Both Grootberg and Hobatere Lodge support various initiatives to achieve further benefits for the local community, in addition to job creation in the area.
A small percentage of the revenues generated by these two businesses, owned by the #Khoadi//Hoas Conservancy, is transferred into a trust fund aimed at assisting access to education for the most disadvantaged children in the area. The trust provides financial support for children whose parents cannot afford tuition fees, boarding school, books, stationery and school uniforms. A committee formed by conservancy members, local teachers and representatives of Journey Namibia decides on an annual basis how to allocate those funds, considering the following:
The total cost of supporting a child enrolled in primary school is N$1 130.00 for a full year:
The total cost of supporting a secondary school student is N$3 150.00 for a full year:
We also plan to renovate and extend Eduard Garoeb Primary School including the kitchen, dormitory and classrooms. At present there is only one toilet for more than 250 children, and beds in the dormitory have no mattresses. An estimated N$1 000 000.00 needs to be raised to complete all the renovations.
If you want to join us in this effort to support the education of the children of #Khoadi//Hoas, you are welcome to donate the equivalent of 1% of your bill (or more, of course). Please feel free to contact Simonetta Musso, HR Director at Journeys Namibia, or Mr Asser Ndjitezeua, Chairman of the Conservancy, with any questions related to the Education Fund or to find out more about how you can get involved to help.
Thanks to the success of the conservancy’s conservation efforts, populations of wild animals have shown a steady increase in the conservancy area.
Not only the numbers of herbivores have grown but also those of larger carnivores. As a result, incidents of livestock lost to predators intensified human-wildlife conflict within the reserve. In partnership with the Grootberg Lodge and Hobatere Lodge management the conservancy has devised a plan to lessen the impact of human-wildlife conflict.
Since the establishment of the Predator Fund, Grootberg and Hobatere Lodge donates N$50.00 to the fund for each guest sighting of a predator during an activity at the lodge. Lion, cheetah, leopard, wild cat, caracal and spotted hyena are included in the list. The fund was set up to compensate farmers for losses caused by predators.
The secondary purpose of the fund is to generate enough capital to start a lion collaring campaign. Collared lions are easier to monitor, which would help the conservancy in notifying local farmers when predators are in the area. If warned in advance, farmers can move their cattle to safer grazing and thus prevent losses.