For John Kasaona, conservation is not just a career — it’s a lifelong promise to his people and the land they share with wildlife. Raised in a traditional Himba household in the northwest of Namibia, John’s earliest memories are tied to goats, cattle, and the wild creatures roaming just beyond the village’s edge.
When a drought wiped out most of his family’s livestock in the early 80s, John’s father was chosen by the community chief to watch over the wild — to monitor, to harvest sustainably, to protect. As a boy, John would follow his father into the wilderness during school holidays, learning not just how to read the land but how to read people too.
His path started humbly — as a cleaner and driver at an environmental education centre. But every new task brought him closer to the communities he would one day stand up for on national and global stages. For 30 years now, John has given voice to the delicate balance that defines Namibia’s success in conservation: empowering communities to benefit from — and safeguard — their natural heritage.
He has seen first-hand how wildlife and people can thrive together when trust and rights are placed in local hands. His work as Executive Director of IRDNC has helped countless communities form conservancies, build schools, earn incomes and become protectors of rhinos, elephants, and lions — even beyond park fences.
Ask John about his proudest moments and he won’t mention awards or titles. Instead, he recalls sitting with village elders dreaming of being like Torra Conservancy, like Marienfluss Conservancy — communities whose careful stewardship transformed wildlife into opportunity.
“We really want our own resource base,” they told him. For John, those words are the spark that keeps him going.
He still answers calls at midnight to help mediate when an elephant raids a field or a lion threatens a kraal. To him, coexistence is not theory — it’s daily life.
“We are engineers of harmony,” he says.
“The world must come learn how we live alongside wildlife.”
To young Namibians, he offers simple advice: hold on to what your parents built. Support sustainable wildlife management. Be proud of this Namibian model — a model the world admires.
“Wildlife can’t speak for itself. We are its voice, its guardians, its future.”
We’re for Namibians. And John Kasaona reminds us that we are for the wild too — and for each other.
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