The Natural Selection Foundation is passionately committed to protecting Africa's diverse wildlife and preserving its vital habitats through long-term conservation projects that make a meaningful impact.
Our key goals include helping to preserve crucial habitats, maintaining and re-establishing critical wildlife movement corridors, and supporting the vulnerable communities living sustainably alongside wildlife areas.
Guided by a model of community-driven conservation, we believe that protecting nature and uplifting people are not mutually exclusive, but rather essential components of a sustainable future.
In partnership with local communities and conservation experts, the initiatives we support focus on expanding wildlife and habitat protection, fostering coexistence between people and wildlife , and strengthening rural livelihoods.
Driven by a deep reverence for the natural world, the Natural Selection Foundation is passionately committed to protecting Africa’s precious wildlife and preserving its vital habitats. Through research, monitoring, strong partnerships, and hands-on initiatives we work to ensure these wild places remain a source of wonder and inspiration for generations to come.
The programme aims to work with local communities and key stakeholders to develop land-use plans that benefit people and wildlife alike, reopening and protecting historic migratory pathways for elephant, zebra, and wildebeest.
The Makgadikgadi Large Mammal Migration project focuses on safeguarding and expanding these historic routes between northern Botswana, Makgadikgadi National Park, and the Kalahari Desert through informed land-use planning, human–wildlife coexistence initiatives, and research into how surface water shapes herbivore ecology and, in turn, affects vegetation and human–elephant conflict.
Focal species play a crucial role in conservation biology by providing a focus for conservation efforts, raising public awareness, and acting as indicators of ecosystem health. Protecting these species often safeguards many others that share their habitats or face similar environmental pressures.
Our conservation and research projects place particular emphasis on the conservation of Southern giraffe—including the desert-dwelling populations—alongside black and white rhino, and aardvark, ensuring that the protection of these ecologically important species drives broader landscape-level impact.
Natural Selection operates primarily in private concessions, where we take on the responsibility of safeguarding these landscapes through a blend of cutting-edge technology and dedicated boots-on-the-ground protection. Our programme recruits, trains, and equips rangers to carry out essential work, from wildlife monitoring and anti-poaching operations—including desnaring—to invasive species control, tree protection, and rhino dehorning.
Key ranger initiatives we support include the Khwai Private Reserve Anti-Poaching Unit, Etosha Heights Rhino Protection, and the Green Griffons Female Rangers, each connecting the ranger work to positive biodiversity outcomes and community development by training and empowering young local people.
We are passionate about protecting Africa’s iconic wildlife and wild places, and equally committed to empowering nearby communities to thrive—economically and socially—alongside nature. Our goal is to foster sustainable livelihoods and ensure that conservation efforts benefit both people and wildlife.
Supporting vulnerable communities whose wellbeing and livelihoods depend on these wild landscapes is central to our work. Youth education and development together with the economic empowerment of women lie at the heart of our community partnerships.
While we do offer some support to primary schools in villages near Natural Selection’s areas of operation, our main focus is on early-childhood education in remote or underserved communities—places where children often have the least access to opportunity. By investing in school infrastructure, helping to keep centres running, and ensuring children receive vital nutrition for growing minds, our early childhood development programme helps lay the groundwork for long-term impact: improved literacy and numeracy, stronger environmental awareness, and greater community empowerment.
We currently support ECD centres in the northern Botswana villages of Moreomaoto, Shorobe, Khwai, and Gudigwa, as well as in Sesfontein in north-west Namibia.
Rural areas in Botswana and Namibia often have limited income opportunities. In communities bordering protected areas and wildlife corridors—such as the Okavango Delta, Moremi, Makgadikgadi and the Namibian conservancies—livelihoods are affected by wildlife through crop raiding and livestock predation. Supporting enterprises that generate income through wildlife-friendly activities helps communities see the tangible value of conservation. And when communities benefit economically, wildlife populations are more likely to thrive.
We currently support the Mmogo Craft Centres for Women, a sustainable grass-harvesting initiative, and the Ju/'hoansi Wisdom Village, where sales of local artwork and crafts, along with special events and cultural workshops, provide direct income for Ju/'hoansi artisans and the wider community.
Supporting conservation education programmes is a powerful way to promote coexistence between people and wildlife. We place particular emphasis on youth conservation education, fostering a deep appreciation for the natural world and empowering the next generation of environmental stewards.
Our supported projects include Coaching Conservation, EFA Conservation Education, Wild Shots Outreach, Lessons in Conservation, and the Khomas Environmental Education Programme.
Guided by the expertise of scientists and conservationists—and enriched by the knowledge of local communities—we work to create sustainable solutions that blend traditional wisdom with innovative ideas.
To help reduce human–wildlife conflict, we support a range of complementary strategies: non-lethal deterrents to protect crops, predator monitoring and rapid response to safeguard livestock, providing safe transport through wildlife corridors, livelihood support, and community education that raises awareness about wildlife behaviour, benefits of wildlife, and non-lethal conflict tools.
Certain areas of the Okavango Delta have experienced a localized increase in elephant numbers, attributed to elephant movements from less hospitable areas. To local villages this is potentially devastating as agricultural land is increasingly vulnerable to elephant raiding and humans are more at risk of fatal encounters.
Together with our partners we have funded four “Elephant Express” buses to safely transport school children through areas prone to elephant encounters. School attendance has significantly improved because of the safe transport and therefore academic performance has gone up.
For human–wildlife coexistence initiatives to succeed, they must be developed with local people so that solutions reflect local knowledge, needs and aspirations. This programme studies how people and wildlife can thrive in shared landscapes by examining the drivers of conflict—such as crop raiding, livestock predation, and competition for water—and analysing wildlife movements to identify risk hotspots. It also gathers insights into community attitudes, economic realities and what people need to feel secure. A key component is testing practical mitigation tools and strategies that reduce conflict and support coexistence.
Projects we support include the BioBoundary Project, which is researching the effectiveness of plant-based airborne elephant repellents, and an EFA elephant-collaring programme that tracks elephant movements across both human and wildlife landscapes.
Farmers are often on the frontline of conservation, with their livelihoods most at risk from crop raiding and livestock predation.
Core components of this programme include preventing conflict before it occurs—through deterrents, elephant-proof fencing, communal herding, and predator-proof kraals—alongside tracking lions to activate an early warning system for livestock farmers. The programme also supports subsistence farmers in adopting conservation agriculture methods to improve yields and strengthen livelihoods.
Initiatives we support include the Desert Lion Early Warning Conflict Mitigation System, Communal Herding for Lion and Livestock Protection, and EFA’s Communal Agriculture & Living With Elephants programme.
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