Conservation Travel Africa

Conservation Travel Africa has a vision to restore Africa’s wildlife and wild areas to their previous abundance and to re-establish areas where communities and wildlife can live and prosper in harmony.

We recognise that to overcome the conflict between man’s prolific expansion and the preservation of wildlife in Africa, overseas support is needed to raise awareness of the issue and contribute towards its solution. Wildlife-based tourism, and in particular volunteer tourism, has a big part to play in the delivery of these solutions and enables local communities to share the benefits which come from overseas visitors and ensures the protection of wildlife areas for future generations.

The initiatives which our volunteers get involved with are existing projects which have been set up to meet a need identified in that region and have long term environmental or community principles. We believe that supporting these projects is more beneficial and meaningful than setting up a new project simply to meet the desire of an overseas volunteer.

Our programmes endeavour to use responsible tourism practices to build sustainable economies in Africa which place increased value on wildlife and environmental conservation from the ground up.

Our volunteer programmes cover two main areas; conservation management and community development:

Conservation management - the understanding, management and protection of wildlife and ecosystems. Our programmes help to protect these through the provision of anti-poaching support, helping with veldt management programmes, indigenous tree planting and alien species removal, reintroduction of animal species and habitat profiling.

Community development - to ensure a value is placed on conservation and wildlife protection, communities need to be educated, aware and supportive. We work hard to engage with the communities which either own the land we operate on or live adjacent to these areas, in a mutually beneficial and transparent manner and help to foster an appreciation and pride in their wildlife and natural heritage.