At Natural World Safaris we frequently monitor the social, economic and environmental impact of our travel operations to ensure we are at the forefront of a sustainable and ethical tourism industry. We aim to work collaboratively with our partners and suppliers who we view as crucial stakeholders in the natural and cultural experiences we offer.

By the nature of bringing visitors into an area in a responsible way, bespoke safaris contribute significantly to local economies, communities and to the protection of wildlife and habitat, via payments to the ground operators, land and lodge owners. While we do not employ people on the ground directly, our carefully selected partners employ local naturalists, safari guides and specialists whose activities support and sustain their environment and educate and enlighten visitors.

We endeavour to design creative itineraries and adventures that not only excite our discerning travellers, but that actively support grass-roots projects in the destinations we travel to. In some areas this allows us to give our clients unique access to protected habitats, where they can learn about research and track endangered species. We also support a number of conservation projects worldwide and are an active voice for habitat preservation both in the UK and in our destinations. We don’t have one charity we support, rather some favourite projects that we have personal experience of and where we know our presence can offer a tangible positive impact.

Africa

Natural World Safaris and our clients directly contributed £240,000 to projects in Africa. Of this, a significant proportion funded gorilla permits across Rwanda, Uganda, Republic of Congo and Central Africa Republic, positioning NWS as a significant contributor supporting primate conservation in East and Central Africa.

A further £7,100 was raised to fund the essential work of the Gorilla Doctors, funding Kianjavato’s lemur research and reforestation in Madagascar and supporting the Uganda Conservation Foundation.

In Mozambique £3,100 was raised to assist in the relief efforts of African Parks following the devastating cyclone Idai while in Botswana funds went towards the multiple community upliftment programmes co-ordinated by Travel for Impact. Some £3,700 was raised to support a research-led expedition for the Madagascar Whale Shark Research Project.

In June 2018, Natural World Safaris were proud to be selected as one of only a select few industry travel partners who would form African Parks' Conservation Travel Initiative. Formed in 2000, African Parks have taken on the rehabilitation and long-term management of 15 national parks and protected areas throughout the continent, including Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo and Zakouma National Park in Chad Together we are committed to advancing African Parks’ conservation work and engaging travellers in the NGO’s public-private-partnership model.

Polar Regions

In the polar regions we participate in the Clean Up  Svalbard campaign offering logistical support to help clean up marine debris around Svalbard during our trips. Our expedition ships support the removal of between 3 – 4 tons per season.

We also support scientific data collection in a challenging region for field scientists to access. Programmes supported include Happywhale which tracks individual whales and Icewatch, which tracks the progression of sea ice melt in summer. Observations of the age, type and topography of sea ice are first collected from ships operating in the Arctic, then submitted to an open-source network.

Financially, we contributed to the Basecamp Foundation to balance the carbon footprint created by our clients’ air travel to the high arctic. We were also delighted to secure a future pledge of $10,000 for Polar Bears International to cover half the expenses of maternity den monitoring.

Asia

In Asia we were able to contribute £6,000 to conservation projects, primarily supporting the big cats of Asia through donations to the Snow Leopard Trust, Siberian Tigers in Russia, and TOFTigers in India.

We also donated equipment in the form of much-needed camera traps to the Siberian tiger research. Setting and collecting camera traps is a vital method of monitoring this species in the wild.

We are really proud to support the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sabah, Borneo. The sanctuary is designed to raise awareness and encourage research into the survival of this amazing animal. For each of our small groups that visit the centre in Borneo we donate US$100 to the centre.

Latin America

As news filtered through of the 2019 forest fires in Brazil, we were devastated to learn of the damage caused to the Caiman Ecological Refuge, where the Onçafari Project is based. 60% of the Caiman Ecological Refuge’s 53,000 hectares were destroyed, and although the fires were dealt with thanks to the courageous efforts of staff, neighbours, firefighters, the army and the police, Onçafari faced the daunting task of rising from the ashes.

After consulting with Onçafari, we chose to make a donation to go towards the construction of a new rewilding enclosure, and were delighted when many clients joined us in raising funds for Onçafari.