Bring Villagers into a South African Reserve

Support us in reaching our target of 4000 CHF and enable local young people to become wilderness ambassadors!

The Alive in the Wilderness Villagers Trail Project:

June 2023, a dead black Rhino laying on the ground in the Imfolozi natural park in South Africa, triggered anger, blame, a quest for answers and a desire to support Sicelo Mbatha's work and contribute as an international community of nature and people lovers.

"Every time we lose a wild species, we die a little. We die because we are intimately connected with wild animals.” Sicelo Mbatha

For over 25 years, Sicelo Mbatha has been walking in the wilderness, through bush and veld that teems with rhinos, buffalos, elephants and a host of other creatures. For decades he has been taking groups of people with him – an immersion into the deep nature of the wild.

He has witnessed the change in the hearts and minds of the people who have experienced the wild animals and landscape of the iMfolozi in this way. Sicelo has seen them transform into ambassadors of the place, wanting to protect the reserve, the landscape and the life it supports.

While poaching threatens the sanctity of the reserve and the animals it aims to protect, he recognises that poaching is also an expression of practical need and a loss of connection from the beauty and heritage of the wildness of our lands. Sicelo’s belief is that only when the young people in the surrounding villages of the park remember their connection to their ancient land and the sacred animals roaming these lands, can the love and respect re-grow. In addition, only if there is enough food to eat in each homestead, can the learning from the wilderness be consistently held as sacred, as each young trailist returns to their village life.

Sicelo is therefore calling upon all nature lovers, spiritual guides, wilderness guides and everyone called by our cause to help support programs taking locals surrounding the iMfolozi game reserve into the wilderness.

These programs aim to shift young people's relationship to the natural world and the great ancient endangered species such as the black and white Rhino, by offering them the experience of doing a guided wilderness trail, followed by learning how to grow their own vegetable gardens with the initiative "One Homestead - One Garden”.

By enabling this remembering and reownership of Africa’s wild heritage, we will not simply be educating young people about poaching, but will be planting a seed of love for their heritage and wildlife – because we protect what we love. Sicelo’s vision is that these young people will become wilderness ambassadors amongst their own communities.

This project has been set up by a group of wilderness guides from South Africa and those who have gone out into the wilderness with us.

We all are passionate about conservation, and stopping Rhino and other poaching specifically. We want to support his Sieclo's effort to break the cycle of poverty of the stomach, mind and soul, amplified by a loss of connection to the wilderness that lies at the heart of the Zululand communities, the Imfolozi -Hluhluwe Wilderness.

This project is open to anyone who has walked in the bush with us on a Wild Self Trail or any other of Sicelo Mbatha’s trails and to anyone who wants to support our cause.

Your support to this campaign will immerse nearby villagers into the Imfolozi nature park in South Africa. This experience aims to reconnect participants with their ancient lands and the animals that roam them.

It will reopen the space for lions, elephants, rhinos, baboons, and buffalos to fill hearts and minds again.

A unique experience to renew friendships through conversation, collaboration, and a joint quest for life.

Who will lead: Sicelo Mbatha is a South African wilderness expert and ambassador, who lives on the edge of the Imfolozi park, he has been taking people into the wilderness for over 25 years. In his book the "Black Lion: Alive in the Wilderness" he accounts the heart opening journey that prompted his quest to save South Africa's wilderness, especially the black rhino.

How will the funds be used: Your support will provide a free of cost 5 days trail, inside the Imfolozi state park, deep into Nature, closer to self and others in the group to open hearts to the wild. A journey towards belonging, self-love, and interdependence with the animals inside Imfolozi.

Sicelo aims to plant a seed of love for the wildlife heritage. A first step for people to reclaim their belonging to the natural environments we all came from.

Location: Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, located 280 km north of Durban, South Africa is the oldest proclaimed park in Africa. It consists of 960 km² (96,000 ha) of hilly topography in central Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. The park is the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal where all the Big Five Game occur. Due to conservation efforts, the park now has the largest population of white rhino in the world.

Who will go: Participants will be carefully selected by Sicelo based on economical need and passion for the project and its on-going efforts. Preference will be given to those living in the Zululand communities on the edge of the Imfolozi-Hluhluwe State Park.

The organisation: "The Alive in the Wilderness Project" is a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland with operations in South Africa. Our team supports Sicelo Mbatha's work and vision to regenerate our humanity through wilderness exposure, while ending poaching and hunger in the Imfolozi region of KwaZulu-Natal.

We are a group of South Africans and internationals that witnessed the violence of poaching as we encountered a stiff and bloody rhino around 5-year-olds, during a week walking immersion in the Imfolozi State Park in June 2023.

The wild may be calling you? If so please join us in the next wilderness trail happening in August 2025 in South Africa.

For more information : WILD SELF TRAIL 2025