Good causes supported by RTN
Lets build a brighter tomorrow together.
True wealth is not acquired through earthly possessions, but by leading a fulfilling life. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing you have made a palpable difference in the lives of other people.
The Inpact on Conservation:
“Only when the last tree has died and
the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we
realize we cannot eat money.” - Indian Proverb
Peter Stark, then park warden, confronting eliphants that broke through Etosha Park fences and hearding them back into the park. In memory of the white bushman.
Conservation is a cornerstone of the Namibian experience. Namibia was the first African country to incorporate protection of
the environment into its constitution, and the government has reinforced
this by giving its communities the opportunity and rights to manage
their wildlife through communal conservancies.
Today, over 43% of Namibia's surface area is under
conservation management. This includes national parks and reserves,
communal and commercial conservancies, community forests, and private
nature reserves. After Independence in 1990, visionary conservationists in the
field and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism enacted policy
changes that allowed rural communities to benefit from wildlife by
forming conservancies. In 1998, the first four conservancies were
registered. Today, more than 70 registered conservancies embrace one in
four rural Namibians. A sense of ownership over wildlife and other
resources is encouraging people to use their resources sustainably.
Wildlife is now embraced as a complimentary land use method to
agriculture and livestock herding. People are living with wildlife, including predators and
large mammals, and are managing their natural resources wisely. They
are also reaping the benefits. In 2009, community-based natural resource
management generated over N$ 42 million in income to rural Namibians.
All the while, the program is facilitating a remarkable recovery of
wildlife. Namibia now boasts the largest free-roaming population of
black rhinos and cheetahs in the world and is the only country with an
expanding population of free-roaming lions. Namibia's elephant
population more than doubled between 1995 and 2008 from 7,500 to over
16,000 individuals. This remarkable turnaround has led some to call
Namibia's conservation efforts the greatest African wildlife recovery
story over told.
A better world today tour by RTN
This project is aimed at both the visitor and the local role players, both the conservationists and the local inhabitants in remote conservancies where communities and wildlife share the land and the challenges that face them respectively.
On one hand you have people in a barren landscape in a never ending drought where subsitance farmers toil to make a living and from time to time human wildlife conflict arises in that lions and other cats kill the cattle, sheep and goats, or eliphants wreak havok in the people's fields, hippos and crocodiles that attack both people and their animals alike. Last year over 500 head of cattle was lost in Namibia to wildlife. In this conflict people retaliate and cases of poisening of wildlife has been documented. Just recently there was a case of a eliphant bull that crushed a man and that the mnistry disposed of it. The conflict is real between man and beast and the casualties are very real. Last year 6 people lost their lives to wildlife in Namibia.
On the other hand you have conservation efforts like Save the Rhino, The desert lion project, the cheetah conservation foundation, the desert eliphant program, africat, harnas and many many many others. All of these privide amazing support to both the wildlife and to the communities in the conservancies. This takes shape in educating the communities about turning to tourism as a source of livelihood, the establishment of rest camps in conservancies for tourists, providing jobs and enpowering the communities economically as it provides jobs and revenue, schools fr these communities, providing much needed education and in turn provides the community with skill sets which in turn relates to economic upliftment. Education in Namibia makes note of preserving the enviroment, to prevent littering and to see nature and the wildlife there in as a resource and not as a problem. Assistance to these communities even takes shape in term of health care where there are areas in the noth where malaria is still very much killing people. Its things like new boreholes that provide water to people who previously had to walk for miles on end to get water and basic sanitation that promotes the well being of these communities. Conservation in Namibia has led to incredible sustainable upliftment for such communities.
San kids being taught in their mother tongue.
It is in this spirit of benevolance that RTN has set out to create specialized tours that will take you to experience all this first hand, to see Namibia, the wildlife, its people, the conservationists and help in your own little way as you see fit, after your tour you will be able to come to RTN and say, that community we visited, I want to have XY and Z done for them. Your will, our hands. We want to raise awareness amoungst our travellers, especially the youth, the future is in every one of our hands, if our kids will still be able to see a Rhino is very much within our realm to effect. We look forward to making this world a better place with you.
The Economic Inpact:
This project is aimed at both the visitor and the local role players, both the conservationists and the local inhabitants in remote conservancies where communities and wildlife share the land and the challenges that face them respectively.
On one hand you have people in a barren landscape in a never ending drought where subsitance farmers toil to make a living and from time to time human wildlife conflict arises in that lions and other cats kill the cattle, sheep and goats, or eliphants wreak havok in the people's fields, hippos and crocodiles that attack both people and their animals alike. Last year over 500 head of cattle was lost in Namibia to wildlife. In this conflict people retaliate and cases of poisening of wildlife has been documented. Just recently there was a case of a eliphant bull that crushed a man and that the mnistry disposed of it. The conflict is real between man and beast and the casualties are very real. Last year 6 people lost their lives to wildlife in Namibia.
On the other hand you have conservation efforts like Save the Rhino, The desert lion project, the cheetah conservation foundation, the desert eliphant program, africat, harnas and many many many others. All of these privide amazing support to both the wildlife and to the communities in the conservancies. This takes shape in educating the communities about turning to tourism as a source of livelihood, the establishment of rest camps in conservancies for tourists, providing jobs and enpowering the communities economically as it provides jobs and revenue, schools fr these communities, providing much needed education and in turn provides the community with skill sets which in turn relates to economic upliftment. Education in Namibia makes note of preserving the enviroment, to prevent littering and to see nature and the wildlife there in as a resource and not as a problem. Assistance to these communities even takes shape in term of health care where there are areas in the noth where malaria is still very much killing people. Its things like new boreholes that provide water to people who previously had to walk for miles on end to get water and basic sanitation that promotes the well being of these communities. Conservation in Namibia has led to incredible sustainable upliftment for such communities.
San kids being taught in their mother tongue.It is in this spirit of benevolance that RTN has set out to create specialized tours that will take you to experience all this first hand, to see Namibia, the wildlife, its people, the conservationists and help in your own little way as you see fit, after your tour you will be able to come to RTN and say, that community we visited, I want to have XY and Z done for them. Your will, our hands. We want to raise awareness amoungst our travellers, especially the youth, the future is in every one of our hands, if our kids will still be able to see a Rhino is very much within our realm to effect. We look forward to making this world a better place with you.
The Economic Inpact:
Travelers seldomly realize the extent to which their holiday trip has a
very direct impact on the well being of others, much further than just
myself as their guide and not to mention conserving the wonder that is
nature and this place.
From
the moment you arrive here, be it the car you rent, that directly
supports a missionary and his family, the guide who puts a roof over his
and girlfriend's head, to the establisment we stay at that employs the
waiter that serves you, the bartender, the cook and even the gardner as
well as the reception lady, to the lodges and wildlife parks where the
direct concervation of the enviroment and wildlife happens on the ground
in the form of park wardens and the support staff at the workshop that
makes sure the game drive 4x4 is in sound condition. All of these
people, you have a very direct impact on and you make a big difference
in the lives of these folks.
