana’s Duba Plains, Zarafa and Selinda Camps, owned by Great Plains Conservation, hosted Lara Logan and a team from CBS 60 Minutes for a week. Logan was in Africa to record a profile of filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert and shoot the Jouberts’ important conservation work with Big Cats in the Duba [...]

Great news for our friends based in Australia! Part of the Big Cat Week on National Geographic Channel, The Last Lions will be aired on Sunday 26 February 2012!! Follow this link to the National Geographic Australian website for the news (http://natgeotv.com.au/big-cats/)- Post your feedback, comments and thoughts here or on our Facebook fan  page [...]

If you are interested to see how much water is flowing into the Okavango Delta and what that means for this year’s flood levels in the Delta itself, click the below web link. You will also be able to compare this year’s waters with previous years. It would appear at this stage that the waters [...]

Coupled with the launch of the Last lions in Paris recently, Dereck and Beverly also spent some time on the radio talking about the film and their work with the Big Cats Initiative Click on this link to access the interview    

‘The Last Lions’ is going to be aired on DSTV’s NatGeo Wild next Monday, 13 February, 19h00 SATime ! DSTV is a paid satellite channel which airs in most African and Indian Ocean countries Get the word out there and make sure to put the date and time in your diary. Keep an eye on [...]

The attached graph shows the annual flood waters as they start flowing into Botswana’s Okavango Delta panhalnlde from Angola. The annual cycle of life bringing water has not changed for eons but we like to monitor the volume of water flowing into the Delta as that helps us prepare for our guest’s game experiences when [...]

Over the last few months Great Plains community outreach has had some amazing experiences: getting to know community members, teaching skills and continuously generating income for the Seronga and Gudigwa communities. We have relocated our Seronga base to a house with more work space and facilities. This provides our Tipatizane members with an area to [...]

Cause an Uproar with Betty Davis and National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative

After what seemed like the longest time, the Selinda Wild Dog Pack are back in the area. We had a few fleeting sightings of the pack around our concession office and then later in the week the Wild Dogs were seen moving north up towards the very north-eastern corner of the Selinda Reserve where Selinda [...]

Roar with the masses and save the Big Cats – keep Causing an Uproar, we’ve got work to do. Click here to find out more