Our Partners

“Year in the Wild – South Africa” started as a dream – to explore, photograph and film South Africa’s most special wild places, and to share their priceless ecological, cultural and spiritual value with the rest of the world via social media. The following sponsors have enabled me to turn the dream into reality. During the year I am travelling great distances to some of the most remote and inaccessible areas of South Africa. A project like Year in the Wild relies on the help, funding, sponsorship and dedication from many different organisations and people. Without this involvement, Year in the Wild would not be possible.

South African National Parks As custodians of many of South Africa’s wildest places, South African National Parks were inevitably our first port of call. Glenn Phillips and Bheki Zwane responded with alacrity, and have helped immeasurably to make sure Year in the Wild is a success. Without their help, advice and support, the dream wouldn’t have come true. A sincere thank you to both Glenn and Bheki, as well as Nedret Saidova, Melanie Govindasamy and Hein Grobler. Year in the Wild will be writing a daily blog for the SANParks website, and posting regularly to their Facebook page.	CapeNature CapeNature are responsible for the preservation of the Western Cape’s natural areas. Many of the province’s finest land and seascapes are under their protection, and like South African National Parks, their involvement was crucial to Year in the Wild. Sheraaz Ismail, Lucinda Witten and Marietjie Engelbrecht all saw the potential of the concept, and have been most communicative and forthright with their assistance. Thank you! While we are travelling within the CapeNature parks, we will be posting to their Facebook page.	Ezemvelo KwaZulu Natal’s provincial parks include some of the most impressive wilderness areas in the country, including Imfolozi, Drakensberg and iSimangaliso. Many thanks to Gladman Buthelezi of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife for their continuous support!
Eastern Cape Parks Like CapeNature and Ezemvelo, Eastern Cape Parks are responsible for the conservation of some of South Africa’s most special natural areas. It would be inconceivable that places like the impressive Baviaanskloof or magical Mkhambathi could be left off an expedition itinerary to the South Africa’s wild places. A big thanks to Lavinia Subboo for her help.	iSimangaliso Wetland Park As South Africa’s first World Heritage Site, iSimangaliso (formerly St Lucia) was always going to be part of our expedition. This spectacular stretch of coastline is impossibly beautiful – and is managed by an independent organization headed up by Andrew Zaloumis. Very big thanks to him, Lindy Duffield and Debbie Cooper.

Ford Ford Motor Company South Africa is sponsoring the loan of two Everest 4×4 vehicles for Year in the Wild’s expedition. We will be living and working from these vehicles, and they are indispensable to our goals. The Everest 4x4s will take me through deserts, rivers, mountains and canyons, and along highways and byways. Without them, we’d be stuck! A HUGE thank you to Burger Genis, Ben Pillay, Craig von Essen, Tracey Goetsch and Rella Bernardes. You guys have been fantastic.	Total Total are the official fuel suppliers to South African National Parks, and they are heavily involved in supporting conservation in South Africa through the national park system. Fuel is a major expense on the journey, and Total are helping cover some of these costs. The national parks are spread out all across the country, and I’ll be driving many tens of thousands of kilometres during the year. Thank you to Bryn Pyne-James at SANParks and the Total team for enabling Year in the Wild.	Evosat Without EvoSat, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with the world when we find ourselves in the desert mountains of the Richtersveld, the kloofs of the Drakensberg or the middle of the Karoo. Every day we’ll be uploading content to various websites and social media pages, and EvoSat are kindly loaning us a BGAN Explorer 500 unit so we can actually do this – regardless of how far out in the gramadoelas we find ourselves. (If you’re not sure what “gramadoelas” means – like I was – it’s a Khoisan word meaning “in the back of beyond” or “nowhere near anywhere”.) A very special thank you to Harry Tayler who has been a consistent source of support – as well as Dickon Webb who has made everything happen for us.
Vodacom While we are in areas with cellphone reception, we’ll be communicating often with the outside world. Vodacom are supplying two cellphones, contracts and 3G data modems to Year in the Wild. A special thanks to Suraya Hamdulay, who gave us her unconditional support.	Conqueror Conqueror are Africa’s leading off-road trailer manufacturer and will be loaning us one of their units. I’ll need a LOT of space for storing all our gear, so a rugged 4×4 trailer is crucial to our journey. Year in the Wild requires something that’s adept on open roads, mountain trails and sandy tracks of the Kalahari. We have been a fan of Conqueror for several years, as their trailers are well-designed and as tough as a honey badger. Baie dankie (“Thank you”) to Phillip and Thinus de Vries and Gerhard Harmse!	Frontrunner Frontrunner are kindly loaning us two drawer storage systems for the back of our Everest 4x4s, as well as boxes. This will make loading and storage of our gear that much easier. Thank you Bobby Langer!
Goodyear Kevin Slabbert from Goodyear has helped Year in the Wild out with Goodyear Wrangler 4×4 tyres…and we’ll be relying on them to take us over some diverse terrain of gravel, rocks, sand, tar and sometimes water! Kevin really has helped us out…thank you!	Digicape Year in the Wild is mainly a photographic journey, and I’ll be using some of Digicape’s Apple Mac equipment for processing of photographs. Thanks to Robin Olivier and Craig Parker for joining the cause!	Lacie Jim O’Connor at Direct Distribution Services is the official importer for Lacie Rugged Hard Drives, and he has kindly sponsored a few of these awesome units to store all the photographs while travelling.
EeziAwn A lot of the time, we’ll be camping in the middle of nowhere, and although we all love sleeping under the stars, sometimes we’ll need roof-top tents to keep the rain out – or the lions and hyenas! EeziAwn are supplying two roof-top tents, one for each Everest 4×4, as well as an awning for each vehicle, so we can enjoy a bit of shade while we’re editing our film footage during the day. Jess Stühler from EeziAwn is passionate about over landing in Africa and saw the potential of Year in the Wild as few other people did.	GFS We’ll be far from a fuel station for much of the time during Year in the Wild, so Global Fleet Sales have installed long range fuel tanks into our Everest 4x4s, as well as special fuel filters (to keep the dust and dirt out). Andrew Fuller has worked on some of the most demanding vehicle projects in Africa, and his advice has been invaluable.	National Luna We are extremely grateful to National Luna for loaning us two stainless steel portable fridges. These will take pride of place in the back of our vehicles. Along with the fridges, National Luna will also be loaning us dual-battery systems, so that we are ensured of effective, non-stop power supply. Thank you to Peter Slemmert, who likes to remind me about the positive effect of a cold beer after a hot day!
Nokia Tania Steenkamp from Nokia South Africa has sponsored a Nokia N8 to take photos and video, which it does really well! This phone has an HD camera, and the quality is superb. It also allows me to stay in touch easily with my website and Facebook page, and I’ll be uploading photos direct from the phone….Thanks Tania!	Hetzner Athena Turner from Hetzner was the very first sponsor to say “Yes!” to the idea of Year in the Wild! We have space on the World Wide Web because of her and Hetzner’s team. Thank you!	Cape Union Mart Thanks to Nick Bennett of Cape Union Mart for the K-Way gear that will keep us warm and dry during our year of exploring. I’ve got a waterproof rain jacket, as well as a fleece and soft-shell jacket. Look out for our blog on their website and their Facebook page, and be sure to join me for presentations at some of the Cape Union Mart stores around the country. Dates to be decided but will be announced on the site and on Facebook! Cape Union Mart are supporters of conservation in South Africa – including The Cape Leopard Trust and Black Eagle Projects.

African Geographic Thanks to Jo Bestic, Sarah Borchert and Cindy Armstrong for their support and assistance…check out some of my photos at their Facebook page, and also catch a blog or two on their website.	Getaway Thanks to Cameron Ewart-Smith, Sarah Duff and Jax Lahoud Getaway Magazine for helping me out with some contacts and for generally being awesome to work with. I’ll be writing a few blogs and posting some photos to their blog and Facebook page.	Wild Magazine I first started writing for Wild Magazine last year, and I’ve really enjoyed working with Magriet Kruger, Kate Collins, Riaan Vermeulen and Joan Kruger. Thank you so much to all of them. Check out their website and their Facebook page for some really great content on many of the places I’ll be visiting this year.
Leisure Wheels Jannie Herbst from Leisure Wheels will be letting me write for his magazine every month, and I’m hoping to put the Ford Everest through its paces on the trip, and share my 4×4 experiences with the learned readers of Leisure Wheels. Thanks Jannie.	Garmin Fraser McHenry, Michelle Tennant, Jenna Coxall and Claire Herbst from Garmin Southern Africa were supportive of Year in the Wild from the start, and have contributed two Garmin Oregon 550s to the cause. These help us to navigate our way through some of the more remote terrain in South Africa’s nature reserves!

Thank you to:

Alan and Thea Ramsay, Craig and Rochelle Fowlds, Marie and Peter Venn, Elize and Vic Beltrame, Kathy Mellor, Liani van Straaten, David Scott and Chris Scott of Scotty Photography, Brandon de Kock, Dean Dicks, Stuart Lowe, Cameron Ewart-Smith, Kate Collins, Magriet Kruger, Eddie Symons, Murray and Mandy McCallum, James Eedes, Eike Feltz,, Keri Wachter, Ian and Otto and Di Pletzer, Stephen Lamb, Laura James, Claudia Gurwitz, Tarryn and Ambur and Janet Unite-Penny, Jasper, Phil and Susan Patton, Stuart and Lucia Plane, Bruce Plane and Laurien Henry, Dave and Rose Plane, Kate and Geoff and Bisty Davies, Sarah Borchert, Stephanus Rabie, Eileen Nomdo, Agatha Lerole, Jamali Imed, Megan Emmett, Andre Cronje, Denzil Abrahams, Andries Modjadibi, Andrew Arnott, Simon and Alison Turck, Ann Reilly, Lindy Duffield, Anthea Eedes, Avon Middleton, Braam Malherbe, Brett MacDonald, Don Pinnock, Lorenzo Nassimbeni, Brigitta Tummon, Mariah Betts, Catherine Hoets, Melissa Fourie, Chris Galliers, Chris Roche, Crispian Abbott, Darren Putter, Dr Dave Cooper, Dick and Sally Pitman, Neil and Elize Crafford, Elsabe Swart, Friederieke Bubenzer, Georgie Pearce, Glynn Demmer, Stephen Davis and Jacqueline van Meygaarden, Janet Winterbourne, Jannie Herbst, Jax Davies, Margaret Dempsey, John Langford, Julia Durrant, Murray Mitchell, Paul Durrant, Kate Muller, Kelly and Scott Harrington, Kimi Stewart, Laura Mukwevho, Leila Campbell, Lionel and Cathy Goetz, Lisa van Dongen, Mario and Dolly and Melissa Gomes, Mary Duncan, Claudio Afonso, Michael Raimondo, Myles Brown, Andy Cluver, Nicola Husemeyer, Niki Jackson, Olivier Maurin, Elsabe Swart, Paul Hubbard, Regardt Voges, Renato Balona, Sue and Ross McClagan, Romi Boom, Sally Munro, Samantha Werk, Sinegugu Zukulu, Thabang Skwambane, Theresa Sowry, Tony Fowlds, Veralda Schmidt, Veronica Roodt, Janine van Schoor, Dr Ian Player (for inspiration) and Thandi Davies (for so much).