Wilderness

Founded in 1983, Wilderness is an important pioneer of a modern eco-safari ethos that places a high emphasis on environmental awareness and sustainability whilst offering a top-quality bush experience to guests. Focussed mainly on Southern Africa, it has more than 40 small high-end camps, most of which stand on community land or in private concessions, and which it operates in partnership with local people and/or ecologists. As a result, guided activities at Wilderness’s camps are strong on exclusivity, and often venture into remote wilderness areas to which it has more-or-less exclusive access.

Wilderness initially started up in Botswana and it remains an industry leader there, operating more than a dozen camps in the Okavango Delta alone. It also has well-established camp circuits in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, while more recently it expanded into East Africa with the opening of new properties in Rwanda and Kenya.

Ground-breaking sustainability milestones in Wilderness’s early years included forging a partnership with the Torra Community in the Damaraland region of Namibia, with its unique populations of desert-adapted elephant, black rhino and lion, and reversing the extinction of black and white rhinos in Botswana through the implantation of a government-sanctioned programme of reintroductions.

In 2001, it established Children in the Wilderness, a non-profit organisation that facilitates sustainable through the education of young Africans. Another non-profit offshoot, the Wilderness Wildlife Trust, has funded more than 150 conservation and community projects across the African continent since 2007.

An industry leader when it comes to environmentally-friendly camp practices, Wilderness pioneered Botswana’s first 100% solar-powered camp in 2009, since when it has also gradually phased out the use of bottled water at all its camps. Wilderness’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, combined with the exceptional quality of its camps and guides, and the exclusive experiences on offer, has earned it several dozen international awards over the years.