Prince Harry's Charity Facing MORE Torture Claims

White Savior Tourism: Why Prince Harry and African Parks won't receive the scrutiny they, rightfully, deserve

Prince Harry became involved with African Parks seven years ago after a visit to Malawi to assist an elephant project. “What I see in the African Parks model is exactly what conservation should be about — putting people at the heart of the solution,” he has previously said.

So how did it all go wrong?

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Hello Dear Readers.

Today’s newsletter will be discussing some heavy news so this is a WARNING FLAG: Distressing content.

On 27 January 2024, a story broke in The Daily Mail reported by investigative journalist Ian Birrel. The details at the time made my stomach turn. Birrel interviewed indigenous Baka tribespeople in the Congo rainforest. They cataloged a list of atrocities against them: They were tortured for collecting honey, beaten to death, and a woman told a harrowing story of being raped as she held onto her baby. All of these inhumane acts were perpetrated by rangers from a Western-backed conservation group. A group which was been terrorizing them for years and destroyed the traditional lifestyles of the Baka people as they were forced into poverty. The charity at the root of these acts of barbarism? African Parks, a charity Prince Harry has held a leadership position in for close to a decade. You hadn’t heard about this story, you say? This isn’t surprising.

While I know many readers are quick to dismiss stories written in “British tabloids” as crap, I implore all of you reading to make an exception this time around. The Daily Mail did their homework, and it’s shame that a tabloid reputation means their investigative work is regularly discounted. If the Mail isn’t to your liking then please hear the words of Eyaya Nivrel, a Baka man who details what they went through.

I’d meant to dedicate a newsletter to this story when it was released earlier this year but of course, the word of King Charles’s diagnosis took over. Just a day later, the early beginnings of the #WheresKate campaign were beginning to take hold (a campaign likely started in response to the Daily Mail’s investigation). I’m not going to delay any longer. The Times’s Jane Flanagan and Kate Mansey released a story on Friday which is bringing this news back to the forefront by way of a new book Entrepreneurs in the Wild which “includes dozens of incidents of alleged abuse from interviews conducted with victims and those who claim to have perpetrated the abuse, including existing and former African Parks staff.”

In this newsletter I’ll share the history of Prince Harry and African Parks, including how we got to this point. I’ll share my critiques of the colonialist tourism model Harry is partial to (and the differences between this and the community-led approach Prince William favors) and how I believe it led to these acts of barbarity flourishing under his watch. I’ll share why it’s time to decolonize conservation. I’ll also share my thoughts on why we’re unlikely to see any traction in accountability. This story won’t go anywhere and it’s unlikely Prince Harry nor African Parks’ll receive the scrutiny they deserve for allowing this to happen. But before we get to why I believe that, a quick thought exercise to get out of the way:

If I were to tell you that a charity based in Africa, which Prince William was President of for seven years, stood credibly accused of human rights abuses such as rape, torture and allegations of killings, what’d you think the reaction from the mainstream British and American media would be? If indigenous African families claimed they’d suffered years of savagery and brutality from armed guards run by a “top” conservation group with Prince William as the director, how, Dear Readers, do you believe social media’d respond? More or less outrage than the Prince of Wales not attending a soccer semi-final match?