Rewilding Team

Brett Mitchell
Elephant Reintegration Trust

Brett is an elephant expert with over two decades of experience managing captive and wild elephants. Brett’s intimate understanding of captive elephant welfare and behaviour has been instrumental in developing a successful model for reintegrating captive elephants into their natural habitats. Brett has facilitated the successful reintegration of over 17 captive elephants, setting a standard for compassionate and effective elephant rewilding. As chairperson of ERT, this makes the Trust best qualified to facilitate the transition of captive elephants to a wild environment with minimal trauma.

Headshot of a woman sitting in a vehicle. An elephant can be seen in the background through the open window.

Dr. Antoinette van de Water
Bring The Elephant Home

Antoinette has over 18 years of experience with community-driven conservation and developing and implementing human-elephant coexistence strategies. Her work encompasses a range of elephant conservation and research initiatives, including habitat restoration, range expansion, and sustainable coexistence solutions. She holds a PhD in Biological Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Master’s from Miami University. Her thesis and dissertation focus on human-elephant coexistence and aligning elephant conservation with societal aspirations. She has contributed to policy development for South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment and co-authored the National Elephant Heritage Strategy of South Africa.

Dr. Marion Garaï
Elephant Reintegration Trust

Marion conducted her PhD in Zoology on The Development of Social and Stress-Related Behaviours of Translocated Juvenile Elephants. She researched captive elephants in Europe and elephant orphans in Sri Lanka. She has been a valuable member of, and served on, multiple boards for nearly 20 years. This included serving as chairperson of EMOA (Elephant Management & Owners Association) for 12 years. EMOA was instrumental in drawing up the National Elephant Norms & Standards. She has been an IUCN/SCC African Elephant Specialist Group member for over 30 years. Marion was co-founder and chairperson of the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group NPC, South Africa, and is still a director.

Brooke Friswold
Bring The Elephant Home

Brooke is an elephant researcher and a PhD candidate researching the use of elephant ethology as a metric to determine the success of management interventions in Thailand and South Africa to achieve greater insight into the benefits of elephant behaviour as a form of wildlife management and policy development as well as advance the field of elephant ethology. She received her MSc from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she conducted award-winning research on anthropogenic effects on endangered wildlife. Her MSc and PhD research emphasizes research-based approaches to determining best practices in wildlife management and mitigating human-induced impacts on vulnerable wildlife populations.

Hanno Kilian
Elephant Reintegration Trust

Hanno brings a wide range of experience in conservation and ecology, and has been directly involved in management across various landscapes for over 20 years. His key interests lie in the management and ecology of savanna systems, covering the full spectrum of biotic and abiotic factors that can be, or are, influenced by management actions, especially on systems limited by the presence of fences. Hanno graduated with his MSc in Wildlife Management from the University of Pretoria on the ecology of reintroduced lions. As well as being chairman of EMOA (Elephant Managers & Owners Association) from 2006–2009, Hanno has served on the board of trustees of the Lion Management Forum since 2006 and the African Institute for Conservation Ecology & Genetics (AICEG) since 2016.

Tammy Eggeling
Elephant Reintegration Trust

Tammy, a dedicated elephant researcher, brings firsthand knowledge of elephant behaviour and social dynamics to ERT. Drawing from her experiences in the field, Tammy’s insights inform ERT’s holistic approach to elephant rehabilitation, emphasising the importance of addressing social and ecological factors. With a Master’s degree in Wildlife Management, Tammy assists ERT’s efforts to improve elephant welfare and foster harmonious coexistence between humans and elephants.