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For 25 years, Nature Connect has been helping young South Africans discover a love for nature while creating pathways to education, employment and environmental leadership.
Founded in Cape Town and originally rooted in the Zeekoevlei area, the organisation has spent the past quarter-century connecting children and young people with the natural world through camps, conservation programmes and skills development opportunities.
Today, Nature Connect’s impact stretches far beyond environmental education, with thousands of young people having gone on to become mentors, educators and conservation champions themselves.
More than 60,000 children introduced to nature
Over the past 25 years, more than 60,000 children have attended Nature Connect’s immersive overnight camps, often experiencing meaningful encounters with nature for the first time.
The organisation has also reached countless learners through school programmes, teacher support initiatives, youth leadership projects, conservation training and community-based environmental action.
Its approach focuses on what it describes as a “Crèche-to-Career” model, supporting young people at different stages of their lives and helping them find opportunities within the growing green economy.
A camp experience that changed a life
One of those young people was Cape Town resident Anwar Boonzaier.
As a Grade 9 learner from Lotus River, he attended a sponsored camp at False Bay Ecology Park in 2007. It was there that he first saw environmental education as a possible career.
Years later, after returning through a youth development programme and completing a Nature Conservation learnership, Anwar now works as an environmental educator and has helped introduce thousands of children to nature.
Reflecting on his journey, he said the organisation had changed his life for the better and inspired him to become a role model for young people from communities where opportunities can often feel limited.
“We are changing lives through nature, and we won’t stop,” he said.
Young leaders giving back
Another success story is Jumah Ali Abubakr, who joined Nature Connect’s Conservation Leadership Programme in 2014 when he was just 11 years old.
While currently studying accounting, he continues to work part-time as an environmental educator and mentors young participants entering the programme.
His involvement has also seen him represent youth voices in environmental spaces, including attending the Earthshot Prize Awards in South Africa and speaking at the 2025 Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa Conference.
“I once stood where many of the young people we work with stand today,” he said.
“Now I have the opportunity to inspire and guide young minds towards environmental awareness and positive action.”
Creating opportunities through conservation
Christyline Matthews, one of Nature Connect’s earliest skills development participants, has also witnessed the long-term impact of the organisation firsthand.
Having started through one of its capacity-building programmes, she now helps supervise and support young women embarking on their own learnership journeys.
These stories, the organisation says, highlight the deeper impact behind the numbers, with former participants returning to lead, teach and mentor future generations.
Building hope through nature
According to Nature Connect CEO Dr Anthony Roberts, South Africa’s environmental challenges and youth unemployment crisis are closely linked.
“As South Africa faces the combined pressures of youth unemployment, climate change and environmental degradation, we cannot separate people from nature,” he said.
“If we want young people to care for the environment, we must first make sure they have the opportunity to experience it, understand it, and see a future for themselves within it.”
Today, Nature Connect’s work includes whole-school sustainability programmes, youth development initiatives, accredited and non-accredited training, workplace experience and conservation projects.
While the organisation is celebrating its Silver Jubilee, it says the focus remains firmly on the future and on creating opportunities for the next generation of environmental leaders.
Why this matters
At a time when South Africa is grappling with high youth unemployment and increasing environmental challenges, organisations like Nature Connect are showing how conservation and skills development can go hand in hand.
By creating opportunities for young people to connect with nature, they are also helping to create future leaders, educators and changemakers.
For more information, visit Nature Connect at www.natureconnect.earth.
pictured: Anthony Roberts
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