Adrian Gardiner

And I was the first from the IDC to get a tourism loan in the private tourism sector and that was a total mess because you know was told to pay interest in capital after a year and it didn't work and anyway we got on well towards the end and we worked it out and they all obviously got paid back and it became quite a success.

So that was the sort of the beginning and that sort of end of ' 89 9092 we opened and we obviously couldn't have freeranging lines because we didn't have enough um wildlife there. So we had to have lines in a separate enclosure and then but those days was so easy you know there was no Eastern Cape parks board so all I do was you know would phone Cape Town and say are we bringing some elephant and they said have you done the fences? So we said, "Yeah, I think they're okay." And they weren't okay because when we were enough early days, you could only bring babies in because they're cold elephants in the Krueger. You couldn't get hold of the matriarch or the family.

So anyway, we managed to bring a family in. We got uh found out that they had done it in Zimbabwe and we brought a family in with the matriarch and she lasted in the bow at two hours, banged it down through the fence down to the coast, killed cattle on the way which were obviously prize cattle and everything brought her back. She went out again and the vent that I employed at the time he was new in the game said we've only got one option that sadly we'll have to put her down. and we put it down and then they they this elephant grew to an incredible herd that that we got there and then we brought the line and that was another whole bloody disaster because I woke up on the plane and the plane didn't take off properly was too much weight and you know we have the right fences you know but now when I try and get a permit to do something at noisy it's just incredible what you got to go through

And then all my neighbors laughed at me and said, you know, this guy's got more money than brains and all the rest of it. And actually, I didn't have that amount because I spending too much.

It wasn't easy. And the outcome was never guaranteed. But I knew that this was something I wanted to try to do.

There have been challenges, of course. Conservation takes time and long-term commitment. It's not always the quickest route to a return.

it's a big program of ours and it's taken me now if I had to tell you the frustration I'm going through to get that permit after everybody the the ministerial task team's been the minister knows about it and do you think I can just get that final signature to say go ahead it's just so frustrating

Obviously there was at a at a elephant park which um by that stage probably had couple of hundred you know we couldn't buy elephants from them. We had to go to the Krueger to get our elephant. So they just and this is where I've got a major issue with them at the moment is because they followed us and they've got the big five and they keep on referring to themselves as Adele Elephant National Park instead of AD National Park. you know, cut out the elephant because people from overseas think you only go there to see elephant and I can't get them to think and you know, we need a national park in the Eastern Cape just like when they drop the fence at the Sabbi Sand between the Sabi Sand and the Krueger. A lot of those lodges say they're in the Krueger now. You know, we would like to say we we're next to or adjacent to a national park. Why must we be referred to elephant all the time? because the people that read about it think that they've got to go there to see elephant and they can see black rhino everything there.

I just can't put rhino there. It's really bugging me at noisy

that will give me the lines at noisy the only thing that we won't have there then will be the rhino but we'll work out a way that we can do it and it's it's a it's getting with with limited time left.

it's quite frustrating and I say it quite openly and honestly um you know we try and get it done quickly but when you're dealing with a corporate which has got ex I don't know thousands and thousands of hotels 50 brands it's not that easy.

when the CC fre was struggling and we weren't getting any real money out of the the loyalty program, that sort of thing.

I keep on moaning at him that we don't get enough from him.

the airlift from Cape Town is diabolical. You know, now that uh there's only one day a week you can get an early morning flight. Otherwise, you got to come in that midday flight and you land at two. By the time you got to the game reserve, any game reserve here, it's nearly dark. So you miss an afternoon game drive. So that is a total disaster as far as I'm concerned is the airlift from Cape Town because we found out in our research that we did that 90% of the first time visitors to South Africa go to Cape Town.

we're trying to do it by showing them that this is special. This is unique. Please just let us get on with life.

But staying true to our values has seen rewards in ecosystems restored, jobs created, and guests who return because they believe in what we do.

Growing up in Zimbabwe, surrounded by nature, I've always been passionate about wildlife and envisioned myself nurturing my own piece of land in South Africa. That dream was realised when we took on the challenge of rewilding farmland in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. It was a bold idea at the time, but it helped put the region on the map for safari tourism and proved that ecosystems can be restored while creating livelihoods and uplifting local communities through responsible tourism.

Respect is the starting point. We work closely with local communities from the very beginning. We train and employ local staff, support small businesses, and work with partners to help the economic benefits of tourism stay in the regions we operate. We also focus on education, both for guests and our teams. Many of our experiences are guided by locals who have an intimate knowledge of the land and culture. We encourage guests to listen, learn, and leave a positive impact behind.

I looked at this and then the next farm came and then I thought you know if we can put the game back here and the species it look a lot of the land had changed because they had taken the bush out and there was some grazing which enabled us to put white rhino in.

But the conservation side of it, Ron, was I don't think it would have happened if I hadn't met and I chased him because I knew that I needed endorsements and I got him to come to to look at what I was doing. It was Dr. Ian Player. And you know, when he looked at it, he said to me, Adrian, this is an uphill battle, but you got to do it because we got to change this disgusting landscape that has been abused. It's dehydrated. It's abused. we've got to change this into this and we can put back the species that were here. So, keep going and I will support you wherever I can, which he did by bringing incredible people to the game reserve. So, he really was my conservation guru.

I asked him I said Enoch this is what we want to do I'm going to need 600 to 800,000 and he came and he met Ian and the next day he said you got the check so we could move it.

I was very lucky because Ian introduced me to SeaWorld and Bush Gardens and I got to know the the top people there very well and then they gave to the Wilderness Foundation anything between 20 and $50,000 a year for community work.

we donated some of our land at Noisy where they can grow um vegetables and things and suppliers.

So I can remember it what reminds me clearly of it the top um ranger one of the top rangers at Mara Mara was John O'Brien and I'm quite a good plagiarist. So obviously before I started I went to look at what they did there, what London Lozi did, what Mara Mara did and John was my ranger and we got on very well and he came down with his wife to look and they got to the front gate and his wife said this is crazy. Let's go. Anyway, they came in and had a coffee with me and 35 years later he's Dr. John O'Brien. He's the leading ecologist of the eastern cat and he's really helped uh put the thing together.

At the beginning, I didn't think about what it would look like one day. I just knew that leaving it as it was wasn't an option.

I found my passion

If you're willing to commit to the long road, the land will meet you there.

For us, wellbeing means offering more than just physical relaxation. We focus on reconnecting guests with nature, people, and their own sense of purpose. At Mantis, wellbeing is deeply rooted in the environment and the experiences that foster harmony and connection. Whether guests are staying in eco-lodges or enjoying a river safari, they are surrounded by natural world that encourages relaxation and restoration.

Aligning our business with wildlife, nature and people has helped us build a lasting legacy and strong loyalty. For us, environmental responsibility isn't just a business strategy, it's woven into the very fabric of who we are.

Hospitality leaders have a vital role in shaping a regenerative travel industry by focusing on both environmental and social recovery. Mantis is embracing this responsibility through Mantis Impact, a programme dedicated to supporting projects that protect wildlife, biodiversity and empower local communities. Our aim is to foster long-term benefits for the environment and the people who call it home.

Mantis stands for Man And Nature Together Is Sustainable, which captures our core philosophy. From the beginning, our goal was to show that luxury hospitality can coexist with environmental stewardship by unearthing the exceptional, creating unique experiences, and offering sustainable journeys. That balance between care for the land, cultural respect and authentic experience has shaped everything we do.

We've certainly benefited from being part of the Accor brand, gaining recognition and the ability to scale.

I want to grow the brand because I just think that the brand stands for so many things that a lot of people in the hospitality industry don't do.

We very uh clear in what should happen at a hotel. You know, we're trying to avoid any plastic whatsoever. Uh we do a lot of the things that um aren't being done in the in the industry.

I really want to see that through that we get that then we'll get back to you know being on all the continents because then we won't be charging a big management fee. We'll give you a badge but you will have to run the property according to certain specifications which adhere to the Mantis brand.

we've been very lucky in that, you know, I have people like DeA Lynn and Ignis and many others who've been with me for between 20 and 40 years. So, um, you know, it's it's it's a family team even if it's through time.

hopefully the reason for him coming back here is that I can actually have a day off once a year.

we are super passionate about the the corridors and and supporting all the private and and and national setups that are wanting to make this happen because if we can get that right, you forget the Eastern Cape doesn't border with Mosmbique. It doesn't border with Zimbabwe and it doesn't have the populace that they have around those big parks. Um, we sit here quite fortunate that you've got a lot of farmers that are already keen on learning more about the corridor initiative and that's exciting.

we for a long time have been developing boutique hotels and and lodges you know we've been doing that for 30 years and um we had a development arm with the mantis but when we sold to Aqua they said listen we to do development. We're a a management and marketing company. So you can keep that as long as you take the brand Mantis off it. So we said that's fine. And we created a brand now called Teran Nova Create.

If somebody wants the Tik Hotel, a game reserve, a lodge, an eco lodge, we've got 30 years of doing that. So we say don't go and reinvent the wheel. Learn from us. We'll save you a lot of school fees.

as part of that we do master planning. So you know we would look at the lodge create your dream. We'll get our architects to do a very lightweight drawing of what you are envisioning. Um we will cost that up. We'll look at some benchmarking and uh you know what occupancies and rates are achieved around the type of lodge that you're wanting to develop in the area and and we'll plug that into our model and we'll churn out whether that's going to survive or or fall flat and um and and and probably save you a lot of money.

it's a it's a cool little business and we really wanted to uh escalate that because we've got so much experience at it. We we actually need to formalize that. Teranova is quite young. It's a fledgling, although there's 30 years of legacy behind it. So, we're propping all of that up now.

we've just launched a new brand. It's only about two weeks old. It's called the Eco Venturist, and uh it's a media brand essentially, and you'll know a bit about that space, but it it it's it's kind of a lead generator for us, but it's largely storytelling.

we we're going to be doing a lot of what you're doing uh in terms of unearthing these exceptional eco stories, not just in Africa. We take we go around the world um unearthing these stories and we we tell the stories in a fun way.

We've just uh launched our first episode on Friday actually with a Australian celebrity who came out here to unear our story and find out more about founders and then real. That's just gone live on our ecoist YouTube channel.

Oh, please please put that on our on our groups as well.

I believe I was at the ADO um AGM the tourism AGM and what my recommendation was tell the stories you know 999 it's not as much tell the story Adrian was saying name the rhino get us involved in the personal journey because you know my belief with South Africa and certainly this applies to the Eastern Cape the only thing more beautiful than our scenery is our people and it gets lost in the negativity and we've got so many wonderful stories

we've got to tempt them into coming to the Eastern Cape. So what are the USPS of the Eastern Cape? First of all the one that I got criticized on is that we are malaria free. So when I was talking to uh Mike Ratra of Mara Mara about something, he said, "I want to teach you a lesson in marketing. You don't advertise negatives. You must not say you're malaria free." So I said, "Don't worry, Mike. If you want free malaria, they can come to you." So that shut that up quite quickly. So you know that that that is is a quite a big positive, you know, that we are malaria free.

Now the next thing is to get us to become a proper um destination and I mentioned it briefly in the beginning is please can we get arrow to drop the word elephant era national park it's a national park and you know in Krueger national park we want a national park here by saying we've got a national park here obviously indicates that this is a wildlife area

Fix up the bloody airlift. Uh promote the fact that we're malari free and promote the fact that we are part of a national park that that we have a very big national park here and that our parks see more variety.

I had Gary Player come and stayed with me a couple of months ago and I said, "Gary, you can come here, but there's one condition is that we can do an interview with you and you can stay with me." So he said, "That's easy. No problem." So I said, and I'd heard I've seen it that he's got a partner now. I said, "Are you bringing your partner?" So he said, "Yes, he is." So I said, "That's great. Um, tell me, has she done um much of that?" She said, "I don't think she knows much about Africa." So, okay. So, I was sitting with him at lunchtime and she was next to me and I said, "Tell me um your experiences in Africa. Have you done much here?" She said, "I've done everything. I've done the migration. I've done the gorillas. I've done Botswana. I've done Sabi Sand." So, now I'm really on the back foot because I've been with us 24 hours at Founders. So, I said, "Well, you know, I suppose this is just like a little trip for you." She said, "Let me tell you something. This is one of the best game experiences in of all of them that I've been to." And the reason because there are more species here than I've seen at any other park. And secondly, the environment where you can sit on a hill and look down and see elephant, you can see rhino, and you can see animals because of the landscape. She said, "It is incredible. You should be very proud of it."

We need we need ambassadors, Ron. We need people like you and whatever I can help with to tell people that this is a wildlife destination. We are a game part of Africa. But at the moment, do you agree with me? It's not hasn't come through. People come here, the first thing on their mind is Krueger, Vic Falls, and Botswana. And we see it because our boats are packed. You know why? because people are going to the vic and then it's just an hours drive and they're on our bus and then they can see all the wildlife in the chubby.

I think we need a joint marketing effort. We need to put our we need to create that brand. Maybe it's the ado big five, the greater ADO big five reserves.

I said now why can't I have a coach?

I designed the inside and they did it for me

I had a contract with the railways that I could hook onto any train that the that would go to Joberg but passenger trains that were going when they were working well in those days.

I asked him if I could just uh could they shunt the crane to next to us there and I got the cranes there and we lifted it over and it became a canteen at the office.

I said, 'Do you mind if I take it?'

We moved it there. You wouldn't believe it when you see it. How do you hell you move a carriage that size there? And we did it because you know in the SI you can go and sleep in a tent in a tree treehouse. We can't do it in the Eastern Cape with the wind.

Book the railway carriage at founders.

I'm a runner, so I tend to do it on foot and my my lazy cameraman Christian comes with me and uh he's he's half English, half Caribbean, so he loves his rum. But the two of us have a lot of fun doing this.

on on the run, I will meet amazing people and we unearth their stories and um so it's quite a cool format that we've just rolled out now.

I suppose it's because you know the success of Shamorei is that you know Ron that there are 16 equivalents now you know people have changed their their cattle and sheep and all the rest of it and put farms together and it's it's still not a destination yeah just to come in there so it was a hell of a journey to get to Shimari

I wish I could show you a picture. It was in front of Longley which was our first lodge was red brown soil that would been plowed up acres and acres of it because they used to irrigate from the Bushman's River there.

Well, it's very interesting question that because um Karea started by they were building houses with a few gain along a river bank and Colin Rashmir the the father of the Rashmi there and I went went together then I showed him what I was going to do at Chamari and put the big five back. So he sort of was an inspiration to me. So we together were the first the others all followed there.

I tell you exactly, it's a good question. Exactly what happened is that the minute that we released the lines, and you obviously know Mango Group well, and I I met them by chance, I met Claire on the airplane, and um we talked about it and they knew nothing about conservation. And I said, "Listen, you got to learn." And they went to see Dr. Player. And then when we released the lines in Shamari into the wild, they came down and they were part of the the thing there and they sang obviously that famous song where the lion sleep tonight. And uh so when it became a success was when we could go out to the market to say we have this big five free roaming on this beautiful landscape which it was then but we gave it quite a few years to rehabilitate and fortunately after I bought them but they gone through 70 drought we had some good rains and the landscape came back quicker and we're buying more and more farms you know to the stage where we got up to about 18,000 hectares.

I'll give you the reasons later why we got involved with Dubai world and then with a because I think they are interesting parts of the journey

when it became a success when we could go out to the public and say we've got the big five because that enabled us then to bring famous people to the reserve

he blamed me for everything about his engagement and he crashed our website and everything else. And we we ended that story quickly by when his manager phoned me, I said to him, "Listen, he's in the water. I'm in the bunker. There's no winner here. Can we cut all our out and take it off the website and everything else?"

he gave us a lot of publicity

they all allowed us to give them you know credit for being there. So that really started putting us on the map.

I said, "I've got no bloody idea. Whoever's told you they've got something, there's nothing like it in the country. So, I've got no idea what we're going to do with it." Said, "You're the only one that's been truthful. You got the job."

I needed a a brand and Ian player was actually staying with me at my home and I said to him that night is Ian I need a brand help me.

he said to I'm going to suggest you call it the mantis collection

he said because you allow your general managers to look after your properties and they spread out and everything called it the mantis collection. And I thought that was very appropriate.

And then we came up with the the acronym after that man and nature together is sustainable.

But we grew that brand to almost 80 properties around the world and the only hospitality brand in the world on all seven continents because we had Antarctica.

Listen, our biggest market is coming out of greater London and greater London and um please go over there. We we'd like a family member to represent us.

I said um uh phone Reny's tell him we open you know I had no idea there was a tour operator involved and then I woke up quite quickly and I went overseas and then I found out that the the way to do it was through tour operators

I did an arrangement with a guy who had just started South Africa had been working for another company and then I got Murray Paul's brother my son to come and he started guilty from a room at our home and in Port Elizabeth.

I mean guilty to the top end of the business says I wonder why I went into any other business. I mean, when I see what they managed to make with small assets, but they've obviously got you can only make money out of that thing with good people.

in the early days, you weren't it was considered a non thing to be associated a product to be associated with a travel company. you know would you had to be independent now you know that most of the big lodges have all got their own inbounds or whatever it is so it's amazing how we were part of the wheel that started that as well because we were one of the first

we even when we did the deal with Apple we didn't go out publicly to say you know guilty is part of us we were still a bit skeptical but it's now very vocal that everybody knows that you know if you've got a tour operating company attached to your lodge it's the right thing to do or your group.

I looked at the work he was doing and I said to Ian, Ian, the day you die, unfortunately, the Wilderness Foundation dies. So, he said, 'Why is that, Adrian?' So, I said, 'Because Ian player is bigger than the Wilderness Foundation. I want to make the Wilderness Foundation the a legacy of yours, but I have to get the brand there.'

I said I want to move it to the eastern Cape to Port Elizabeth. I want the foundation head office to be in Port Elizabeth.

I said one of the conditions is that can you convince Andrew Mir to come with it because he was then heading the wilderness leadership school and I need him to come here.

I said, 'You need to open your own nonprofit in South Africa.'

I said, 'You can take over the CCFA with my board's permission.' And we all agreed that that would be him.

I thought can't we get something like that going for the community in Noisy to name a rhino and they can adopt that rhino and whatever proes we get by moving it give that money to the community.

when we bought all those farms that make up Shamari, there were about 12 of them and they were lucky if there were 14 people employed. There's only one farm was occupied. The rest were absentee farmers who just had their their cattle and sheep there.

the other day we did our numbers between um uh founders and shamari we employ nearly 500 people you know that's without the multiplier effect of car hire air tickets booze food everything else so it just shows you the effect

we trying to do, we're trying to create a safe haven at no. It's only going to be 16 to 20 hectares to show people what should not be done.

we've come up with three um ways in which you can use the Mantis brand. There's a full management contract and we've got them to reduce that from you know a normal 400 hotel to you know our small things. There's a management contract. Then we have a franchise agreement, you know, which we can use their name and we can use the loyalty program and what but we don't manage. And then we have a badge.