Oudtshoorn is about to gain a new kind of neighbour: a working campus, built on sustainability principles, aimed squarely at the town's future workforce. On 1 September, Cango Wildlife will officially open its new Africa Skills Cango Academy site to an invite-only audience of civic and business leaders. Four days later, on 5 September, the doors open to the public for a community open day at 291 Adderley Street. Locals will be...
Making Waves Beyond Cango

At Cango Wildlife, learning is not something that ends with a qualification. It continues every day through the animals in our care, the people we work alongside and the knowledge shared across the wider wildlife community.
For Pippa, one of our dedicated Animal Caregivers, that passion for continued learning is now taking her beyond Cango Wildlife as she begins making her mark within the broader animal-care community.
Recently, Pippa was invited to take part in two episodes of the Animal Talks podcast, an opportunity she describes as both personally and professionally rewarding.
What initially began as an exciting chance to speak about her experiences working with animals quickly became something much more meaningful.
“It’s an opportunity to share knowledge, learn from others in the industry, and build connections within the animal-care and conservation community.”
From Podcast Listener to Podcast Guest
Podcasts have played an important role in Pippa’s own education for many years. While studying, she regularly used them alongside textbooks, lectures and research papers to expand her understanding beyond the traditional classroom.
They offered something different: the opportunity to hear directly from professionals working within the animal industry and to understand how the theory she was learning could be applied to real-life situations.
Today, Pippa finds herself on the other side of the microphone.
Being able to contribute to the same kind of learning environment that once helped shape her own studies has made the experience particularly special.
Through Animal Talks, she has been able to share lessons from her own career and experiences working with wildlife, with the hope that they may be valuable to someone studying, entering the industry or simply interested in animal behaviour, training and conservation.
Learning Through Connection
One of Pippa’s biggest takeaways from the experience has been the importance of connecting with professionals beyond your own workplace.
The animal-care industry brings together people from vastly different backgrounds, each with their own experiences, knowledge and perspectives. Creating opportunities for those professionals to connect allows ideas to be exchanged, approaches to be challenged and new knowledge to be brought back into their respective organisations.
For Pippa, joining SAAKA has played an important role in opening these doors and creating opportunities to engage with other professionals who share her passion for animals and conservation.
These connections are not only valuable for individual professional development. They ultimately strengthen the facilities in which those individuals work.
Taking Cango Wildlife Into the Conversation
Pippa’s growing involvement within the wider professional community also creates another opportunity to share the work happening right here at Cango Wildlife.
Conversations around animal care, training, captive management, husbandry and conservation provide audiences with greater insight into the knowledge, planning and dedication involved in caring for wildlife.
They also provide a platform to highlight the importance of evidence-based animal care and the continued development of modern approaches to animal welfare and husbandry.
For Pippa, however, perhaps the greatest lesson has been a simple one: you never stop being a student.
“There is always someone else to learn from, another perspective to consider and another conversation that can challenge the way we think about our work.”
And her journey of sharing knowledge is only continuing.
Following her podcast appearances, Pippa will also be returning, this time virtually, to her former university in the United Kingdom as a guest lecturer, giving her the opportunity to share her real-world experience with students who are now standing where she once stood.
It marks a special full-circle moment: from a student using podcasts and lectures to learn from those already working in the industry, to becoming one of the professionals sharing knowledge with the next generation.
What started as an opportunity to have a conversation has become another avenue for Pippa to learn, connect and contribute to the wider animal-care community.
We are incredibly proud to see one of our own Animal Caregivers stepping beyond the boundaries of Cango Wildlife, building professional connections and adding her voice to conversations that help move the animal-care industry forward.
And something tells us this is only the beginning for Pippa.
Listen to the podcast here:
Further Reading
How patience, trust and training created a special bond between Animal Caregiver Pippa and Patricia, our Cape Porcupine When Patricia arrived at Cango Wildlife as a tiny baby, few could have predicted the relationship that would develop between this little bundle of quills and Animal Caregiver Pippa. For Pippa, however, the connection began with something very simple: time. Bottle feeds, playtime, cleaning and every spare opportunity to be around Patricia became the...
For Australian mother-and-daughter duo Tam and Lily, volunteering at Cango Wildlife became far more than part of a South African holiday. It became a shared experience of learning, conservation and connection, one they chose to mark permanently. When Tam and her daughter Lily travelled from Melbourne, Australia, to South Africa, they knew they wanted their trip to be about more than simply seeing the country. For Lily, it was an opportunity to...























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