A 30,000-hectare Wildlife Reserve where communities and nature rebuild a future together.

about LOZIBA

The Loziba Wildlife Reserve is situated in the heart of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal, in the Thaka Valley. It lies within Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots.

The landscape is made up of a mosaic of rolling grasslands, wild savanna, riverine thickets, and forested woodlands, with distinct plant communities. Together, they form crucial habitats for a broad variety of fauna and flora.

The Thaka Valley represents a critical frontier for conservation action. It is a place where nature's magnificence endures, but is under threat. Every effort needs to be made to protect and restore the life it holds.

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Born From A Powerful Mission

The Ghosts of Loziba, a native herd of 30+ elephants in need of protection, lie at the heart of Loziba's origin story.

They strayed beyond their initial enclosure into the Thaka Valley, a landscape seeing increased habitat degradation and poaching. The area's iconic species were pushed to local extinction. The Ghosts of Loziba lived under constant threat. With fences broken, the elephants wandered close to surrounding communities, with tragic consequences, including multiple sanctioned elephant deaths.

Beyers Coetzee stepped in: he worked tirelessly to protect the herd, shepherding them away from villages and farms to safeguard people and wildlife alike. He recognised that many of these communities had long been overlooked, grappling with high unemployment, a lack of basic infrastructure and subsisting on marginal farming practices.

Seeking a longer-term solution, Beyers, Grant Fowlds (conservationist), and Sbu Jiyane (Zulu chief) advanced a bold plan: to build a conservation economy by establishing a +30,000ha wildlife reserve where animals can roam freely. The Loziba Wildlife Reserve would protect biodiversity and deliver tangible benefits to local communities.

Tragically, Beyers lost his life protecting the elephants he sought to save, underscoring the deep personal commitment that fuels Loziba’s mission to this day.

"…the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves”

Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

Tribute to Beyers By Una Coetzee

"It has been a long struggle and journey to make Loziba happen. We have lost so much but the wheel can only turn for the good and within some time, in the near future, we trust that Loziba will be a great destiny for all the weary, immortal souls just like Beyers. May his soul always rest in peace, at Loziba, and may God grant us the strength to endure this great pain."

“It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all”

Samuel Butler

An Ecosystem Under Threat
Overgrazing | Invasive Species | Poaching | Mining

This is not untouched wilderness.

It is a landscape under pressure—fragmented by fences, shrinking under human expansion, and struggling to support both wildlife and people.

Elephants here move between survival and conflict, navigating a world that is rapidly closing in on them.

Communities face equally difficult realities, where land, livelihoods, and conservation are deeply intertwined—and often in tension.

Across South Africa, ecosystems like this are increasingly at risk.

What happens next is not guaranteed.

It depends on what is done now.

LOZIBA approach

The Loziba Wildlife Reserve operates as a partnership, bringing together a contiguous block of community and privately-owned properties into a single ecological entity, where wildlife can roam freely. Community interests are held by Community Property Associations monitored by African Conservancies to ensure the highest standards of governance and transparency.

The land will have a shared governance system, centred around conservation and sustainable land practices. It will seek to maximise income generation potential to participating communities’ benefit, restore the landscape and protect its wildlife.

Activities will centre around three pillars: