The Wild Wings Educational Trust is a registered charitable trust (reg no IT2218/2011) and Public Benefit Organisation (PBO reg no 930049705) in South Africa which operates on a not-for-profit basis. Our mission is to improve lives and offer hope to disadvantaged children from local communities through education.

The Trust was launched by Wild Wings Safaris as a public benefit organisation through which the company and its clients (safari tourists) can give back to the local community and make a meaningful and lasting difference. We love South Africa, we believe in responsible tourism, and we have found that many of our clients who visit Africa as tourists are looking for ways to contribute meaningfully to a worthwhile cause or organisation that is working to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.

The Wild Wings Trust is such an organisation, overseen by some of the same people who run Wild Wings Safaris with utmost integrity, professionalism, service excellence and attention to detail. Our vision is to touch as many lives as possible through better education. The trust relies entirely on donations, and provides an opportunity for safari travellers to contribute meaningfully and voluntarily toward social upliftment, as part of their trip to Africa.  In addition, we are working on ways in which tourists can volunteer their time, skills and resources in practical ways, such as by donating books, clothes or stationery, or by helping out as a volunteer at one of our projects or partner organisations.

We partner with sustainable, verified organisations that share our goals. One such organisation is Life Community Services, operating out of George, South Africa. LIFE reaches out to disadvantaged children with their dedicated feeding scheme, educational program, preschool, primary school, and life skills training program. More information about this project can be found under the Projects tab.

For many years, the Trust has operated a successful scholarship program to assist disadvantaged children to access better schooling. During the pandemic, when global travel came to a halt, donations to the Trust also dried up and our scholarship fund almost ran out of money. To ensure the long term success and sustainability of this scholarship program, the Trust now has a dual strategy. Before sponsoring any more children, we aim to establish and grow the scholarship program as a sustainable endowment fund. This means we will grow and maintain a healthy capital reserve which remains untouched, while only the interest on the capital is used to sustainably fund bursaries. The second strategy is to find long term sponsors who are able to commit to one child's education and sponsor their school fees on an ongoing basis.

For this reason the Wild Wings Trust is calling for generous donations to the Trust fund, by our clients, the general public as well as local companies and corporations. As a registered PBO with Section 18(A) status, all donations to the Trust are tax deductible for the donor, and tax exempt for the Trust, which means the full value of your donation will benefit the children we sponsor, while lowering your own tax liability.

The Trust is audited by Mazars and overseen by a board of four trustees: Onne Vegter, Simon Vegter, Gavin Brown and Barry Muller. Two of the four trustees are also involved in the parent company, Wild Wings Safaris. The Trust has been set up to ensure that it remains completely separate and unaffected by the parent company, Wild Wings Safaris. In the highly unlikely event that Wild Wings Safaris should close down or experience financial difficulty, the Wild Wings Educational Trust will remain unaffected and no money can be paid from the Trust to the parent company or any of the trustees. The trustees and administrator of the Trust are volunteers; they are not paid anything for their services, and should a trustee resign, the remaining three trustees will appoint a suitable replacement.

Trustee profiles:

Onne Vegter is the founding trustee and visionary behind the Wild Wings Educational Trust. A qualified teacher with a degree in Biological Science and a postgraduate diploma in Higher Education, Onne has always been passionate about education and has worked in youth development for many years before starting Wild Wings Safaris in 2005, in partnership with his brother Simon Vegter. As training manager at Outward Bound South Africa during the late 1990's, Onne managed a non-profit student instructor program, a two year educational project which identified promising young students from disadvantaged backgrounds to be trained as Outward Bound instructors. Onne also enjoys writing and has published three youth novels, which are currently used as part of the curriculum in hundreds of schools all over South Africa.

Simon Vegter is a co-founder of Wild Wings Safaris and a legendary safari guide in the Kruger National Park. Known as the Barefoot Guide, Simon is a keen photographer, an expert birder, and enthusiastic cook. He is no stranger to the world of NGO's and NPO's, having worked in several African countries as cameraman and crew member for a Christian non-profit organisation based in Pretoria. Simon is currently based in Johannesburg and spends most of his time guiding open vehicle safaris in the Kruger National Park. He loves people, different cultures, and travelling to other countries, and apart from his travels to Europe, North and South America, Simon has visited most countries in Southern and East Africa.

Gavin Brown is a family man, travel enthusiast, licensed marriage officer, amateur cook, and entrepreneur. From 2009 until 2021 Gavin worked as a senior tour consultant at Wild Wings Safaris. Born in Zimbabwe, Gavin has travelled widely all over Southern Africa. He is married to a speech therapist who has developed a range of excellent educational resources for spelling, grammar and language development, which Gavin helps to market. He is an optimistic, inspiring individual who brings a wide range of skills and experience to the board of trustees.

Barry Muller is a lecturer at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, based at the Saasveld Campus in George. A teacher by nature, Barry has many years of experience as an educator and is passionate about seeing young South Africans succeed. A keen sportsman, amateur builder and devoted family man, Barry's energy, wisdom and integrity adds significant value to the Wild Wings Educational Trust. As the only trustee who has never in some way been involved with Wild Wings Safaris, he brings balance, accountability and a fresh outside perspective.