30 years ago, German entrepreneur Wilfried Pabst bought a run-down cattle farm in Zimbabwe – and transformed it into a nature conservation paradise.
Wilfried Pabst actually only invests in projects that are profitable. The Hamburg native and full-blooded entrepreneur doesn’t like spending money just like that. With one exception: 30 years ago, Pabst bought a huge cattle farm in Zimbabwe. The 60,000 hectare area was grazed and run down. The wild animals that once lived there – elephants, lions, rhinos, giraffes, antelopes – had long been pushed out by farmers to make room for their herds of cattle.
The purchase was certainly not a good investment from a financial perspective. But Pabst, who had made millions in the trucking sector, had a vision: He wanted to return the terrain in southeastern Zimbabwe to the way it was before people profited from the land. Pabst named the farm Sango, the word for “forest” in the local language Shona, after the mopane forests that grow in the reserve and provide protection for particularly endangered rhinos and wild dogs.
Today, three decades later, around 200,000 wild animals live on Sango. The reserve is now part of the Savé Valley Conservancy, an association of private nature reserves in southern Zimbabwe.
Around 60,000 hectares, which is slightly less than the size of Hamburg (75,500 hectares), the city in which Pabst grew up and initially began training in shipping. But ostentation is not for today’s 80-year-old. His tone is gentle. His clothing style is casual and sporty. He prefers to have conversations via email
Hard work with many hurdles
It took a good ten years until Sango was rehabilitated to the point where wild animals were once again in a balanced proportion. Pabst worked closely with nature conservation experts from the region. “We want to set an example and manage the farm the way ecologists recommend,” he explains. His goal is a 100 percent scientifically proven nature reserve.
It was years of hard work with many hurdles, says Pabst, in a country that was systematically run down under long-term ruler Robert Mugabe and his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa. Sango cost him a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it was always worth it.
Pabst’s wife Kerstin also has many challenges to tell: droughts, forest fires, Zimbabwe’s ongoing economic crisis, poisoning of animals by anthrax bacteria and much more. Pabst mastered everything with his positive attitude to life, passion and determination, says his wife.
Pabst moved away early. At the age of 18, he emigrated to South Africa – a friend had raved about the country to him. Pabst always liked adventure. So in 1964 he ended up in the economic metropolis of Johannesburg and soon found a job as a department manager at a printing company.
A year later, an acquaintance invited him on a “test safari” in the Okavango Delta in neighboring Botswana. Safari tourism as we know it today did not exist back then. Pabst lost his heart to Africa’s nature. At that time the dream arose, even if only a very vague one, of one day owning one’s own piece of nature on the continent.
“It was love at first sight”
But first Pabst went back to Germany. In 1992, a business partner told him about a cattle ranch that was for sale in Zimbabwe. Without further ado, Pabst chartered a helicopter to take a look at the area. Then there was no turning back: “It was love at first sight,” he remembers.
Pabst says openly that he has invested around 15 million euros in equity capital in Sango over 30 years. Every month he adds a large sum from his own pocket.
He did have an eco-luxury lodge built on the site, which mainly attracts photo tourists and big game hunters and brings in profits. However, these in no way cover the costs, says Pabst. The most important thing is that the guests leave little trace in nature. “I don’t want to build tourist buses with Coke bottles flying out the back, or build tar roads in the bush,” he explains. When it comes to Sango, he always puts conservation before profits.
A lot of time, energy and money put into it
He knows few private individuals who are as committed to nature conservation as Pabst, says David Goosen, Sango’s managing director since 1997. Pabst has invested an extraordinary amount of time, energy and money in Sango and the Savé Valley Conservancy. “I’m sure that both reservations would no longer exist without him,” says Goosen.
As long as he stays fit and healthy, he still has a lot planned, says Pabst. He wants to buy land to expand the reservation. In collaboration with conservationists, he is in the process of creating a climate project for carbon storage on Sango.
When he was around 85, he wanted to begin to slowly retire, says Pabst. Then his youngest son Nicholas, who is currently studying to become an industrial engineer in the USA, will take over. His big brother Andreas, who runs a trading company in Germany, is supposed to be at his side. That’s how it’s planned. But you can tell that Pabst finds it difficult to let go and pass on his life’s work to the next generation. “It’ll take a while,” he smiles.