Conservation Travel Foundation

The Conservation Travel Foundation was founded in 2006 by Tristan Cowley, later also a co-founder of Ultimate Safaris. From the onset, the objective of the Foundation was to partner with Conservation Travel to bring about tangible, positive impacts on ecosystem conservation and on the socio-economic development of rural communities in Namibia.

The early efforts of the Foundation raised a mere few hundred dollars a year. It now raises, and deploys, in excess of US$ 250,000 a year for conservation and rural development projects in Namibia.

Innovation and determination by many remarkable people and organisations have given Namibia one of Africa’s most amazing wildlife recovery stories. Desert-adapted black rhino, elephant, lion, Hartmann’s mountain zebra and giraffe have all emerged from populations on the brink of local extinction, to roam north western Namibia in healthy, if fragile, numbers. Throughout the country populations of wildlife of every description have increased dramatically – due in no small part to the establishment of Community Conservancies on Communal Land, the advent of legal ownership of wildlife on private land, and a facilitative Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

Conservation minded travelers are already making a positive impact as they embark on their life enriching journey, just by visiting Namibia. However, the effects of this can reach even further, and much of the real impact comes from partnerships formed with like-minded individuals and entities with similar values.