Connecting Habitats, Saving Elephants: Hilde Vanleeuwe on Wilder Things and the Future of Wildlife

Summary

Podcast Summary: Robin's Nest from American Humane

Episode: Connecting Habitats, Saving Elephants: Hilde Vanleeuwe on Wilder Things and the Future of Wildlife
Release Date: November 3, 2025
Host: Dr. Robin Ganzert
Guest: Dr. Hilde van Leeuwen

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Overview

This episode features Dr. Hilde van Leeuwen, an acclaimed conservation biologist and founder of Wilder Things, discussing her three-decade journey protecting Africa’s elephants and the transformative power of connecting habitats through innovative conservation. Dr. Van Leeuwen shares hard-won insights about transitioning from activism to scientific strategy, the challenges of modern wildlife protection, and the future of wildlife conservation. The conversation sees both host and guest delving into the nuances of effective animal protection, the importance of ecological corridors, specific field anecdotes, and the hope technology and collaboration bring to safeguarding endangered species.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. van Leeuwen’s Path to Conservation

• Early Motivation: A deep, lifelong empathy for animals fueled her work, initially manifested in bold activism, later channeling into strategic, science-based conservation ([01:58]).
  • “My aim is to save as many animals and wild places as I can whilst I’m alive.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [01:59]
• Shifting Focus: Realized that traditional protected areas were insufficient for sustaining large species like elephants due to demographic growth and habitat fragmentation ([03:36]).

2. From Activism to Scientific Management

• Methodological Innovation: Helped pioneer indirect observation methods for forest elephants, coupled with GIS mapping, to assess vast and inaccessible areas where aerial surveys are impossible ([02:59]).
  • “Together with some savvy scientists, we created indirect observation methodologies … combined that with GIS to make maps that showed where the animals [and] threats are.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [03:13]
• Impact in Congo: Managed a vast, half-marine, half-terrestrial national park (Konkwa Tiduli) in Congo Brazzaville ([04:19]). The application of focused protection zones eradicated poaching and doubled the elephant population through in-migration.
  • “If you create core areas … you start attracting animals from outside, because elephants are very savvy at finding the safe places.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [04:38]

3. The Major Threat of Habitat Fragmentation

• Paper Parks & Revitalization: Many African protected areas exist only on paper, lacking management or funding. Dr. van Leeuwen worked to survey and revitalize these “forgotten gems” to reignite donor interest and management efforts ([05:17], [13:00]).
• Kenya Collaboration: Consulted for the Kenya Wildlife Service to adapt forest elephant survey methods, critical since only 5% of Kenya’s landscape is forest ([06:25]).

4. Corridors, Rivers, and Connectivity

• Habitat Corridors: Emphasizing the need to protect migration routes, especially as landscape connectivity is disrupted by human settlement ([07:40]).
• River Corridors: Innovated river-based wildlife corridors, leveraging elephants’ natural behaviors of following rivers, which also can’t be easily settled or developed. Restoration benefits all species and local humans through ecosystem services ([07:51]).
  • “If you protect elephant habitat, you protect everything else in it.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [08:38]
• Real-World Implementation: Initial successes around Mount Kenya, with other organizations now seeking to replicate the model.

5. Lessons in Impact and Advice for Aspiring Conservationists

• From Recklessness to Strategy: Shared hard lessons transitioning from confrontational activism (which had put her at risk) to measured, fact-based intervention ([09:19]):
  • “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as they say. So I became more savvy about it and a bit less reckless and a bit less naive.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [09:36]
• Importance of Field Experience: Illustrated by stories of exploring remote parks on foot, discovering both miraculous wildlife havens and devastating poaching sites ([11:09], [12:28]).
  • “I walked thousands of kilometers of elephant trails and we found gems… but also … horror clearings, where there were like 500 carcasses.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [11:28]
  • Her early mapping in Otsala National Park led to quadrupling its protected area ([12:28]).

6. Tech, AI, and Emerging Methods

• Science & Technology: Endorsed the ongoing integration of new tech, including drones and AI, but noted that in dense forests, traditional line transect methods remain vital ([10:29]).
  • “We still use the line track transect methodology … with that, we make distribution maps of those signs and we know where the threats are, we know where the elephants are.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [10:37]

7. Wilder Things and the Funding Environment

• Founding Wilder Things: Left the Wildlife Conservation Society after 20 years to launch Wilder Things, focused on cross-organization partnerships for scalable impact ([13:32], [15:30]).
  • Introduced innovations like automatic “elephant gates” and sand dams in Tsavo.
  • Struggling to secure new funding as global crises diverted traditional US-government finance ([14:17]).
• The Kiesling Prize: Became a finalist for the international species conservation prize. Recognition renewed her optimism ([15:32]):
  • “The message came that I was a finalist and I literally jumped about 2 meter high.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [15:53]

8. Future Plans & Grantmaking

• Prize Aspirations: Clear plans for additional funds: seed Kenya SPCA, construct another Tsavo sand dam, and scale river-corridor restoration ([16:48]).
  • “It’s novel … I hope … in this political climate that … some more funds [will become] available for such things.” — Dr. van Leeuwen [17:39]
• Recent Achievements: Created the first elephant protection plan for the dangerous Upemba National Park, DRC, bringing it back from abandonment ([17:42], [18:36]).

9. Collaboration and Inspiration

• River Corridors in South Africa: Dr. Ganzert shares that Global Humane is creating its own river-based corridor in the Bushman’s River, reintroducing rhinos and elephants ([18:49]).
  • “River corridors are hotspots for biodiversity and if you bring back some of the keystone species … the circle of life is so beautiful in a river based area.” — Dr. Ganzert [19:02]
• Recognition & Support: Global Humane awards Dr. van Leeuwen a $10,000 grant to launch the Kenya Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ([19:24]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Hilde van Leeuwen on her life’s work:
  “My aim is to save as many animals and wild places as I can whilst I’m alive.” [01:59]
• On the impact of focused conservation:
  “If you create core areas … you start attracting animals from outside, because elephants are very savvy at finding the safe places.” [04:38]
• On discovering the reality of poaching:
  “We also found … horror clearings, where there were like 500 carcasses … both these discoveries helped expand the park to 13,600 square kilometers.” [11:38]
• On the novelty and hope of river corridors:
  “It’s novel. And because it’s novel, I’m hoping … there might be some changes … that will again also bring some more funds available for such things.” [17:39]
• On receiving positive news:
  “The message came that I was a finalist and I literally jumped about 2 meter high.” [15:53]
• Dr. Robin Ganzert on the river corridor approach:
  “River corridors are hotspots for biodiversity … the circle of life is so beautiful in a river based area.” [19:02]
• On direct support:
  “Global Humane Society is honored today to offer you a grant of 10,000 US dollars to help you launch the Kenya Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.” — Dr. Ganzert [19:24]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:21]—Dr. van Leeuwen introduces herself, name pronunciation, and earliest motivations
• [03:13]—Combining indirect survey methods with GIS mapping for elephant conservation
• [04:19]—Park management in Congo and success in population recovery
• [05:17]—The challenge of “paper parks” and revitalization efforts
• [07:40]—Discussion of habitat fragmentation, migration routes, and innovation in corridor design
• [09:19]—Transition from activism to scientific strategy
• [11:09]—First forays into field conservation; following elephant trails and major park expansion
• [13:32]—Leaving WCS and founding Wilder Things; partnership-driven conservation
• [15:32]—Becoming a Kiesling Prize finalist and renewed hope
• [16:48]—What Dr. van Leeuwen would do with the prize funds
• [18:49]—Global Humane’s Bushman’s River Corridor and reintroduction efforts
• [19:24]—Announcement of $10,000 grant for the Kenya Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

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Closing Reflection

Dr. Hilde van Leeuwen’s journey epitomizes determination, scientific innovation, and the power of partnership in conservation. Her river corridor strategy offers promise for the future of elephants, while her stories inspire anyone passionate about global wildlife. The episode concludes with hope and real-world support, as Global Humane invests directly in Dr. van Leeuwen’s next chapter.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to Robin's Nest. Joining me today is Dr. Hilda VanLea, a fearless conservation biologist who has spent over 30 years protecting Africa's elephants and wild places. She's the founder of Wilder Things, a groundbreaking initiative to connect habitats and a finalist for the prestigious Giesling Prize. Her story is one of passion, perseverance and hope for our planet's future. Welcome to Robin's Nest. Many of us feel a deep bond with animals, from the pets we cherish at home to the endangered species in nature. Join us for lively, informative conversations where together we will build a more humane world. I am so excited about this episode of Robin's Nest because we have a true hero in conservation and a Keisling Prize for finalists joining us. You know, as we think about conservation, we think about what we've learned from a young age to make the planet better. We think about passion, perseverance and certainly, pursuit of protection for animals. And my guest today is the epitome of all of that. Dr. Hilda Van Leop is here with us today. Dr. Hilda, thank you so much for being here. And please pronounce your name properly with your beautiful accent that I can't seem to get.

[B]

It's Hilda van Leeuwen.

[A]

Isn't that beautiful? You know, I've been following your work for some time, and first of all, congratulations on being an international prize finalist for the Kiesling Prize. It's really wonderful.

[B]

Yes. That's amazing.

[A]

Actually, for me, it's wonderful and it's a privilege to get to know you after having followed your work. And I would love for you to share with all of our guests in Robin's Nest today a little bit about your work and. And in Africa as well.

[B]

Yep. Where do you want me to start?

[A]

I mean, well, what inspired you to be in the space of conservation?

[B]

Well, I think I have a very deep empathy for animals in general and it has sort of. It has shaped my entire life. And my aim is to save as many animals and wild places as I can whilst I'm alive. And I think in my early days I was a bit more reckless and I was more of an activist and naive, for sure. But my actions did make a change and I decided, okay, let's be more strategic about this. And I did a PhD on elephants, and then I started actually working in conservation and I did things like I looked more into how could we, in the long run save a big species like an elephant? And it occurred to me that one of the biggest threats today is not so much poaching anymore. But it's a demographic growth and habitat fragmentation and you get less and less habitat for them and you get more and more people moving into their habitats. Because back in the day, protected areas weren't really created to sustain a big animal like that. They were just created for their beauty. Yes. So then I worked in forested Africa, which gave an extra challenge because of course, you don't know where they are, you don't know where the threats are. You don't. You can't see anything from an airplane or a drone when you fly over forest. So together with some savvy scientists, we created indirect observation methodologies that we perfected. And then we combined that with gis, with geographical information systems to make maps, sort, that showed where are the animals, where are the threats? And doing so, we started being able, for the first time for these vast, vast areas, if you have like 100 rangers, to protect 10,000 square kilometers, if you don't know where to sort of focus the attention for protection, you're going to lose out. So with these new strategies, this mapping, we really managed to focus, to focus on threats. And then I became a part manager myself for 11 years.

[A]

And where was that?

[B]

In the Congo. In Congo, Brazzaville. I managed Konkwa Tiduli national park, which is half marine, half terrestrial. Yes. And I applied my methodology on site, and I'm happy to say that we reduced poaching to nil and our elephant population doubled during the time we were there. But doubled, not through birth. It wouldn't be possible in such a short time. But that goes to show, if you create what I call core areas which are of heightened protection, you not only save the animals in it, but you start attracting animals from outside, because elephants are very savvy at finding the safe places. And then wherever you have, of course, I find it very important if we could save as much parks as possible, because I also learned that so many parks in Africa are what we call paper parks, which are basically, they don't have any management, they exist legally, but there is no money for them. There is nobody there to actually protect them. And most of them are almost poached, empty. But the idea is like, if you could save these places, reignite some management in them, it would be sorted. So that's what I did. Basically, I started using my survey skills and my mapping skills to survey very forgotten areas, but many. And the size of like 100,000 square kilometers, type of area, significant, three times Belgium's sort of size. Yes. And we managed to. It ignited like I had hoped Sort of the EU to refinance in these areas. Most of them were in francophone Africa because that's where the forest is. And I'm Belgian, but that really doesn't have anything to do with it. But I did it a bit in both. I went to drc, but Congo, mostly Congo. And then Kenya contacted me, the Kenya Wildlife Service, saying, look, we are very good at counting elephants, but just not in our forests because they too have. They don't have a lot of forest, but their forest is extremely important because they only have like 5% forest. But they didn't know how to count elephants in forest. So I helped them too, and I think in a lifespan. So I did 11 years of that. And then in the last 10 years of my life, I became a donor. Well, I mean, I was put in charge of the Disney Elephant Conservation fund and by WCS. WCS had a contract. I worked 20 years for WCS and I learned with everything I'd done in my life that the upcoming problem of habitat fragmentation, that we had to start looking into habitat connectivity. Yes. Because of course, when you now manage to protect the protected areas, but not the migration routes, because an elephant, when year round needs, can't be sustained. It'll move.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And now it can't because people have settled in what we call the corridors. Yes. And then of course, these are not colonial era. This is not. You can't just tell people, move. This was. No, this was elephant territory. Right. So I looked into it and knowing elephants very well, having walked thousands of kilometers of elephant trails, I thought like, oh, wait a minute, but elephants never stray far from water when they migrate. Yes, they follow rivers. And I thought, why don't we try rivers? Because rivers, people can't settle in rivers. We need these rivers protected anyway for people and wildlife. So let's do the survey. So I use my skills and we surveyed quite a few rivers around Mount Kenya and we took the one that was a natural corridor, so that had most sign of elephants and other species around it. We started promoting it as a corridor and it's working. I mean, what's happening is because you get the ecosystem services come back when you restore it, and that benefits all life. And if you protect elephant habitat, you protect everything else in it.

[A]

That's exactly right. I want to go back a little bit into your story, which is so fascinating. First of all, how many people do you know has a PhD in elephants? You know, that's really, really important. But you started out early in your career, as you said, an activist and you had lessons learned. You know, I meet so many people who want to make a difference with animals and they ask, how do they begin? And what are those lessons learned? Can you share a couple of those? Because then you went down a scientific track. That is so remarkable.

[B]

Yeah, I think. I mean, activists have their role to play. Yes, absolutely. But I think it's not always very sort of based on facts and usually there's a time in life where you move away from that. And I think the mistakes I made, I was very bold and reckless and I had sort of attacked, I mean, managers who were involved in poaching and to the point that it became very risky for me and I had to leave countries and stuff, so. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, as they say. So I became more savvy about it and a bit less. Less reckless and a bit less naive about it. And I think the way we do it now, it's like it was a very good idea to try to sort of help people with far, because they didn't know, we didn't know what was happening in the forest. It's a very big problem. I mean, you can't see anything in a forest. And we have a methodology and they still try to get new systems. They're testing drones on the canopy, they're testing camera trap methodologies, and it's getting there, but it's just not there yet. So we still use the line track transect methodology, where we train the rangers to walk along a line, notes all the signs they see, and with that, we make distribution maps of those signs and we know where the threats are, we know where the elephants are, the.

[A]

Use of technology and the science behind it. It's so stunning. And I know you see a future for additional science, the face of AI and the engagement. I'd love for you to share a little bit about that. And then I know you have a special story about some of the beginnings of your journey.

[B]

Well, I started. I was so motivated to go and work with wildlife that I sort of stepped into the EU offices without even having an appointment and sort of walking, waltzing into a bureau, sort of asking, please use me, please try, and you don't need to pay me, I'll just. And they actually, I was an explorer of Otsalo national park, and Otsala was small, wasn't very big. It's in the Congo and it was 2,800 of square kilometers of tropical forest. And the thing was, it's so swampy and it's so remote, I was with a team of seven locals, which was all expocers basically. And some of them were pygmies also. And I explored, I was in the middle of nowhere. There were no radio, there was nothing back then. And strangely enough, all the nice things I found outside the park boundary and the way I explored it very quickly. The only way to get through difficult terrain like this was to follow elephant trails. And that's how I actually got into it. I mean, I walked thousands of kilometers of elephant trails and we found gems like incredibly sort of forest clearings with the gorillas and elephants and everything in it. But we also found quite some horror clearings too where there were like 500 carcasses sort of spread in and around the clearing. And both, I mean, both these discoveries actually helped expand the park to 13,600 square kilometers. So that was my first, so my first sort of action that had a result. And then I thought like, wow, not bad to sort of, yeah, quadruple the park.

[A]

That's an understatement. Not bad. I would say that is incredible.

[B]

And I think that's where it came from, this idea of like, let's zoom more of it, let's bring more areas in trouble and let's protect it. So I did my entire life exactly that. Basically I went to find the parks that had been forgotten and I put them back on the map. Basically that was sort of my best shot at saving as many animals as I could.

[A]

That's really so inspiring. What's next for you?

[B]

What's next for me? Well, I probably foolishly, I left WCS last year, around this time last year. But mostly, I mean, I worked 20 years for the Wildlife Conservation Society. The Disney fund was coming to an end because it was a 10 year fund and I didn't want to move to Rwanda where their headquarters were. And also I think I had this new experience having been a coordinator of a fund that I now distributed to other organizations that combining my own expertise together with expertise of other organizations, we got so much done. A lot more than I could ever have done on my own as WCS with just my capabilities. So I started partnering with the amazing people. And so that's how we did the corridor. We started introducing sand dams in Tsavo. We had like very fancy automatic gates in boundary fences that we installed that only open for elephants. So I mean, we got so much done. And I thought, okay, maybe I continue doing this on my own. And so I started my own company. I left WCS and I started my own company. But then all these crises happened in the last year and unfortunately, the donors I was used to were mostly American. U.S. fish and Wildlife Service, USAID. And of course, they are quite blocked for the moment to sort of priorities have changed. They're not allowed to channel funds to the developing countries. So I'm struggling. I'm struggling to get known. On top of that, it's a new organization. The name is not known yet. And the name is Wilder Things.

[A]

Wilder Things.

[B]

Wilder Things. And hence the reason why, for me, this opportunity is absolutely amazing because it gives visibility, recognition, and it's a step in. And it's sort of. I was starting to get quite negative about the idea of my company and then the message came that I was a finalist and I literally jumped about 2 meter high. That's wonderful.

[A]

So, as we open, Dr. Hilda is a finalist for the International Prize for Species Conservation that we have named at Global Humane Society in honor of Wolfgang Kiesling, who's a legend and an icon himself. And I know that the judging panel was so impressed from your commitment to animals, your passion for elephants, of course, but importantly, the systemic approach to making change happen by bringing back parks, making them real again, making them viable. So I think that is such a great testimony and part of your legacy and it allows people to be inspired by you and also support your vision for the future. So if you were awarded the Kiesling Prize and additional funds, what would you do next?

[B]

Oh, I know exactly what I would do. I knew you did. I knew you would.

[A]

Please share.

[B]

I would give a portion of it to. I'm in my spare time. I'm also a chairman of the KSPCA in Nanuki, which is the Kenya Society for Protection of Animals. Yes. And it's new. And you know, welfare is a very, very new. Yeah, they're very necessary also. It's terrible what's happening there. It's small. I would give a small portion to that. So probably like $10,000 just to get them going. And then I would probably put in another sandam in Tsavo, which would be another probably 30 or 40,000, and then the rest would go to protecting rivers as corridors and expand the idea and. Yeah, just get it some momentum because this is quite scalable what I'm doing.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

It's novel. And because it's novel, I'm hoping, I hope also with the political, sort of in this political climate that there might be some changes in the years that come that will again also bring some more funds available for such things, because for the moment, we're Quite starved of possibilities. But for the moment I survived basically doing consultancies. And my last one was to make an elephant protection plan for Upemba national park in DRC, which I also surveyed in 2008 and which was one of the parks that nobody had been there because it's in a rebel zone. They had killed the conservator so people didn't want to go there. And I think we were the first. I was the first one back in there, sort of putting it back on the map. So brave. And today it's managed by an organization. It's going really well. So that's a park that would not have lived today, I think, if I hadn't done that. And I found it very nice of them to sort of ask me to help them make an elephant protection plan for the appropriate.

[A]

So full circle. Well, there's two things I wanted to follow up with you on. You know, a global humane society opened a sanctuary, the Bushman's river corridor in South Africa because we do believe the river based corridors are so necessary. We'll be reintroducing black and white rhino there and elephants. That's one reason I was so fascinated and wanted to get to know you personally, because the river corridors are hotspots for biodiversity and if you bring back some of the keystone species, it's just the circle of life is so beautiful in a river based area. So thank you for your.

[B]

Makes sense.

[A]

It makes sense and it's real. And we're doing it at Global Humane Society, so thank you. And secondly, your work as the chairman for the Kenya Prevention for Cruelty to Animals and your work and your passion there. Global Humane Society is honored today to offer you a grant of 10,000 US doll to help you launch the Kenya Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Because at Global Humane Society, that is what we must do. It's. Thank you so much, Kirk, and so touching. So thank you for your leadership there and we must do more to help. So Dr. Hillig, what a pleasure to get to know you and I'm honored to give you this grant today from Club Humane Society.

[B]

Thank you so much.

[A]

Congratulations on being a finalist for the international Prize for Species Conservation. What a great day in Robin's Nest and we're saving animals together. Thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Robin's Nest. Please like subscribe and follow and thanks for all you do to build a more humane world.

[B]

Sam.