Ever Wanted to Pet a Baby Lion?

Nicola Gerrard – a conservation warrior from KZN.

Nicola Gerrard founded Love Africa Marketing in 2013. She and her team are passionate about telling stories that make an impact.

I met up with Nicola for a delicious cappuccino at The Farmery in Hoedspruit to find out more about her and her role in the game changing film and global campaign called ‘Blood Lions’.

The Blood Lions campaign was launched in 2015 to expose and end the captive lion breeding, cub petting and lion bone industry in South Africa. Currently, this country has over 450 predator facilities housing between 12-15 000 lions in captivity for commercial purposes.

In a momentous turn for conservation and the campaign, on the 2 May 2021, the SA Government announced its move to end the captive lion breeding industry after a high level report was issued outlining a number of recommendations for implementation.

Find out more on the campaign milestones here.

Please tell me how you got involved with Blood Lions – how it all happened?

I first found out about the industry in 2011, soon after my family and I visited Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We heard about this ‘conservation experience’ in the area that offered “walking with lions”, and supposedly it was all part of conservation.

At the time, it was $100 per person, and you were able to walk with these sub adult lion cubs who form part of a proposed phased release process, where they are rewilded and released ‘back into the wild’.

We all went on the experience and I remember finishing it and feeling very uncomfortable, thinking to myself that something was not right here. These animals were tame and habituated to humans – could they really be released into the wild?

Then a friend of mine saw some of my photos and contacted me. I asked some questions and was essentially educated on the spot.

I was immediately angry. I felt defrauded in a huge way, with each member of my family having paid $100 thinking it was going towards genuine conservation efforts where in fact it was going into commercial breeding of lions for canned hunting, or lion bone trade to Asia.

At around that time, I started Love Africa Marketing, a company which specialises in strategic marketing and communications in two industries – tourism and conservation.

Soon after that, an amazing conservation NGO, WILDTRUST, brought Love Africa on to launch this Blood Lions campaign with the film founder and producer, Pippa Hankinson.

So it was completely incidental?

Yes, we were already working with WILDTRUST on other environmental work. They then asked us to come in and help launch the Blood Lions film and campaign across the globe with an equally passionate team of individuals.

So from the moment I first heard about it, I said, absolutely, I’m in. And since then, well, it’s been blood, sweat and tears for us all. But it’s been an absolute passion project and we are all committed to ensuring the end of this exploitative industry.

And in terms of the marketing? Do you love what you do?
I love what I do. And thankfully, I’ve managed to build a team around me who also love what we do.

There were several factors that led to the conception of Love Africa.

Tourism is a huge passion of mine, as well as environmental awareness and conservation. I had already worked for a number of people in tourism, marketing and communications, and enjoyed it. But I wanted to take it a bit further and mould my business around all my passions in life, and that’s literally what I did.

To me, awareness and creating impactful change are key. I love that space and so I focused on 2 primary sectors for Love Africa – tourism and conservation – and so we do Strategic Marketing and Communications for those sectors.

I also formed Love Africa because I wanted to work on all sorts of different projects that I love, and to work with inspiring people. I’m a firm believer in loving what you do. Otherwise, you know, what’s the point in life? Why would you want to get up every day and not enjoy your job?

This way this business allows me to work on incredible projects with really exciting people. And it allows me to market a continent that’s in my blood, and then equally create change and awareness for wildlife and biodiversity, something that underpins a healthy world.

Do you think that you are successful? And what is your definition of success?
That’s a good question. My definition of success is enjoying and loving what I do.

I started this business on my passions and wanting to make an impact. And I feel like I’ve succeeded in doing that.

I have a brilliant team and we get to work with incredible people. It’s not a massive money spinner. A lot of people define success on a monetary basis, but I think I’ve managed to meet somewhere in the middle where I get paid for the work that I do, and at the same time, I get to love it and I get to make a change. And it doesn’t feel like work.

Of course there are hard days. I think with passion underpinning your work, one works much harder. It may be a bit cliched, but there is reward there. So yes, I do feel like I am successful and I get to make change for other people as well which is valuable.

What does an ideal moment look like for you?
My ideal is always in the wilderness with my family, and my friends and a gin and tonic.

I’ll never forget a New Year’s eve we had in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. It was full moon, in the bush with my family bringing in the new year, with some champagne. It was just us. In a very wild space, so that you’re just really immersed in that environment.

Since I met Nicola, there have been some exciting updates that will hopefully spell the end of this appalling industry in South Africa.

Minister Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment(DFFE) has now released a draft Policy Position Gazette on the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros.

This document is based on the recent High-Level Panel report and its recommendations and is now open for public comment until the end of July 2021.

Blood Lions fully supports the species management policy interventions for captive lions outlined in this draft policy position document, including but not limited to:

Immediately halt domestication and exploitation of lion, and close captive lion facilities.
Prevent live export ex situ of the iconic species (i.e. into captivity).
Increased wildness, naturalness, and wellbeing of fauna.
Adopt One Welfare approach.

Blood Lions encourages the public to provide their support on the draft Policy Position document through the appropriate channels and for the intended closure of the captive lion industry.

EVERY comment counts, including those of full support:

Deadline: Tuesday 27th July 2021
Comments FAO: Dr Kiruben Naicker
Email: knaicker@environment.gov.za

For more information: https://bloodlions.org/sa-government-releases-policy-document-to-end-the-captive-lion-breeding-industry-in-south-africa/