ABOUT SHURI FOUNDATION
OUR STORY.
My father, Sibusiso Vilane, made history as the first Black African to summit Mount Everest. But before Everest, he was a game ranger who believed in showing—not just telling—young people what’s worth protecting.
He took me and my three sisters on game drives when everyone else was going to the beach. He told us stories about the bush. And he always said: “One day, I’ll get a game viewer and take kids out into the wild every weekend.”
So before I founded The Shuri Foundation, I was just a kid riding in the back of a game viewer with my father, falling in love with the bush more and more.
His dream shaped me. And now it’s shaping a foundation.
Bavukile Vilane
Founder, Shuri Foundation
OUR BELIEF.
You don’t protect what you’ve never experienced.
You don’t conserve what you don’t feel part of.
You don’t fall in love with the bush unless someone takes you there.
WHY THIS MATTERS.
For too long, the bush has been fenced off from the very communities that live beside it and should be protecting it.
We believe in early exposure, local pride, and building bridges that allow everyone to sustain and benefit from Africa’s wild beauty.
It's not just about conserving wildlife. It's raising a generation that loves it, protects it, and benefits from it.
WHAT WE DO.
Game Drives for Kids
Weekend drives into the bush for rural students—many seeing wildlife for the first time.
Environmental Education
Bush lessons, school visits, and storytelling that make conservation real and relevant.
Guide & Hospitality Training
Workshops to train local youth in the skills needed to work in lodges—as rangers, hosts, and operators.
Community-Owned
Eco Ventures
Piloting tourism models that give ownership, pride, and income to the village itself.
PARTNERS.
It takes a village to do this work.
The Shuri Foundation is built alongside partners who believe in collective impact. These are the people and organisations who walk with us, sharing skills, resources, and commitment, to help us achieve our mission and create lasting change.
