Where it all began... the start of Wild Wonderful World!
Hi, we are Michelle and Grant; dreamers, adventurers, wildlife warriors and proud founders of Wild Wonderful World. Welcome to our little online home.
Nature and wildlife have always been a massive part of our lives. As kids it was a love for animals and the outdoors, but it quickly morphed into a true passion that we have now dedicated our lives to today.
A witty boy from Johannesburg obsessed with helicopters and a girl who turned life on it's head by swapping a career in banking for the fresh air and bushveld...We met working as safari guides at a top lodge in South Africa, a good a place as any for two nature obsessed humans to fall in love.
Over the years working in game reserves, we were exposed to the conservation efforts around us and we both felt the increasing need to contribute more to the work being done on the ground protecting the wild spaces we loved so much.
We get that not everyone would go to the extreme of moving into a Land Rover for a year, but we wanted to volunteer for projects all over Africa and hey, we REALLY love our Landy.
Although we had heard stories, it is fair to say now that we never realised the enormous scale of the threats facing wildlife on our continent. Human wildlife conflict, for example, is a major issue outside of South Africa, where fences to protect both wildlife and people, cease to exist. And when people say that natural spaces are disappearing, it means nothing until you drive through a country that once used to be all rainforest and is now 90% farmland.
With the sheer size of the African continent and her enormous, exponentially growing human population with their ever-growing demands on the land, the threat to wildlife and their habitats is growing every single day.
It is almost impossible to imagine anyone at all can do anything to help at this stage, but what stood out to us more than anything on our expedition was the incredible people we met along the way who are doing just that -making a difference. And we wanted in.
Their resilience and passion for continually fighting to save wildlife is nothing short of inspiring. From scientists, vets, soldiers to community officers they each taught us that if everyone fights a corner, supports just one project that protects one area, then we stand a chance.
So that is what we are going to do. But not only that - we're going change the way people think about conservation and we're going to bring the wild to YOU so that you may fall In love with it the way we did and dedicate even a small part of your life to protecting these spaces that define who we are and who we will be as human beings.
Welcome to Wild Wonderful World, and welcome to our mission. Read more about how Wild Wonderful World has grown here.