Head of Communications: SANParks
When SANParks speaks, it’s usually with Wanda’s voice. Managing communications for 20 national parks is ‘a bit of a challenge”. Because each park is unique, with its own strengths and weaknesses, she has to develop an individual strategy for each one. ‘But the biggest challenge is to ensure the public knows that SANParks is about more than Kruger Park and Table Mountain,” she says.
One goal is to put the small parks – for instance, Mountain Zebra and Bontebok – on to the national map. ‘It is easy for people to go to places they know. We must encourage them to start exploring further.”
There is always something new about her job to excite her. ‘I won’t ever say I know everything, so I enjoy watching the specialists in my organisation at work.”
The first woman to handle SANParks communications, Wanda believes the role of women in conservation is still in its infancy. ‘I want more women to consider conservation as a career. Women are as much a part of this as men.” And good communication must not be underestimated. ‘It is the key to creating awareness, to building bridges. Unless communities are educated, the environment will always be under threat.”