Welcoming the new neighbors
SRT is delighted to welcome a new neighbours. Gondwana took over Palmwag Lodge & Camp and with it the management of the Palmwag concession area, a vast nature reserve that covers 5,500 km². The Palmwag Concession consists of the Torra, Anabeb and Sesfontein conservancies and borders the Skeleton Coast Park.
The Palmwag Concession is home to a healthy population of the desert-adapted elephant and black rhino. This is also where SRT field staff calls home at our Mai-go-ha base camp.
Gondwana combines its hospitality business with nature conservation and social commitment in a sustainable manner. This sentiment is shared by SRT and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.
Epic upscale of black rhino conservation
A recently published review of Progress (2012 – 2018) on the Conservancy Rhino Ranger Incentive Programme & Rhino Pride Campaigns illustrates how engaging and empowering local people through creative partnerships and cultivating pride is helping protect one of the world’s last wild rhino populations.
Between 1970 and 1990 roughly 97% of the world’s extant black rhino (Diceros bicornis) were wiped out to supply an illegal global trade in rhino horn. Listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, some populations began to recover in the late 1990s but have recently fallen victim to a resurgence of poaching which, if left to continue unabated, is estimated to result in the extinction of rhinos on the African continent within the next 10-20 years.
These realities have sent rhino range countries into a state of crisis management that has primarily called for increased investment in military-style enforcement strategies.
However, effective solutions will probably require a context-specific, stakeholder-driven mix of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms that engage and empower local people in rhino protection.
Namibia has long been a global leader in designing and delivering effective community-led conservation strategies. When community-based conservation started in the early 1980s amid a major commercial poaching epidemic in the Kunene Region in the northwest, the system was able not only to catch poachers, but also to put a stop to poaching within a few years. The subsequent recovery of most wildlife species including desert-adapted black rhino and elephant from near-extinction can be largely attributed to local communities and their leadership being directly involved in wildlife conservation, in partnership with NGOs and Government.
This early initiative evolved into the national government-led communal conservancy programme in which more than 50% of Namibia’s communal or state land is under community conservation status.
Record number of rhino adoptions
We are very happy to announce that 6 of our adoptive rhinos have found “parents”. We would like to thank these organisations and individuals for being part of the solution to securing the future of Namibia’s unique, desert-adapted black rhino. You can also make a difference!
Become a friend and supporter of SRT through the Adopt a Rhino programme by adoption a rhino for a one year period.
Rhino Ranger Backpack project
The Rhino Rangers have dedicated their working lives to the protection of the rhino, spending the majority of their time in the field, covering large distances on foot and being exposed to the harsh elements of a desert environment. However, Rhino Rangers need to be equipped with field uniforms and gear, and those need replacement on an annual basis given the demands of the environment and the frequency of use. This has become a significant annual burden on the available budget. In recognition of this, and as part of our efforts to get Rhino Tourism to contribute towards costs of rhino conservation efforts and making the project more sustainable, Ultimate Safaris’ Conservation Travel Foundation launched the PACK FOR CONSERVATION programme in 2018.
Partnering with Cymot an online portal was created where guest travelling to Namibia, can purchase much needed field uniforms and gear on a cost recovery basis. The CTF facilitates the official handover of the uniforms and gear to SRT. Our hope is that this active and regular guest participation in the acquisition of these uniforms and gear will make this replacement and the continuing growth of the programme sustainable.
“We really wanted to offer a solution for guest's desire to do good and bring along ‘gifts’ when coming on holiday. Pack for Conservation speaks exactly to that and also offers the instant satisfaction of personally handing over ranger kits, making the issue of ranger kits sustainable and entirely supported by tourism. Ultimate Safaris conceived the idea and with the help of Cymot we were able to make it a reality. Since launching in July we have already raised in excess of N$ 50,000 in ranger kits, and we couldn’t be more excited by what lies ahead." Tristan Cowley [Managing Director, Ultimate Safaris].
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