Gogos in Conservation at Thornybush
Through elephant education, game drives and shared skills, community matriarchs are becoming conservation ambassadors – one story at a time.
“We must teach our kids that we must take good care of the environment, because it will take good care of us.” – Norah Mavundla, April 2026
At Thornybush, conservation does not begin and end at a reserve fence. It travels home in conversations, memories and the stories a Gogo tells around the kitchen table.
Gogos in Conservation creates meaningful opportunities for older women from neighbouring communities to experience wildlife and learn about conservation firsthand. The initiative brings together Thornybush Community, Elephants Alive and Thornybush Nature Reserve, with camps hosted at Jackalberry Lodge at the reserve headquarters.
Grandmothers meeting grandmothers
Elephants Alive calls its Ndlopfu Gogos programme “When the Wise Meet the Wise” – and it is easy to see why. In elephant herds and in human communities, matriarchs carry experience, steady the family and help younger generations make sense of the world.
In the communities neighbouring the Greater Kruger, Gogos are often the daily anchors of family life. Many care for grandchildren while parents work in lodges or travel to towns and cities for employment. They are trusted voices, practical teachers and keepers of stories. That gives every conservation lesson the chance to travel much further than one participant or one camp. When a Gogo learns more about elephants, animal behaviour, the value of trees, human-wildlife conflict and coexistence, she does not simply take home new information. She takes home a story worth retelling.
A bush camp with a difference
Three days. No boardroom. No long lectures. Instead, the learning happens on game drives, along animal tracks, under trees and around the fire. Recent camps have included elephant and wildlife education, hands-on tracking, botanical learning, listening games, crocheting, storytelling and no-sew blanket making.
The game drives are a firm favourite. For some Gogos, it is a rare opportunity to enter the reserve, watch wildlife in its natural habitat and see up close what may previously have existed only on television. One participant was thrilled to encounter the Big Five in person. Another summed up the camp with unbeatable economy: “Everything was my favourite, because I enjoyed everything.”
Guides and trackers from Thornybush partner lodges help bring the bush to life, while Wild Shots Outreach has documented special moments through photography. Every group brings different knowledge, humour and memories, so no two camps unfold in quite the same way.
The lesson that goes home
The real measure of the programme is not only what happens at Jackalberry Lodge. It is what happens afterwards: a conversation with a grandchild, a plant cared for more thoughtfully, a new understanding of animal behaviour, or a gentler way of helping a lesson land.
“I will try my best to teach my children or grandchildren about taking care of nature, because it has a lot of benefits that we get as humans from it.” – Agnes Nyathi, April 2026
That is the ripple effect at the heart of Gogos in Conservation. The participants are not treated as an audience at the edge of conservation. They are recognised as conservation ambassadors – women with the standing, wisdom and influence to carry knowledge into homes and across generations.
Blankets, stories and a circle of care
The practical activities have a purpose beyond the camp too. Thornybush Community supplies materials for tracking and blanket making, as well as groceries and meals. The finished blankets are donated to the Early Childhood Development centres supported by Thornybush Community.
It creates a neat circle of care: Gogos learn together, make something together and pass that warmth on to young children in their communities. Conservation, community and care are not separate ideas here. They are stitched into the same story.
Partnership in practice
The Ndlopfu Gogos programme was developed and is coordinated by Elephants Alive, with support from programme partners and donors. Elephants Alive selects participants and leads the wider programme, particularly its elephant education and community awareness work. Thornybush Nature Reserve provides accommodation through Jackalberry Lodge, while Thornybush Community helps fund camp meals, groceries and activity materials.
Together, the partners create something none could deliver in quite the same way alone: access to the reserve, expert conservation knowledge, thoughtful hosting and a programme grounded in the lives of neighbouring communities.
35 Gogos – and a much bigger reach
So far, 35 Gogos have taken part, including women from neighbouring communities such as Dixie and Uthla. Thirty-five is an important milestone, but the more exciting number is the one that cannot easily be counted: the children, grandchildren, relatives and neighbours who will hear what the Gogos saw, learned and felt.
Conservation lasts when people can see their own place within it. By inviting respected community matriarchs into the conversation – and giving them the chance to experience the bush firsthand – Gogos in Conservation is helping knowledge move beyond the reserve, one family story at a time.
