Beverly Joubert and Dereck Joubert are award-winning filmmakers, National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence and wildlife conservationists, who have been filming, researching and exploring in Africa for over 30 years. Their mission is the conservation and understanding of the large predators and other key wildlife species that determine the course of all conservation in Africa. They are the founders of the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic, which currently funds 80 grants in 27 countries for the conservation of big cats.
The Jouberts have made over 25 films for National Geographic, published 11 books, half a dozen scientific papers, and have written many articles for the National Geographic Magazine. Beverly Joubert is also an acclaimed photographer and her international exhibitions have further helped to raise awareness for the plight of big cats across the world.
Their films have received international recognition with major accolades including 8 Emmys, a Peabody, Wildscreen Panda Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival, to name but a few. The Jouberts were also awarded the World Ecology Award alongside Prince Charles and Richard Leakey, and in 2009, they were inducted into the American Academy of Achievement with the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In the 2013 Jackson Hole Film Festival Dereck and Beverly won the Outstanding Achievement Award. In 2011, Dereck and Beverly were honored with the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service by the President of Botswana, for their work within the country. In 2014 Dereck and Beverly won the prestigious lifetime achievement award from the SAFTA's.
In recent years, the Jouberts have expanded their conservation outreach through another business venture, ‘Great Plains Conservation’. Dereck is CEO of the company, and together with their business partners, they have found a way to bring together conservation, communities and conservation tourism to fund large tracts of land that can be protected for the local wildlife and the surrounding communities. Today that land totals about 1 million acres in Africa.
Currently the Jouberts are working on a rhino conservation project called ‘Rhinos Without Borders’, an initiative in partnership with Great Plains Conservation and And Beyond which aims to move 100 rhinos from South Africa to Botswana to save them from the poaching crisis, whilst creating a ‘Noah’s Ark’ for rhino genes. They also recently canoed 120km down the Selinda Spillway researching and filming elephants for conservation. From this journey they made their most recent film ‘Soul of the Elephant’, which was released in 2015, premiering at the Elephant Summit in Jackson Hole, which also let to an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
All of Dereck & Beverly’s work coincides with one aim: to save the wild places of Africa, and to protect the creatures that depend on them. The President of Botswana described them well when he said: “Theirs is a life long passion; for each other, for big cats, for Africa…they are true “children of Africa.”
Wildlifefilms.co
