Patricia Bopape is employed by SANParks as the manager of the West Coast National Park. With over 12 years of management experience, her primary focus is ensuring long-term ecological and financial sustainability of the West Coast National Park. She deals with stakeholder engagement as a critical component of her current role and makes sure all stakeholders mutually benefit from natural resource management plans.
Patricia is passionate about socio-economic beneficiation, where communities surrounding wildlife areas have the opportunity to benefit from programmes in sustainable resource use, service provision through Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), and expanded public works programmes.
Patricia has an extensive background in tourism, a career which has included the management of tourism facilities, concessions, visitors, and marketing. Her experience in a management role has proven vital for the development of her strategic business capabilities and has led to the initiation of income-generating projects that ensure the park’s margin of income continues to grow.
Born in Beaufort West, Patricia relocated to Cape Town to study Tourism Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). In 2005 she took up an internship position at Robben Island Museum where she worked for two years, and following that, she joined Table Mountain National Park as an Office Manager. In 2008, she was offered the job as Tourism Manager at West Coast National Park, which progressed to Park Manager in 2010, and allowed her to serve as a Director of the Board of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve.
Patricia has participated in various short courses that have added to her training and skill set, and she has completed a Management Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) with WITS University.