Avias Ncube: Stories of Change

Roughly just over an hour flight south of Victoria Falls is where Avias’s life-changing journey would begin – in a Wilderness camp in the country’s famed Hwange National Park.  In April of 2006, he started working for Wilderness Zimbabwe. His first job, as he puts it, was as a ‘casual’. Essentially, a non-permanent construction worker. Avias, alongside 40 other young men mostly from the nearby village of Ngamo, helped build Wilderness Davison’s camp. Under the guidance of the late MD Ron Goatley, Tendai Mdluli, and Courtney Johnson, Avias and the other casuals built tents 1 to 9. They managed to complete the build by mid-year and the camp officially opened on the 27th of June, 2006.

Upon completion of the build, Avias joined Wilderness Davison’s as a waiter and held that position for five years. During that time, he also worked as a Children in the Wilderness (CITW) annual camp co-ordinator, facilitating CITW’s four-day programmes that immerse rural children in the wilderness they learn about throughout the year in their Eco-Clubs.  According to Avias, they taught conservation to lots and lots of kids, who in turn taught their parents. This resulted in an increase in environmental awareness and a noticeable drop-off in poaching in the surrounding areas. 

Avias’s willingness to help facilitate CITW annual camps while performing his main duties was an early sign of his eagerness to go the extra mile. As current Wilderness Zambezi Camp Operations & Trade Manager Graham Simmonds states, ‘Avias is what we look for in a Wilderness person. Willing to listen, willing to learn, and willing to grow. He is also not scared to get his hands dirty, and come up with new means and techniques to improve on our Wilderness service’.

This attitude resulted Avias being promoted to Trainee Manager in 2011. Even with this promotion he continued to upskill himself, completing online courses in game lodge management and volunteering with CITW when he could. In 2014 he moved to Wilderness Little Makalolo, spending three months learning camp operations there. He was then stationed at Kashawe for a year before moving to our newly built flagship camp in Zimbabwe – Wilderness Linkwasha – in 2015. After settling into his new environment, Avias quickly made use of the experiences he gained during his rotation and was soon promoted to Assistant Manager. He spent a number of years in this position before his crowning moment; in 2019 Avias became Camp Manager at Wilderness Davison’s, the very camp he helped build. Talk about a full circle moment. 

To achieve what Avias has requires one to be dedicated and resourceful. But he also has humility in equal measure. He credits Tendai Mdluli with teaching him a lot – a man who is equally as inspiring, and was with him from the beginning at Wilderness Davison’s. He gives thanks to Chrispen Chiparaushe and Everard James who were his managers at Davison’s and Kashawe respectively. He acknowledges Jeremy Claringbould, Caroline Grant, and Joseph Hanly at Wilderness Linkwasha who shared their knowledge with him, also expressing his gratitude to Andre and Tammy Van der Heer, who first promoted him to Trainee Manager at Wilderness Davison’s, and Courtney Johnson, who promoted him to Camp Manager.

It wasn’t all steady progression for Avias however. Within a year of becoming a camp manager at Wilderness Davison’s, Covid-19 hit and for the next couple of years it was exceptionally hard for the whole tourism industry. Many were just trying to stay afloat financially. As always, Avias persevered; most of the camps in Hwange were closed, but he and the rest of the Wilderness staff rotated through Wilderness Linkwasha, which was still open to local travel during 2020 and 2021. By the end of 2021, international guests started to trickle back, and by 2022 Wilderness Davison’s was open again. After capably steering Wilderness Davison’s through the storm, Avias moved back to Wilderness Linkwasha at the start of 2023. After 16 years with Wilderness, he had risen from a casual worker to a camp manager at one of Zimbabwe’s very best safari camps. Phenomenal.

Avias’s remarkable journey didn’t stop there, however. After his wife moved to the UK at the end of March 2023 for work, Avias set his sights on London. Initially he was hesitant… the lack of sunshine, the absence of African wildlife… but it was a big change. And as always, he had a willingness to keep moving forward. On the 1st of June 2024 he made the big move.  And in true Wilderness style, he was supported by the company, landing a job in the Wilderness UK team under Scott Vincent. 

And so, after 18 years, Avias is still working with Wilderness, but now as Operations Executive in London. He helps handle bookings and ensures guests are well prepared for their travels to Africa. When asked what he misses the most about Zimbabwe, he says his team – a team that, in his words, always goes the extra mile to give guests the best possible experience when they are on safari. He also misses the animals and doing work on the ground that positively impacts people and wildlife. Humorously, he adds that he misses the sunshine, ‘the proper one, not mild’.

At the same time however, he is enjoying London. He is very happy to be working for Wilderness on a different continent, and says the UK team is really good. They are helping him grow every day and he enjoys how he is now gaining experience in a different area of the safari business. As always, his dedication is grounded in deep humility and he gives thanks to Wilderness, Scott, and the team for helping him on what has been an incredible journey. Avias’s story is one of humility and willingness. It shows how, if given the chance, good individuals can flourish under the banner of conservation, bringing about positive change, not only for themselves but those they touch along the way.