Premiere of “Mashatu: Land of Leopards” Closes Historic Event in Maun
Last week marked a significant milestone for conservation storytelling in Africa, as the internationally acclaimed Wildscreen Festival took place for the first time in Botswana.
Held in Maun from 12–13 June, the festival — with Mashatu Game Reserve as a major sponsor — provided a powerful platform to spotlight Botswana’s extraordinary natural heritage and the rising talent of its creative industry.
The event culminated in the African premiere of “Mashatu: Land of Leopards”, a landmark documentary filmed entirely at Mashatu over a three-year period. Directed by Julien Naar, with Wim and Mags Vorster of Wild Web Africa as cinematographers and field producers, and produced by ZED for France Télévisions, National Geographic & RTS – the film, which captures rare and intimate leopard behaviour against the reserve’s breathtaking backdrop, was met with wide acclaim and proved a fitting finale to a two-day programme filled with bold ideas, fresh voices, and a collective commitment to the future of natural world storytelling.
The festival’s final session featured an address by Stephen Lansdown CBE, majority owner of Mashatu Game Reserve. Lansdown underscored the importance of investing in initiatives that deliver tangible, long-term value for both communities and the environment, highlighting how meaningful partnerships and storytelling can spark change.
The Lansdown Family, long-standing philanthropists and conservationists, have played a central role in the development of Mashatu as a leader in sustainable tourism. Mashatu forms part of a broader portfolio of properties across Africa, Guernsey (where the Lansdowns reside), and the UK, including the Bristol Sport Group and a redevelopment project on Guernsey’s west coast. Across these regions, their focus remains the same: combining business and philanthropy as a force for good.
The Wildscreen Festival brought together both international and regional leaders in natural world storytelling, with representation from BBC Studios, National Geographic, Earth Touch, Botswana Television, and the Natural History Film Unit Botswana.
For Mashatu, supporting this first Botswana edition of Wildscreen is about catalysing visibility, opportunity, and global recognition for Botswana’s homegrown storytellers — and the wild spaces they represent. The festival is a statement that Botswana has a voice, a vision, and a rightful seat at the global table when it comes to conservation storytelling.
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