Addo appoints first female head of conservation

Cathy Dreyer, former Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) conservation student, has been appointed as the Eastern Cape park's conservation manager. Affectionately known as the "Rhino Whisperer", Dreyer says that she is looking forward to supporting the Park's terrestrial and marine conservation efforts and feel incredibly privileged to be a part of such a passionate, dedicated and committed team of rangers.

Cathy Dreyer

Addo is the third-largest national park in the country and is comprised of a 182,000ha terrestrial component and 116, 000ha Marine Protected Area.

Dreyer studied Nature Conservation and completed her degree at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, after which she did her experiential training at AENP. Here, she worked closely with South African National Parks (SANParks) Veterinary Wildlife Service Unit based in Kimberley. After completing her experiential training year she joined the game capture team on a permanent basis and worked with them for 12 years, capturing and relocating a wide variety of species throughout Southern Africa and Africa.

In 2012 she left SANParks and took up the position of conservation manager at the Great Fish River Nature Reserve, managed by the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency. Five years later she returned to SANParks as the Black Rhino surveillance and monitoring coordinator for Kruger National Park.

Dreyer was previously awarded the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa in London in 2016 – she was the first South African recipient of the award and the first female to have won it.