ABOUT ENKOSINI
Kelcey
Grimm’s wildlife experience started at an early age when she had the
unique experience of raising a mountain lion cub in the United States.
After graduating from an Ivy League university (Dartmouth) and
working for several years in private equity and investment banking in the San
Francisco Bay area (Deutsche Bank and Summit Partners), Kelcey moved
to South Africa in 2000 to commit her life to conservation.
From January – September 2001, Kelcey joined a lion breeding project in
the Free State Province of South Africa where she first saw the horrors
of the captive lion breeding industry - tame lions sold for canned
hunts, cubs ripped away at birth from their mothers, lionesses forced
into estrus for "speed breeding.' In reaction to these horrors and
in an attempt to save some of the lions she had personally raised, Kelcey
co-founded the Enkosini Wildlife Reserve in 2001. She has since rescued a variety of wildlife, and now
dedicates all her time to the education, management and social change
needed to protect wildlife and wild lands in Africa.
The
Enkosini Wildlife Reserve was formed to protect and preserve Africa’s
wildlife and habitat. Enkosini provides a solution to mankind’s relentless
push into the last remaining wild places of Africa and supplements the
increasingly under-funded, and often inadequate, efforts of African
governments to ensure the health, safety and survival of the animals in
their charge. Our goal is to create a self-sustaining model of responsible
conservation that preserves Africa's natural heritage (habitat and
wildlife); enhances the South African economy through overseas capital
infusion, local and international eco-tourism, and job creation; and
promotes education and awareness of conservation issues.
Enkosini (derived from the Zulu word meaning “place of kings”) is a
private, non-profit preserve dedicated to researching and implementing
strategies for wildlife conservation. Currently extending over 15,000 acres in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, Enkosini
was established as a conservancy, by purchasing and joining together
large South African farms with the aim of establishing a larger reserve
for the benefit of African wildlife. The preserve was, until recently, used for cattle and
agricultural farming. Enkosini is a unique conservation initiative that
will re-introduce indigenous wildlife onto land they once naturally
roamed, ultimately re-establishing all the original flora and fauna to the
area. We will also provide sanctuary and protection for orphaned, injured
and displaced wildlife, and work to rehabilitate and reintroduce these
animals back into the wild. Enkosini will continue to acquire habitat for
the long-term survival of these animals and the preservation of their
eco-systems.
Enkosini believes that education and collaboration with the local
community are keys to conservation. We work locally and internationally to
encourage and promote a positive attitude towards wildlife, to emphasize
awareness of the issues involved in their endangerment, and to institute
conservation-based employment.
Enkosini
is a registered South African trust and a
non-profit conservation project of The Lion Foundation, contributions
to which may be tax-deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code for United States federal income tax purposes, ID Number:
91-2164693.
