Guardians of The Future of Inclusive Conservation

Nyameka joined the organisation as recently as 1 July 2026. Before joining SANParks, she worked for the Eastern Cape Parks Tourism Agency in various roles: Section Ranger in the Mkambati Nature Reserve, Outreach Facilitator and Coordinator for Stewardship Programs in the N2 Wild Biodiversity Offset Project and Training Coordinator in an Ecosystem Rehabilitation Program.

Visit afsport.lat for more information.

In her short time in Karoo, she’s already proven that she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty on the job, to work the long hours and walk the rocky terrain next to her colleagues, making her well-respected among her peers.

Carolina Phillips – Room Attendant – Augrabies Falls National Park

Carolina joined Augrabies Falls National Park in 1993 as a Room Attendant and has since built an exceptional career founded on dedication, professionalism, and a deep passion for tourism. Throughout her years of service, she has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding customer service and ensuring that every guest enjoys a memorable experience at one of South Africa’s most iconic national parks.

Known for her humble nature, positive attitude, and strong work ethic, Carolina continually goes above and beyond her daily responsibilities to assist visitors and contribute to the success of the park. She is highly respected by both colleagues and management for her reliability, teamwork, and willingness to support others whenever needed. Her approachable personality and genuine care for people have made her a valued ambassador for SANParks.

This year marks an outstanding milestone of 33 years of dedicated service with SANParks. Over the years, her exceptional performance and commitment to excellence have been recognised through several Regional and National Kudu Awards. Carolina is truly a stalwart of the organisation whose loyalty, professionalism, and exemplary service continue to inspire younger generations entering the conservation and tourism sector. She stands as a shining example of commitment, excellence, and pride in service.

Nikita Wyngaard – Ranger Sergeant – Table Mountain National Park

Nikita Wyngaard is currently working as a Ranger Sergeant in the Swartkopberg section of TMNP. She started as a WIL conservation student in the Southern Section in 2018 and became a Field Ranger in December 2018. In 2021 was promoted to Ranger Corporal in Cape Point in 2021 in the Southern section. She is the only lady Ranger Sergeant in the Southern section and TMNP . She is very passionate about conservation and assisting in the management of the section, as she leads the team and ensures that duties are implemented in the section. Nikita Wyngaard holds a diploma and BTech in Nature Conservation, which was completed in 2020.

Deboseng Nazo – Senior Section Ranger – Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Deboseng Transferred to Golden Gate from Kgalagadi, arriving in Golden Gate just at the start of the fire season. She took over leadership of a ranger team consisting of almost an all-male team. However, she soon gained the respect of her team and had them organised in time for fire season preparations. She has a professional presence and communication style and soon won the respect of the other law enforcement agencies and SANDF officials with whom the park engages. She has already engaged with international scientists who do frequent research in the park and has established a professional rapport with them. Deboseng’s career in SANParks started in 2022 as a BSP Assistant Project Manager, managing two Working for Water projects in Augrabies Falls National Park and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. She also served as a Working for Ecosystems Project Manager at Addo Elephant National Park. She later joined the Conservation Department as an Assistant Section Ranger at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. A few months later, she was appointed as Senior Section Ranger at the Mata Mata section, where she contributed to conservation management, biodiversity protection, and field operations.

Pheladi Chuene – Park Manager – Wilderness Section Garden Route National Park

Pheladi Chuene is a highly respected conservation professional whose career represents determination, expertise and a lifelong commitment to nature conservation. Holding a Master’s Degree in Nature Conservation, Pheladi has progressed through the conservation ranks from Ranger to Park Manager, building an extensive portfolio of operational and strategic conservation experience. She has served as a Park Manager for the past six years, during which she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and conservation stewardship.

As Park Manager of the Wilderness Section of the Garden Route National Park, Pheladi manages one of South Africa’s most ecologically sensitive and socially complex conservation landscapes. The park comprises internationally important wetlands, rivers, estuaries, lakes, indigenous forests and coastal ecosystems that support high levels of biodiversity and provide critical ecosystem services. Simultaneously, the area faces increasing pressures associated with urban expansion, invasive species management, climate change impacts, flooding events, tourism development and land-use conflicts at the conservation-development interface.

Leading conservation efforts within such a dynamic environment requires exceptional management capability, scientific understanding and stakeholder engagement skills. Pheladi has consistently demonstrated the ability to integrate ecological conservation, disaster risk management, sustainable tourism, community aspirations and strategic planning into a cohesive management approach that delivers positive outcomes for both people and nature.

Her journey from frontline ranger to senior management provides her with a unique appreciation of every aspect of conservation management. Having worked directly in biodiversity protection, law enforcement, ecological monitoring and stakeholder engagement, she brings practical experience and credibility to her leadership role. This ability to bridge operational realities with strategic decision-making has earned her respect across the organisation and among external partners.

Pheladi is equally committed to improving the quality of life of communities surrounding the park through environmental education initiatives, youth empowerment programmes, employment creation opportunities, conservation awareness campaigns and collaborative partnerships with local stakeholders. She is a strong advocate for ensuring that conservation benefits extend beyond park boundaries and contribute meaningfully to community resilience and socio-economic development.

Pheladi is a participant in the African Leadership University Park Management Leadership Development Programme, where she is strengthening her leadership capabilities to help drive the implementation of SANParks Vision 2040. The programme has further enhanced her ability to lead complex conservation systems, embrace innovation and respond effectively to the rapidly evolving challenges facing protected areas in Africa.

Pheladi’s leadership extends far beyond park boundaries. She has become a trusted partner to communities living adjacent to Wilderness National Park, particularly those with historical ties to the landscape. She has personally engaged with community representatives and local leaders on complex social and land-use matters, including the Farleigh community, where she has worked to ensure that residents affected by infrastructure and housing challenges receive transparent communication and appropriate institutional support. Her leadership demonstrates a commitment to balancing conservation objectives with social responsibility, whilst maintaining constructive relationships with local stakeholders. Through ongoing engagement with forestry communities, environmental education initiatives, community outreach programmes and collaborative stakeholder forums, she continues to promote an inclusive conservation model that recognises communities as critical partners in protecting biodiversity and sustaining the ecological integrity of the Wilderness landscape.

As a young Black woman leader in conservation, Pheladi continues to break barriers and challenge historical stereotypes within the sector. Through competence, authenticity and a strong sense of purpose, she has become a respected voice in conservation leadership forums and strategic discussions, demonstrating that excellence and transformational leadership can coexist with humility and service.

Elizabeth Mhlongo – General Manager Mainstreaming – Groenkloof National Park

Ms Mhlongo joined SANParks at the Kruger National Park in 1995, shortly after South Africa’s first democratic elections. Her appointment was historic: she was the first African woman to be appointed at that level within the Kruger National Park. She entered an institutional environment that, at the time, still reflected many of the past practices and traditions. She vividly recalls her first management meeting at Kruger National Park. The meeting was opened in Afrikaans by the then Park Manager, the late Mr Herold Braack, in a boardroom largely dominated by white male colleagues who were accustomed to conducting meetings in Afrikaans. This experience immediately illustrated the scale of the transformation journey that lay ahead.

Rather than being intimidated by the environment, Ms. Mhlongo embraced the responsibility placed before her. She was tasked with establishing the Social Ecology Program in the Kruger National Park, which has since evolved into Socio-Economic Transformation. This responsibility required more than establishing a new departmental function; it required a fundamental shift in the relationship between the Kruger National Park and its neighbouring communities.

Many of these communities carried the painful legacy of forced removals, dispossession, and the loss of livelihoods associated with the historical establishment and management of protected areas. They also continued to experience the direct consequences of living next to the Kruger National Park, including the loss of livestock and crops, and at times human life, as a result of wildlife leaving the protected area. At the time, institutional and legislative arrangements regarding damage-causing animals were fragmented, with responsibility frequently shifting between conservation authorities and provincial government structures.

Ms. Mhlongo understood that addressing these challenges required trust, dialogue, and institutional accountability. One of her most significant early interventions was establishing community park forums, which created structured platforms for communities and park management to engage openly, raise concerns, and jointly identify solutions. These forums represented an important departure from conservation models in which communities were treated as peripheral stakeholders. Instead, they provided a foundation for communities to participate as partners in conservation.

Working with a committed team of Social Ecologists, including Mr Solly Themba, Mr Derick Mashale, and others, Ms Mhlongo pursued practical interventions that demonstrated the value of linking conservation with socio-economic development. Important achievements during this period included the development of protocols for dealing with damage-causing animals, the establishment of community sales outlets at the main gates of the Kruger National Park, and the meaningful involvement of neighbouring communities in the reconstruction and preservation of important historical and cultural heritage sites, including Thulamela and Masorini.

These interventions were more than individual projects. Collectively, they helped to chart a new course for conservation within the Kruger National Park and SANParks. They strengthened the understanding that successful conservation cannot be separated from the aspirations, heritage, livelihoods, and participation of communities living adjacent to protected areas.

Ms Mhlongo’s contribution to conservation extended well beyond the Social Ecology Program. In subsequent leadership roles, she continued to advance the principles of transformation, community participation, and benefit-sharing. As the first SANParks woman manager to serve as International Coordinator of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area program, and later in coordinating Transfrontier Conservation Area programs, she ensured that the social dimension of conservation remained central to programs involving multiple protected areas, communities, and international partners.

Throughout these responsibilities, her position remained consistent: conservation and communities must coexist, communities must meaningfully participate in conservation management, and the benefits arising from protected areas must be shared in ways that contribute to sustainable livelihoods and local development.

Her current role in coordinating the Land Claims Program represents another important chapter in this lifelong commitment. Land claims affecting national parks are complex and often rooted in difficult histories of dispossession and exclusion. Ms Mhlongo approaches this responsibility not simply as an administrative process but as an opportunity to further transform SANParks into an organisation that acknowledges its history, strengthens relationships with communities, and advances a genuinely inclusive conservation mandate.

What distinguishes Ms Elizabeth Mhlongo is not only the positions she has held, but also the courage with which she has held them. She entered spaces where transformation was still in its infancy and consistently challenged institutional practices through constructive engagement, resilience, and commitment. She built bridges where there had previously been mistrust, helped create mechanisms that gave communities a voice, and contributed to changing perceptions of people’s role in conservation.

Her career embodies the values that Socio-Economic Transformation seeks to advance: inclusion, equity, community participation, meaningful benefit-sharing, cultural recognition, and sustainable coexistence between people and protected areas. The structures and approaches now embedded within SANParks were shaped, in no small measure, by pioneers such as Ms Mhlongo, who were prepared to challenge established norms and demonstrate that conservation in a democratic South Africa had to follow a different path.

As HOD: Socio-Economic Transformation, I therefore strongly support and advocate for the recognition of Ms Elizabeth Mhlongo. Her service represents an exceptional contribution to SANParks, to communities surrounding our national parks, and to the broader transformation of the conservation sector. Her journey is a powerful example of focused, resilient, and courageous leadership, and her legacy will continue to influence the pursuit of a more inclusive and people-centred conservation organisation for generations to come.

Lerato Khoza – Hospitality Services Manager – Kruger National Park

A Journey of Dedication, Leadership and Passion for the Kruger National Park

As we celebrate Women’s Month, we proudly recognise Lerato Khoza, whose remarkable journey in the Kruger National Park spans 25 years of dedicated service.

Lerato’s career in the Park began in 2001 at Satara Rest Camp, where she served as a Duty Manager from 2001 to 2006. Her six years at Satara provided a strong foundation in tourism operations, guest services, and managing a busy rest camp, while allowing her to develop her leadership and people-management skills.

In 2007, Lerato’s dedication and commitment were recognised when she was promoted to Hospitality Services Manager at Letaba Rest Camp. She served at Letaba for six years, from 2007 to 2013, where she continued to make a valuable contribution to the guest experience and the effective management of the camp.

In 2013, Lerato transferred to Olifants Rest Camp, where she has served as Hospitality Services Manager to date. For more than a decade, she has continued to lead with dedication, professionalism and resilience, contributing to the successful operation of one of the Kruger National Park’s most iconic camps.

25 Years. Three Camps. One Remarkable Journey.

Lerato’s career is more than a timeline of positions and transfers. It is a story of growth, perseverance, leadership and commitment.

From Satara, to Letaba, and now Olifants, Lerato has spent 25 years serving the Kruger National Park and its visitors. Throughout this journey, she has experienced the many changes and challenges that come with working in one of South Africa’s most treasured conservation areas, while continuing to embrace her responsibilities and support those around her.

Her quarter-century of service is a testament to the important role women play in conservation, tourism, hospitality and leadership within SANParks.

This Women’s Month, we celebrate Lerato Khoza not only for her 25 years of service, but for the knowledge, experience, leadership and dedication she has contributed to the Kruger National Park throughout her career.

Her journey inspires us to recognise that true leadership is built through commitment, resilience, experience and a passion for people.

• 25 years of service.
• 25 years of memories.
• 25 years of making a difference.

From all of us in the Kruger National Park, thank you, Lerato, for your dedication and contribution.

Happy Women’s Month, Lerato!

We celebrate you. We honour your journey. We thank you for 25 years of service to the Kruger National Park.

Read full story at source