CONSERVATION AND CULTURE

Garth Owen-Smith and Dr Margaret Jacobsohn, conservationist and anthropologist, are people of rare vision. More than two decades ago during the darker years in what was then called the Koakoveld, now Kunene Region, in a time of war, drought, poaching and apartheid they went against current conservation thinking that saw local people as ‘the problem’. They believed that communities who lived with wildlife were, in fact, part of the solution. Wildlife had been alienated from local people by colonial conservation policies and the only way communities could benefit from what was previously theirs was to poach it. If local ownership was restored to communities, wildlife might survive. Garth and Margie formed the non-government organisation Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation to facilitate and promote this philosophy. Today, many local and international awards later, IRDNC’s early pilot projects have grown into a government supported national Namibian conservancy program involving one in five rural Namibians. By 2009 communities had registered 60 conservancies and another 30 are in the process. Join these legends on an intense journey into the heart and soul of Koakoveld. Few people know more about the Kunene Region, its wildlife and environment than Garth who started working here in the 1960s. Margie spent five years with the Himba people working as an anthropologist in the north-west from the mid-1980s before joining Garth to found IRDNC. Since then they have dedicated their lives to community-based natural resource management. Submerge yourself in this vast and breathtaking environment; learn about the fascinating culture of the people. Come and hear the history of an African success story from the people who helped write it. This experience brings you closer to people and places and it provides insights that you will not obtain any other way. This tour will extend from Wereldsend in central Damaraland, northwards into the five member conservancies of KCS. The exact route will be determined by events and activities in these conservancies.

Partenze

Quota di iscrizione e assicurazione medico/bagaglio

50,00 €

Note prezzi

Assicurazione annullamento viaggio

È possibile sottoscrivere un'assicurazione che copra la mancata partenza per cause gravi e imprevedibili al momento della stipula. Il costo è pari al 5,00 % dell'intera quota di partecipazione al viaggio.