African Parks Network

"In the year 2000 a group of experienced conservationists, who were concerned about the decline of many of Africa’s national parks, established The African Parks Network as a visionary and innovative approach to conservation that involved taking on the management and financing of national parks. Working in the sector, they were all too familiar with the inadequacies and inefficiencies associated with the traditional approach to park management and anticipated the benefits of a more commercial approach with parks being run on business principles.

"The group, namely Mavuso Msimang, Dr Anthony Hall-Martin, Michael Eustace and Peter Fearnhead approached Paul Fentener van Vlissingen who, as a multinational businessman with a strong interest in conservation, was immediately intrigued and they joined forces. Only six years later, The African Parks Network has established a meaningful presence on the continent and demonstrated that national parks can be managed responsibly by a private organisation in partnership with governments, and that the results can be remarkable.

"The African Parks Network went through a number of institutional changes in its early years, designed to assist the organisation to be more effective in achieving its objective. These changes included a shift of the legislative base and Head Office to the Netherlands in 2004, and back to South Africa in 2007...

"The Board of The African Parks Network is supported by a number of affiliate organisations, whose primary role is to facilitate the establishment of partnerships with individuals, institutions and companies in their respective host countries, who are willing to become involved in and support the work of African Parks. Currently these affiliate organisations include:

People
Paul Fentener van Vlissingen (Dutch, 1941–2006) was a member of one of the best- known families in the Netherlands involved for many generations in business as well as wildlife activities. He founded the African Parks Foundation in 2003 and stepped down as Chairman of the Board in January 2006.

African Parks Foundation Board

Piet Klaver – Chairman, former Chief Executive SHV Holdings NV
Mavuso Msimang – Vice Chairman, former Chief Executive of South Africa National Parks
Rene Hooft Graafland – Banker
Dick de Kat – retired, former Board Member SHV Holdings NV
Nico Visser – Counsellor for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality at the Dutch Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
Winnie Sorgdrager – Member of the Council of State; former Minister of Justice, The Netherlands
Caroline Tisdall – Professor at Oxford Brookes University; author of many books and films on a wide range of subjects

African Parks Senior Counsellors

Lord Simon Cairns – United Kingdom; former Chairman of the BCEC
Valentine Chitalu – Zambia; Chairman of Zambian Breweries
Michael Eustace – South Africa; retired Banker
Walter Kansteiner – United States of America; former Secretary of State for Africa
Wim Kok – The Netherlands; former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Mavuso Msimang – South Africa; former Chief Executive of South Africa National Parks
Cyril Ramaphosa – South Africa; former Secretary General of the ANC and former Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly that drafted the South African Constitution
Rene Hooft Graafland, Jr. – the Netherlands; Member Executive Board/CFO of Heineken N.V.
Michel Barnier – France; former Minister for Foreign Affairs and former EU Commissioner for Regional Policy
Ian Johnson – United Kingdom; former Vice President, Sustainable Development of the World Bank

African Parks Executive Committee

Peter Fearnhead – Chief Executive Officer
Marcel van Beek – responsible for Finance, Funding, HR and Legal matters
Jose Kalpers – responsible for park management and operations
Jean-Marc Froment – responsible for park management and operations

ZIMBABWE CONSERVATION TASK FORCE
5th February 2008

ANOTHER ELEPHANT SHOT IN CHARARA
Following hard on the heels of the tragic shooting of Tusker, another Charara elephant was shot on Saturday 2nd February.

According to reports, a cook who was employed at Wild Heritage went on a "beer drink" on Friday night and didn't come home. His wife went to look for him on Saturday morning and found his dead body on the side of the road. Although there were no signs of any injuries to the body, the wife decided that he must have been killed by an elephant. No autopsy was carried out to determine the cause of death and nobody witnessed the "elephant attack".

National Parks arrived a little later and shot an elephant who happened to be in the area at the time. Apparently, about 30 shots were fired.

This photo was sent to us by a tourist who was visiting Charara.