Nelson Mandela Bay’s Adrian Gardiner, who spearheaded the Eastern Cape’s move to wildlife tourism in the 1990s, has won a global award.
The 2023 Skift (a Nordic word meaning transformation) IDEA Awards were divided into four categories and 18 subcategories, with Gardiner winning in the changemaker/leadership category.
Now in their fifth year, the awards celebrate excellence in design, creativity, and innovation across travel.
They recognise the brands and businesses at the forefront of shaping the industry’s future, and are due to be presented to the winners in New York next month.
The judging panel noted that Gardiner had initially purchased the property Shamwari between Gqeberha and Makhanda as a weekend retreat for his family, “and then transformed it into one of the most ambitious rewilding projects in the world”.
Extinct species that used to occur were reintroduced, the reserve was expanded, tourists started flocking in, and 10 times more people were employed.
He used the same approach with Sanbona in the Western Cape and though he sold both properties in the 2000s, he continued to spread his rewilding DNA and eco-tourism model to other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Scotland, and other parts of Africa.
In 2000, he established an eco-tourism hospitality business called the Mantis Collection.
The company manages hotels and eco-lodges across Africa and is now expanding into the Middle East
Gardiner’s latest mission is to expand the Nyosi Wildlife Reserve between Gqeberha and Kariega, “to create a sanctuary like Central Park in New York, but much larger”.
For him, it is more about the people, as the reserve borders a large impoverished community, and he is determined to involve them in his vision.
He wishes to create jobs, bring education and learning facilities to the reserve, develop a museum highlighting the destruction of wildlife in the region, and pioneer something remarkable related to the plight of rhinos in SA, which may save them in the long run.
The Skift Award is one of a number of international awards Gardiner and his Mantis team have won over the years.
He said on Monday he was delighted with the latest accolade.
“But I could never have done it without Team Mantis.
“Like sport, business and tourism are team games, and I’m lucky enough to be captain of a great team.
“Finding the right people is what it’s all about and the most important thing leaders can do is set an example.”
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