Saving African Wildlife Goes Global | The Conservation Games

Why did you set up The Conservation Games? 

We started the Zambesia Conservation Alliance with the objective to bring the message of wildlife conservation in Africa to a global audience.  In order to do that we created movements, one of which is #SportForConservation and out of that the Conservation Games was born

Who is behind The Conservation Games? 

My brother Robin, my wife Suzanne and myself conceived the idea, but really it has been the most incredible team effort by so many people from web and graphics designers, editors, media and sports personalities to tourism and wildlife gurus and enthusiasts.

How does The Conservation Games work?  How is it played? 

At the moment all the matches are played online and then professionally edited before release to the public.  The episodes are in a “quiz-style” format.  Players have been grouped into different teams, Buffalo, Lion, Elephant and Leopard.  One player per team is matched against a competitor from another team. They have a match master that moderates the match and they fight it out to see who can get the most correct sports and conservation answers and then it all culmnitaes in the Whacky Wild at the end, a real crowd puller because it forces the competitors out of the comfort zones and in so doing perform some crazy funny stunts, such as acting out an Elephant Ear Flap and Charge.  In addition to the games themselves we have a series of Captains’ Runs happening alongside where the teams all get together online with one of our esteemed Conservation Coaches, all experts in their field. Players and teams get to learn more about the complexities of wildlife conservation and explore some of the answers to this tough challenge.  Extra points are allocated for team dedication, participation and relevant interaction during the Captains’ Runs.

Where can you watch The Conservation Games? 

The base platform is on the Conservation Games YouTube channel with regular posts to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

What sort of athletes and former athletes do you have supporting & playing? 

All players need to have either represented their country or performed at the highest professional level in sport.  We have close to 80 players signed up from multiple disciplines such as rugby, cricket, football, tennis, rowing, hockey, golf, diving, motorbiking, athletics, sailing and more.  For example we have some of the most famous Springboks in history taking place like John Smit, Joel Stransky, Victor Matfield, Stefan Terblanche, Corné Krige and Nick Mallet.  We also have celebrated premier league footballers like Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Ndlovhu along with English cricketers or former coaches Andy Flower, his brother Grant, Nick Compton, Gary Ballance and young emerging stars like Eddie Byrom.

Have you got other celebs involved and supporting you? 

At the moment we are limited to sports men and women, but we definitely intend to expand and include celebrities from other fields as the overall objectove is to drive as much awareness and support for wildlife conservation as we can.

Which team is winning at the moment? 

It is a very close tussle at the moment and not much separates all four teams.  The Lion team is currently in top spot, but that can easily change.

How do you see The Conservation Games working post-covid? 

We have taken advantage of the virtual world to kick the Conservation Games off, but post-covid we are very excited about the opportunities that will present themselves, such as being able to get many of the sports personalities out to experience what is happening on te frontline for Conservation.  We would also love to create some real life sports competitions for players to participate in here in Victoria Falls – an incredible venue to host such events and central to the Zambeisa wildlife region that we care about so deeply and which has such ecological significance.

How are your online stats?

Our stats are not too bad considering we have only really been going for two weeks (first game aired a two weeks ago today) and it has all been organic growth with the bulk of the audience in Zimbabwe.    Our YouTube subscribers are now over 200 and we are already achieving over a thousand views on some videos with others due to do that soon.  Our Facebook page has well over a thousand likes and is growing daily with an ever expanding audience reach into the tens of thousands. It is early days and the growth has been good, but we definitely need to reach a much wider audience if we really want to make a meaningful impact and fulfill our objective to create global awareness for wildlife conservation in Africa.

Visit www.conservationgames.com for more details.

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