Who We Are

Rafiki Safari Foundation is a Wyoming-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to place-based education and the long-term stewardship of the Savegre Valley.

Rafiki is the Boshoff family-stewarded land and a family-led mission.

Rafiki means friend in Swahili, and that is what we strive to be to our students, community, creatures and land.

Together, the Boshoff family brings filmmaking, field experience, conservation commitment, and a deep personal relationship with the Savegre Valley into the Foundation’s work.

We do this because we believe the most powerful education happens when young people are brought into a real place — and guided to understand it.

Become a Rafiki

  • Vanessa Boshoff

    Vanessa is a mother, wildlife filmmaker, educator, conservation storyteller, and the driving force behind Rafiki Safari Foundation’s education vision. Her work bridges place-based learning, conservation, and the belief that young people change when they are given real time in a living landscape.

  • Lautjie Boshoff

    Lautjie is the biologist, guide, owner and operator part of the family continuum of care for this place — part of the intergenerational thread that makes Rafiki more than a program site. This is not institutional land. It is lived-in, cared-for, family-held land.

  • Nel Boshoff

    Nel is an Emmy-nominated aerial cinematographer and Director of Photography whose career has been rooted in wildlife, landscape, and visual storytelling. His eye for the living world, and his long relationship with wild places, is woven into the way Rafiki sees and shares land.