DERECK AND BEVERLY JOUBERT
are award-winning filmmakers, National Geographic Explorers-at-Large and wildlife conservationists, who have been filming, researching and exploring in Africa for over 40 years. Their mission is the conservation and understanding of the large predators and other key wildlife species that determine the course of all conservation in Africa. The Jouberts are founders of Rhinos Without Borders an initiative that has moved 87 rhinos from high poaching areas to safety. They also co-founded the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic, which currently funds 150 projects in 28 countries. This program has now transitioned to the Great Plains Big Cats Initiative, under the Joubert’s leadership and Great Plains Foundation management.
The Jouberts have made over 40 films for National Geographic, published 14 books, half a dozen scientific papers, and have written many articles for the National Geographic Magazine. Beverly Joubert is also an acclaimed photographer and her international exhibitions have further helped to raise awareness for the plight of big cats across the world.
Their films have received international recognition with major accolades including 8 Emmys, a Peabody, Wildscreen Panda Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival, to name but a few. The Jouberts were also awarded the World Ecology Award alongside Prince Charles and Richard Leakey, and in 2009, they were inducted into the American Academy of Achievement with the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In the 2013 Jackson Hole Film Festival Dereck and Beverly won the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 2011, Dereck and Beverly were honored with the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service by the former President of Botswana, for their work within the country. In 2014 Dereck and Beverly won the prestigious lifetime achievement award from the SAFTA's. They were recently awarded the 2021 Explorer Club Medal, the clubs highest honor, and were also inducted to the Explorers Club as Fellows.
In recent years, the Jouberts have expanded their conservation outreach through another business venture, ‘Great Plains Conservation’. Dereck is CEO of the company, and together with their business partners, they have found a way to bring together conservation, communities and conservation tourism to fund large tracts of land that can be protected for the local wildlife and the surrounding communities. Today that land totals about 1.2 million acres in Africa.
In 2006, they took over the lease of a hunting concession called Selinda and immediately stopped the hunting, to bring the wildlife back into the area. It is now a protected area of 360 thousand acres called Selinda Reserve. In one of their films they canoed 120km down the Selinda Spillway researching and filming elephants for conservation. From this journey they filmed ‘Soul of the Elephant’, which was released in 2015, premiering at the Elephant Summit in Jackson Hole, which also led to an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
As we move into the future, their Rhino work continues to focus on the safety of wild rhinos, both in Botswana and in other countries, in collaboration with the local and national conservation community and on combating the growing threats of wildlife crime.
Project Ranger began as an emergency intervention in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, as travel and tourism were brought to a standstill, national parks, protected areas and lodges were left empty. Rangers were left with their salaries uncertain and without the tools and resources they needed to protect wildlife. This “perfect storm” of conditions left huge areas highly vulnerable to wildlife crime. While thankfully, travel and tourism revenue has returned to Africa, for rangers on the ground, the storm – poaching, trafficking and wildlife crime – rages on.
The Jouberts remain concerned with the whole of Africa’s wildlife and continue being emergency conservationists.