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WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL

WILDERNESS SAFARIS NOAHS ARK

CASE STUDY

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Founded in 1983, Wilderness Safaris originally established itself as a mobile camping tour company, offering Original Experiences in Pure Wilderness. It has since grown to 2,700 employees in seven countries.

With wildlife and unspoilt nature as its core business product, Wilderness Safaris recognised very quickly that conservation of the local environment in which it operated would only work if the respective local communities were actively involved in its management, development and operation, and directly benefited from tourism. It also recognised the need for the company to make a longterm commitment to the well-being of the communities in which it operated to offer opportunities for education, empowerment and social development.

Wilderness Safaris operates 70 lodges and camps in seven countries, including Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi and the Seychelles. It also operates an air charter company and eight locally based tour companies. These provide support services that enable guests to move easily across its range of properties. It attracts some 40,000 guests a year, of whom around 90% are international tourists.

The companys business is to build sustainable conservation economies. This is manifested in three core company objectives:

Build a thriving successful commercial business Build long-term strategic value in and around its footprint through investment in initiatives that conserve biodiversity and carbon sinks, and Build social equity though investment in human conservation initiatives.

Wildernesss ideology We believe that the worlds wilderness areas will save humankind resonates in its ultimate vision to foster a legacy of conservation for future generations.
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CASE STUDY

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM POLICIES

1-2 QUEEN VICTORIA TERRACE, SOVEREIGN COURT, LONDON E1W 3HA, UK TEL: +44 (0) 20 7481 8007 FAX: +44 (0) 20 7488 1008 EMAIL: bestpractice@wttc.org www.wttc.org

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BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY:

WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL

CASE STUDY

NORTH ISLAND, SEYCHELLES A NOAHS ARK OF BIODIVERSITY

Background

The Seychelles archipelago is home to some of the worlds rarest animal and plant species. For nearly 200 years, North Island was farmed, primarily for the production of copra dried coconut pressed to make coconut oil. In order to improve farmers access to the coconut areas and to private gardens, the majority of the hindering vegetation was cleared. After the collapse of the copra industry in the 1970s, the island was abandoned by the resident population and it subsequently became heavily populated with rodents, feral farm animals and alien weeds. As a result, most of the endemic animals and plant species disappeared over time.

The Project

In 1997, the island was purchased by Wilderness Safaris and its partners, with the intention of restoring the islands natural habitat and creating a sanctuary for the reintroduction of some of the Seychelles and the worlds most endangered animals and plants. The project was called Noahs Ark, signifying its effort to help save rare species on the verge of extinction. A small, exclusive luxury lodge was constructed as a business venture and as a way of helping to support the project.

Great care was taken in building the 11 private luxury villas on North Island so as to ensure they were of low environmental impact. This was achieved through the incorporation of many materials recycled from the removal of alien species on the island (including Casuarina trees), the careful restoration of some of the original coral-stone farm buildings, and the use of environmentally sensitive techniques to minimise the lodges impact on the islands ecology. The design framework supported the tourism brand logo of the Seychelles at the time: As Pure As It Gets.

The rehabilitation and restoration of the islands natural habitat has proceeded systematically, carefully and rigorously, with funding for the project provided both by the income from the lodges and through the Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded by Wilderness Safaris to support its community and conservation projects.

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Results and Achievements

WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL

CASE STUDY

Of major importance was the eradication of invasive species on completion of the building of the lodge and prior to its opening. Over one million rats, which had had a devastating impact on native birds and other wildlife, were eradicated. Once the eradication process was more or less complete, endemic plants and animals started to be reintroduced, including the Seychelles Giant Tortoise, the Coco-de-Mer palm tree and, in 2007, 25 Seychelles White-eyes, a critically endangered bird species. Only native species of plants have been used for landscaping, and no exotic flowering plants have been introduced.

The rehabilitation and reclamation continue, with the reintroduction of other species planned including the nearly extinct Seychelles Magpie Robin, the Seychelles Warbler, and the Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher. In addition, the beaches of North Island have seen a 70% increase in endangered Green and Hawksbill Sea Turtles coming to lay their eggs.

A win-win synergy between the business and the conservation programme is now also clearly evident. The success of the conservation project and the restoration of a pristine tropical island habitat with endemic plants and animals combine to create a key attraction for guests, who pay upwards of 1,835 per person per night to stay on the island.

Lessons Learned

While developing North Island, it became clear that, contrary to Wilderness Safaris initial expectations, tourism was not only benefiting from its conservation efforts, but was also the major contributor to them. As a result, it changed the platform of Wilderness. Instead of being in the business of creating journeys and experiences for discerning globally caring travellers, it moved into the business of building sustainable conservation economies, employing three interdependent verticals: Tourism we show, Conservation we care, and Awareness we share.

The experience with North Island also taught Wilderness that investments in sustainable practices did create significant long-term value for the business and, more importantly, it taught the company that its investments in conservation issues should be viewed, in its business, as a component spend and not as a surplus spend.

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WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL

CASE STUDY

NEXT STEPS

With the successful completion of the Noahs Ark Project Wilderness Safaris intends to:

Migrate these lessons throughout its business, always maintaining the culture of respecting and improving Share the lessons learned with the community to advance sustainable practices Continue to grow the business, expanding into regions that richly complement the companys biodiversity footprint.

1-2 QUEEN VICTORIA TERRACE, SOVEREIGN COURT, LONDON E1W 3HA, UK TEL: +44 (0) 20 7481 8007 FAX: +44 (0) 20 7488 1008 EMAIL: bestpractice@wttc.org www.wttc.org