In 1998, she assisted lion man Gareth Patterson in taking the lid off the canned lion industry; a chilling industry that breeds lions for the international trophy hunter's gun. The issue was eventually exposed into the local and international media and created a furore of protest.

Only a year later Fransje and Gareth brought the abduction of 30 baby elephants from the wilds in Botswana into the media. The young elephants had been taken from a wild herd and transported to South Africa where they were trained brutually for the zoo and circus industry.

It was the second biggest wildlife issue tackled by the South African media. The issue aroused wide public condemnation, and resulted in preventing the capture and selling of another 20 wild elephant calves from taken place. The majority of elephants initially captured and part trained in captivity were later released back into the wilds of the Marakele Game Reserve in South Africa.

Having tentatively started writing about her travel experiences, Fransje's article on the Tuli Elephants and the subsequent 3-week long journey that she and Patterson undertook to circumnavigate the entire Tuli Block, travelling into Botswana, Zimbabwe and back into South Africa, was the lead story for Diversions Magazine. The trip revealed that these elephants were not in fact contained in the Tuli Reserve but were travelling along corridors, and thus being able to disperse much further that what was previously presumed. It blew the conservation arguments for the need to capture these young animals completely out of the water.

From that moment on, Fransje actively pursued her writing career. Her travel and wildlife articles were published in a variety of South African journals and, encouraged by her newly found success, Fransje began researching her first book of non-fiction, Life with Darwin and other Baboons.

In 2001, Fransje moved to Knysna, where she completed Life with Darwin, a true-life story that dealt with the primate work conducted by Karin Saks, who had dedicated her life to the welfare of the Chacma Baboon. She was also afforded a unique insight into Gareth Patterson's research into the Knysna elephant population and spent many an occaision traling through the Knysna forest finding fresh evidence of these elusive elephants.

Life with Darwin was snapped up by Dutch publishing house The House of Books and, following its publication in The Netherlands in 2002, the book appeared on the South African shelves a year later. (Publisher: Penguin Books SA)

Fransje's second book, The Crowing of the Roosters, was published a little over a year later. This true life story is a tale of age-old African cultures and traditions as told through the voice of Nomfusi Vinah Yekani, a Xhosa lady whose life experiences spanned five decades against the backdrop of the rural Eastern Cape Province in South Africa during the early 1950's.

Movingly, and at times hauntingly written, Fransje worked closely with Mrs. Yekani to produce an authentic work of contemporary non-fiction.

The Crowing of the Roosters was published to high acclaim in both The Netherlands (Arena Books 2004) and South Africa (David Philip 2005) and was the recipient of a nomination for Africa's premier literary award, The Sunday Times/Alan Paton Book Award in August 2005.

Fransje is based in suburban Cape Town, where she presently concentrates on several writing projects. She also hosts guests at the Drakenstein Lion Park a sanctuary that is dedicated to lifetime care for lions in need, upon request

In late 2008 Fransje accepted the role of Ambassador for SAMAST, The South African Mass Animal Sterilisation Trust, which was founded by Director Tamsin Nel in July 2006 to consistently reduce the number of breeding dogs and cats in Cape Town's disadvantaged areas.

In late September 2009, Fransje travelled to Namibia's Caprivi Strip to spend time with spotted hyaena researcher Lise Hanssen. Fransje first met Lise in 1995, when she was working with cheetahs and leopards. Having followed Lise's decade-and-a-half long career with predators, Fransje journeyed to Katima Mulio to visit the Caprivi Carnivore Project and write about the hyaena field work for several South African publications, due to be published during the first half of 2010.

During November 2009, Fransje was actively involved in campaigning and raising media profile for the ritual known as Ukweshwama during the First Fruit Festival in KwaZulu Natal. During his festival, a bull is subjected to the protracted efforts of a handful of teenage boys who attempt to kill the bull with their bare hands as a rite de passage.

Fransje worked alongside both local and international animal welfare groups and private individuals in an attempt to stop the bare-handed bull killing.

Fransje is also currently embarking on a new initiative to promote hand-picked conservation projects conducted in the field by wildlife experts. Her role is to profile these specific projects in the media and to organise talks and presentations. Having known and followed Lise Hanssen's career in conservation for more than a decade, Fransje is proud to have launched this new initiative by signing Lise's Caprivi Carnivore Project.

If you would like more information on Lise Hanssen's presentations or would like to book her as a speaker, please contact Fransje at fransje@vodamail.co.za

2010 will see Fransje researching and writing her third book of non-fiction.

Photo Courtesy of Peter Alexander