AFRICAT UK - Key People
Frank has been a helping AfriCat UK for a few years having been introduced to the work in Namibia by a family friend after the death of his daughter Jenny In 2017. Jenny was inspired by the natural world and educating people to protect it. In becoming a Trustee of AfriCat UK Frank hopes to help promote and develop it and thereby support the work in Namibia. He together with his wife and two sons (now grown up) visited the AfriCat Foundation and the Namibian Lion Trust and helped to finance a new outside classroom in Jenny’s memory. Frank is a director of a food ingredients company based in Epsom, UK that works to source commodities from developing countries around the world.
Frank Horan - Chairman
AfriCat UK Trustee
With a lifelong interest in the natural world, Carey and I first visited Namibia and the AfriCat Foundation in 1998. We fell in love with the country, its people, and the work of the project. Since that first visit, we have been back many times. Namibia has a very special place in my heart.
Working to support the work of both the AfriCat Foundation and what is now the Namibian Lion Trust is something I have been doing since our early visits but especially so while Carey was a member of the AfriCat UK Board. Being asked to join the Board was a surprise and I agreed with some caveats as I know there are people with more skills than me able to move things forward! I can hopefully bring some experience and knowledge that will help in the current climate.
I learnt so much about conservation over the years, met some wonderful people and have many glorious memories of our wildlife experiences. Our commitment to conservation, and the plight of the planet is as strong as ever. We will continue our support of The AfriCat Foundation, and the Namibian Lion Trust as best we can.
Janet Widdows
AfriCat UK Trustee
I first visited Namibia over 20 years ago and found it to be the most beautiful and wonderful country. I finally managed to return in summer 2024 and was equally overwhelmed. I remembered Okonjima and the AfriCat Foundation from my first visit and had supported them for many years, and so it was a real pleasure to visit again and see just how much has been achieved over the years. This time I shall never forget standing quietly while a pangolin snuffled round my feet and hope desperately that the protection provided by Okonjima allows these heartbreakingly traffficked animals to survive.
The work of the AfriCat Foundation and The Namibian Lion Trust combines what I believe to be the necessity for practical conservation and research work with what is especially dear to me as a former teacher – the education of future generations. I hope to be able to do what I can to develop the support that AfriCat and The Namibian Lion Trust already enjoy in the UK so that their excellent work can continue.
Charlotte Shipton
AfriCat UK Trustee
I have the great fortune to visit many conservation projects around the world and AfriCat is in the premiership. Its whole ethos is founded upon securing practical solutions to problems in the field. It’s about really making a difference, not talking about it. It’s about intelligent and effective solutions being implemented now, not tomorrow. And its new initiatives are more exciting than ever, releasing rehabilitated animals into huge protected reserves where they are carefully studied and monitored. The standard of care is exemplary and our understanding of these creatures’ ecologies and behaviours is constantly being advanced here. A few more AfriCats and this continent’s unique fauna would be a lot better off. Please do whatever you can to support its work.
Chris Packham - Patron
“I first became aware of the incredible work being done by AFRICAT at Okonjima around twenty years ago and was so impressed by their dedication, work ethic and passion for conservation that I asked to become a patron. What a joy it was to return to Okonjima this year and catch up again in person with the AFRICAT team and see how the foundation has gone from strength to strength.
The highlight of my trip was meeting TREX, the most beautiful little pangolin who roams free in the wild but wears a tracking device and has a devoted “nanny” to watch over him and keep him safe from poachers.It is heartbreaking to think that these wonderful creatures are the most trafficked mammal in the world. They are trapped and thrust into containers while still alive to be sent to Vietnam and China to be eaten, and their scales used in traditional medicine. It makes no sense, because just like a rhino horn pangolins scales are made of keratin, exactly the same as our fingernails.
At AFRICAT the emphasis is on conservation through education, which is how real changes can be made to protect TREX and all the other animals who urgently need our help. Working closely with scientists, researchers and conservationists from all over the world, as well as the local farming community, means that ideas and information can be exchanged to develop long term strategies, not just for Okonjima but for the rest of Africa and the entire planet.
I’m very proud to be associated with such a forward thinking, caring organisation who continue to make such a difference.”
Lorraine Kelly - Patron
Jack Randall is a zoologist on a conservation mission, best known for hosting his television series, “Out There with Jack Randall” (Nat Geo WILD, Disney+). Jack brings with him a fearless sense of adventure, fostered by his early mentor and hero, the late Steve Irwin.
At just 14 years old Jack left his home in England for Australia, where he learned to work with all manners of snakes and reptiles under the watchful eye of the Crocodile Hunter. Backing up his passion for species conservation with a Biological Sciences degree from the University of Oxford, he runs a series of practical field courses for the next generation of biologists from universities across the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. Together, Jack and his students are leveraging their passion for wildlife into a conservation purpose.
Jack Randall - AfriCat Uk Ambassador
Simon Palmer has been a photographer for over 30 years, cutting his teeth on concert and horse photography. He has photographed the likes of Yes, Marillion, Simple Minds, Afrocelt Sound System and the Saw Doctors, through to capturing on film the American Horse Whisperer, Monty Roberts. He was the cameraman in the team that won the prestigious EIFF Award in 2017 for the documentary work on Monty Roberts. Simon initially came to Okonjima, the home of AfriCat, for a holiday in 2011. This was his introduction to conservation, and through this has returned on a regular basis as a supporter of AfriCat to document their work. He gives talks on his photography, which prove very popular and fund raises where he can. Simon provides all his images to the charity to help with illustrating the challenges of conservation. Recently Simon launched a book, Paw Prints in the Sand, that donates money too AfriCat for each copy sold. He maintains that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you can make a difference with whatever skills you have. His skills happen to be behind the camera and talking too much!”
Simon Palmer
Lisa has been involved with the AfriCat Foundation and Okonjima Lodge for over 20 years after being introduced by mutual friends in Bangkok. ” I have watched the foundation develop, adapt and change as the years have rolled by. As a teacher by profession, it has been a pleasure to see the education side of the foundation go from strength to strength.”
Originally responsible for all of the Foundations websites and social media, Lisa now solely concentrates on the AfriCat U.K. website when not teaching in a large International school.
An avid traveller and lover of nature Lisa currently resides in Thailand, her two boys were only 6 and 8 when they first visited AfriCat and now all grown up and studying in the UK.