Since September 2022, the Foundation has been sending children from Hammanskraal, the informal housing community near the sanctuary, on a safari experience to see wild animals. One of our most recent trips was particularly memorable.

Some of you will have noticed a rather dapper, spotty, German Shorthaired Pointer appearing in a few of the Lion Whisperer TV videos. This handsome hound was Guido, who crossed the rainbow bridge in December last year. Guido’s story is unlike any other, and in honour of his interesting life, we decided to do a proper “dogbituary” for one of our favourite woof friends.

It’s in times when you feel despondent about poaching that it’s important to remember and take note of all the work that goes into anti-poaching, and the number of lives that are saved every day through these valiant efforts. Anti-poaching is a marathon, not a sprint.

Rwanda is a very special place. Sadly, most people will associate it with the terrible genocide of 1994, and this has left its mark on the country and its people. No one over the age of 33 was left unaffected. However, the story of Rwanda is one of hope, resilience and reconciliation.

I am grateful we can give the lions here a small taste of what it may be to live in the wild, and I have loved them for many years, but I look forward to a day when there are no captive lions, and donors see the value supporting initiatives that put wildlife habitats into the right hands.