Wilderness Foundation UK

The Wilderness Foundation forms part of a global network. Our aim is to protect wilderness areas wherever they are by:

- Educating people about the benefits of wilderness - Providing opportunities for direct experience of wild places - Campaigning for their preservation when threatened with development.

The Wilderness Foundation was established in 1974 by Sir Laurens van der Post, writer, explorer and philosopher, and Dr Ian Player DMS, international conservationist renowned for saving the white rhino and founder of the World Wilderness Congress movement. We work closely with our sister organisations The Wilderness Foundation in South Africa, The WILD Foundation in the USA and other groups in Europe and Asia .

Together we share a common belief in the irreplaceable value of wilderness, which contains the wonders of pristine nature, and enables us to return to our origins and draw a deep sense of belonging and inspiration.

Explorers and writers, such as the Foundation’s founder Sir Laurens van der Post and its patron, Sir Wilfrid Thesiger, often wrote of the ancient link between humanity and nature, and how within our fast moving cultures of today, much of this link has been forgotten

We believe that by visiting the unspoiled places where nature has beenallowed to exist since time began, this connection is rekindled.