We have partnered with Cymot in an online portal (www.ultimatesafaris.na/pack-for-conservation) which allows you, the guest about to travel to Namibia, to purchase much needed field uniforms and equipment for Rhino Rangers in Namibia on a discounted, cost recovery, basis.

In March of 2019, the Lion Recovery Fund formed a new initiative that is good for lion recovery and for business. The Lionscape Coalition allows Africa’s top tourism operators to take a lead in supporting on-the-ground conservation work and to encourage visitors to support efforts to secure the future of lions.

Our operations in this area, which was previously devoid of any tourism presence, have brought about huge benefits to both the community and local conservation efforts through conservation levies and the support of the Conservation Travel Foundation.

As part of our contribution to the local community, Ultimate Safaris operates the Granietkop Community Campsite on behalf of the Conservancy on a pro bono basis, ensuring maximum profits for this Conservancy venture. This is in addition to the concession fees and conservation levies that are also paid.

Our operations here are helping to finance years of intensive work to reverse sixty years of inappropriate farming practices on private land, including the removal of 120 km of internal fencing, the installation of wildlife watering points, the improvement of road networks, the rehabilitation of land and the reintroduction of wildlife that was indigenous here in the past.

Our involvement in this rural primary school dates back to 2008, and the support provided covers upgrades to canteens, the provision of mattresses and blankets, the planting of citrus trees, the equipping of a fully-fledged computer centre, and the set-up of a volunteer teacher programme along with the building of the infrastructure required for this to work.

We have helped to support of educational programmes for children as well as a self-help programme for all community members. The latter is aimed at teaching the skills necessary for creation craftwork that can then be sold and thus used for generating revenue for the overall communal benefit.

Our support for this orphanage takes the form of the provision of food and other supplies that help allow those running this programme to offer as much as possible of what is needed by these disadvantaged children in the course of their daily lives.

We are proud to have been supporting Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) since our inception, helping to fund both operational costs and rapid response actions. We have also financed the construction of anti-poaching camps in Damaraland, and these have proved to be a game changer for curbing poaching in the area.

We finance the //Huab Conservancy Rhino Ranger programme, which provides teams devoted to anti-poaching and rhino monitoring efforts. We also provide incentives for individual rangers in order to encourage excellent performance.

We have provided funding to help cover operational costs in the development of the Lion Guardian Programme, including the building of lion proof kraals (enclosures) in areas of potential human–wildlife conflict. We have paid for GPS satellite collars to allow further study of the movement and behaviour of these ‘desert lions’, and we have now also provided funds to purchase a new research vehicle and to assist with the implementation of the Early Warning System for rural communities in affected areas.

We provided funds for the establishment of the Early Warning Rapid Response Unit which provides fully mobile units who assist affected communities in time of conflict with lions. This contribution has gone towards the funding of vehicles and their associated running costs as well as salaries of the response units.

We have worked with the AfriCat Foundation for many years, and our involvement has included regular donations to the operation of their Annual Health Checks for the animals concerned. We also contribute to research efforts working towards the conservation of predators in Namibia at large.

Giraffe are now one of the most threatened species in Africa and this is not well known. We have therefore helped finance the collaring of desert-adapted giraffe on an annual basis. The information gathered as a result aids important research into the species, and results in the implementation of important conservation measures.

The species concerned are the African wild dog, the pangolin, the dwarf python, the spotted rubber frog, and the Cape griffon vulture. The support provided is on request and in the form of ‘emergency’ funding as needed during times of crisis.