Adrian Gardiner: The Man Who Brought a Landscape Back to Life

Two hundred years ago, elephants thundered across the plains of South Africa’s Eastern Cape, their presence shaping both land and legend. But by 1989, this once-vibrant wilderness had become a shadow of its former self—hunted out, overgrazed, drought-stricken. To many, it was a lost cause. To Adrian Gardiner, it was an opportunity. This is the story of the man who changed a landscape—and in doing so, helped reshape the very narrative of conservation and tourism in Africa.