Lion Management Forum of South Africa

Board of Trustees: C.C. Hanekom (Chair), Dr. J.M.S. Alves, A. Burger, G.J. Camacho, B.P. Courtenay, Dr S. Ferreira,
P.J. Killian, Dr S.M. Miller, S.J. Naylor, Dr D.M. Parker, G.A. van Dyk

The Lion Management Forum is a:

  • Registered Charitable Trust: IT000896/2016(D)
  • Public Benefit Organisation (PBO): 930056474, registered with the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

Our first Board of Trustees was elected by the LiMF membership and held their first meeting in August 2015.

Meet the Board of Trustees

Cathariné Hanekom

Chair

Cathariné is a District Ecologist with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, based in Tembe Elephant Park. She has more than 20 years experience in managing wildlife, including lions, Cathariné also has wide-ranging experience working with communities and in human-wildlife conflict prevention. Her broad experience in lion-related management issues made her an obvious choice for chair of the LiMF board when Sam stepped down.

Sam Ferriera

Past-Chair

Sam is the large mammal ecologist at SANParks. Sam has extensive experience in lion research both on small reserves and in larger systems such as Kruger National Park and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and regularly presents at conferences and contributes to popular magazines. He is a SACNASP registered Professional Scientist in Ecological Science. Sam has been involved with LiMF since its inception and was Chair of the BoT until 2021.

Susan Miller

Secretary

Hailing from Canada, Susan has made South Africa her home since 2005. She spent several years in the bush on small game reserves studying lions before embarking on a doctoral degree in lion management which she completed in 2014. She worked closely with members of LiMF during her doctoral studies and developed several tools to assist managers. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town where she is resolving the systematics in some of the more cryptic African bird species. She continues to stay active in collaborative lion research efforts through LiMF.

Brian Courtenay

Finance and Governance

Brian (retired) has been involved in various high profile lion research projects since the early 2000s as a volunteer, so the opportunity to serve as a trustee of LIMF was welcomed. Currently chairman of SATIB Conservation Trust and a trustee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and Elephants for Africa (UK & Botswana), Brian has vast experience in administrating and designing conservation projects, in particular, human-animal conflict programs. His LIMF duties include donor fundraising events, legal and compliance issues for LIMF.

Dan Parker

Project Coordination Chair

Dan is a wildlife biologist and while his formative research years focused on the plant-animal interactions of megaherbivores (he still does from time-to-time), the main foci of his work revolves around large carnivore biology and human-wildlife conflict. He is also a passionate teacher and supervises a large and vibrant post-graduate school who are conducting research on a range of projects across southern Africa. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Mpumalanga and a Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Dan is the project coordinator for LiMF.

Joel Alves

Joel is a wildlife veterinarian who started out his career in 2018 under the tutelage of the great Dr Cobus Raath with WildlifeVets.com. In 2020, along with his colleague Dr Ben Muller, he started a new adventure with WildScapes Veterinary & Conservation Services and looks ahead to a future of work in the world of wildlife conservation with a focus on the aspects that go beyond simply being a veterinarian. With a passion for predators and pachyderms, he has been fortunate to travel to places as far flung as the Congo rainforests and work with a number of incredible organisations doing invaluable work for wildlife and people. He has a particular interest in the safe, long-term immobilisation of carnivores, especially lions, for the purposes of relocation by air, constantly attempting to improve the techniques and combinations.

Hanno Kilian

Hanno completed an MSc in Wildlife Management from the University of Pretoria on the ecology of reintroduced lions on the Welgevonden Private Game Reserve. He has 20 year’s experience as a conservation ecologist in Big 5 reserves in the Waterberg and Kalahari. Currently he is the Reserve Ecologist of Khamab Kalahari Reserve where he has been responsible for the reintroduction and developing of management plans of lions and other carnivores. His interest is not limited to lions only, and varies from herbivore and vegetation dynamics to carnivore and prey interactions. He was also the chair of the Elephant Management and Owners Association until 2009. Being involved in the management of fenced reserves, his is a practical orientated ecologist which brings a strong management input to the board.

Simon Naylor

Simon is the Reserve Manager for &Beyond’s Phinda Private Game Reserve. He has a degree in Nature Conservation and started out as a guide before working his way up to management. His experience is not limited to South Africa having spent time working in Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana. Simon brings a wealth of practical knowledge associated with lions (and other wildlife) to the LiMF board.

Gus van Dyk

André Burger

After completing a B.Sc Honours degree in Wildlife Management at the University of Pretoria, André spent 3 years in the Kruger National Park studying the nutritional ecology of bushbuck and nyala. Thereafter he worked for a private landowner in the Klaserie Private Game Reserve. He joined Welgevonden Game Reserve in June 1997 and has held positions of Conservation Officer, Conservation Manager, Acting General Manager, Chief Operating Officer and is currently the Chief Executive Officer. André has been integrally involved with the management of the Welgevonden lion population since the introduction of lion shortly after his arrival at Welgevonden. Being one of the first private reserves to introduce lions, Welgevonden has carried out various options pertaining to the management of lion including vasectomies, contraception, culling, donation, selling, introductions, testing for and research of Bovine Tuberculosis and to a limited degree, research involving lions.

Gerrie Camacho

Gerrie is a Carnivore Scientist with the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency. He has over 20 years experience working with carnivores in the province. He is involved in human-wildlife conflict issues, research and as an advisory to legislation creators and forums from national to international levels.

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Header photographs kindly donated by Roger and Pat de la Harpe (www.rogerandpatdelaharpe.com). No reproduction without permission.