Since Grootberg Lodge was built to benefit and uplift the local community, various initiatives have been launched since its completion.
Currently, 46 members of the conservancy are directly employed by Grootberg Lodge. Another nine employees are from outside the community. We are also strongly committed to support the #Khoadi//Hoas community by directly assisting with access to education for the most disadvantaged children from the area. The education fund has made money available for the renovation of one of the only two primary schools in the Grootberg area. The fund also assists with tuition fees if parents cannot afford them and other requirements in connection with the children’s education.
With the support and direct engagement of the public we plan to renovate Eduard Garoeb Primary School including the kitchen and dormitory. At present there is only one toilet for more than 250 learners and beds in the dormitory are without mattresses. An estimated N$1 000 000.00 needs to be raised to complete all the renovation and refurbishing work.
A scholarship programme has been set up to support needy learners with funds for boarding school fees, education materials and school uniforms. Children are selected by a committee, composed of members of the community and Grootberg Lodge management, based on the following criteria:
The total cost of supporting a child enrolled in the primary school is N$1 130.00 for a full year, consisting of:
The total cost of supporting a learner at a secondary school N$3 150.00 for a full year, consisting of:
Should you wish to join us in the effort to further the education of #Khoadi//Hoas’ children, we appreciate a donation amounting to 1% of your bill (or more, of course, if you wish to!) for keeping a child at school or for renovating the school. Please feel free to contact Simonetta Musso, HR Director at Journeys Namibia, or Asser Ndjitezeua, Chairman of the Conservancy, for more details on the Grootberg Lodge Education Fund or how you can get involved.
Grootberg Lodge also works closely with the Namibian Lion Trust. For more information on the NLT and how to get involved with the project, visit https://namibianliontrust.org/
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 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.