March | Ida-Lena Zoglmann
On Monday, March 23, 2026, as part of our “Youth Forum” format, we had the pleasure of welcoming Africa expert and committed conservationist conservationist Ulf Doerner at the Schloss Stein school. In the cowshed room, he took our guests on an impressive journey through Africa’s wilderness areas with his talk “Adventure Wilderness in Africa”, telling them about his work to protect what is now the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa and covering everything from nature conservation, biodiversity and personal experience to questions of courage, responsibility and self-efficacy.
We were particularly pleased that a number of guests from outside the region came to Stein that evening. In his presentation, Mr. Doerner described how idealistic commitment turned into an international campaign against the planned open-cast mine in the then “Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park” – with the result that the area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
The evening was not only an informative talk about nature conservation and African wilderness, but also a real thought-provoking experience. Mr. Doerner was able to impressively link major topics such as sustainability, responsibility and the value of untouched nature with existential questions of human life. His thoughts on self-efficacy, the importance of comprehensibility, feasibility and meaningfulness, as well as the courage to embrace the unknown, had an impact far beyond the images and stories of the evening.
“If ten fingers are working, then one of them could be doing something for nature conservation.”
Ulf Doerner | Chairman of the Sustainability Advisory Board of Bethmann Bank
After the lecture, we enjoyed a delicious dinner together in the castle’s dining rooms, which was fantastically prepared by our kitchen – thank you very much for that! Afterwards, we were treated to a wonderful piano concert by our student Maxi Höfer, which gave the evening a particularly atmospheric and personal touch.
The event was rounded off with a small discussion on the second floor of the castle, where Mr. Doerner answered all our questions once again and spoke openly about his many adventures and experiences in Africa. It was precisely this personal closeness and the willingness to share thoughts and experiences that made the evening particularly valuable for us.
We would like to Erina Uhl an Altsteiner and friend of Ulf Doerner for decades, for making this informative evening possible for us through her personal contact.
Dear Mr. Doerner, you are always welcome back in Stein!
