Ultimate Safaris, through their Conservation Travel Foundation (CTF), in 2023 donated a total of N$8.5 million to various projects across Namibia. This, according to the company’s latest audited financial statements, includes around N$1.8 million for the provision of solar power within the Tsiseb Communal Conservancy, N$1 million for the construction of predator-proof kraals (which is in addition to the roughly N$1.3 million spent by the CTF on predator-proof kraals in 2021), and over N$3.5 million donated to aid the efforts of conservation organisations such as the Desert Lion Conservation Trust, AfriCat, TOSCO Lion Rangers and Communal Conservancy Rhino Rangers.
Save the Rhino Trust’s coordinated Rhino Rangers programme also benefitted directly through the Ultimate Safaris-led Pack for Conservation initiative, which, in partnership with Namibian camping and outdoor supplier Cymot, allows anyone from visitors to the country to interested individuals both within and outside of Namibia, to buy dedicated Rhino Ranger gear online via a secure platform and have it delivered directly to the Rangers on the ground. Founded in 2006 by Tristan Cowley, later also a co-founder of Ultimate Safaris, the aim of the Conservation Travel Foundation has been to partner with Conservation Travel to bring about tangible, positive impacts on ecosystem conservation and the socio-economic development of rural communities in Namibia. Cowley, now Ultimate Safaris’ managing director, explained that “as a safari operator, we wanted to enrich the lives of communities and enhance the areas we visit, as well as the guests who travel with us. The Conservation Travel Foundation has allowed us to achieve that in the most transparent way”.
From humble beginnings where only a few hundred dollars a year was raised, the CTF has, over the past three years alone, been able to deliver over N$24 million worth of support. The foundation has also developed long-term relationships with conservation partners such as the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the Rare and Endangered Species Trust, the Lion Recovery Fund, the Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation and the Namibia Chamber of Environment, as well as Namibian and numerous international funding partners.
“With the support of Ultimate Safaris, through the Conservation Travel Foundation, we have been able to enrich the lives of the children at the school,” said the vice principal of Grootberg Primary School, Tommy Haxabeb.
Flip Stander of the Desert Lion Project said the effort and support provided by the CTF “will aid substantially in the conservation of Desert Lions”, and Save the Rhino Trust’s Jeff Muntefering, thanked the CTF for their support in their time of need, adding the support received from the foundation would “contribute greatly to the success of the Rhino Ranger programme.”
In a bid to ensure that all the money raised by the CTF goes to the projects that they support, Ultimate Safaris provides pro bono administrative and logistical support to the foundation.