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SOSSUSVLEI MOUNTAIN LODGE, NAMIBIA
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Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge is totally committed to CC Africa’s core principle: Care of the Land, Care of the Wildlife, Care of the people.
CC Africa’s focus: Community equity, income generation, education and health care are a primary concern. In consultation with community organisations such as the Africa Foundation – originally founded by CC Africa, now a not-for-profit rural development organisation – CC Africa has contributed significantly towards improving the prosperity and living conditions of rural communities. Namibia’s intriguing cultural mix comprises Ovambo, Kavango, Herero, Damara (descendants of San Bushmen), Himba and Nama peoples.
Conservation:
The NamibRand Nature Reserve has reclaimed
184 000 hectares of the pristine Namib Desert for conservation. It is the largest private nature reserve in Southern Africa, of which Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge owns
13 000 hectares (32 123 acres). A monthly percentage of our revenue is contributed to the upkeep of the Reserve.
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NaDEET Educational Centre:
Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge offers its expertise and contributes financially to NaDEET - the Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust. It is a non-profit organisation aimed to empower Namibians to make decisions for a sustainable future. Unique, hands-on, experiential environmental learning programmes are offered to schools, youth and educator groups.
Sossusvlei’s soup kitchen:
With a generous donation from a guest, Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge was able to set up a soup kitchen to assist the street children from the poverty-stricken Maltehu community. Ongoing funding is provided to keep the kitchen up and running, and many children and families have benefited from the project.
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Ecotourism in Africa: Our guests play a critical role in helping CC Africa realise our dream and vision: to create a model in wise land management, integrating international travellers and rural people to their mutual benefit and demonstrating that wildlife can be preserved on a sustainable basis by all.
Positive Health Programme:
CC Africa strongly believes in its people and was recently listed as one of three finalists in the Investor in People category of the 2005 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. The October 2005 edition of Africa Geographic featured an article on AIDS and conversation, and highlighted the activities and
programmes that various African companies are implementing in order to increase AIDS awareness and, in doing so, empower the communities taking
care of some of the world's richest wilderness regions.
"Probably the most attractive program ... is that of CC Africa... CC Africa launched a Positive Health program in 2003 and in April and May last year ran two seven-day courses.... Their approach focuses on home-based care, gardens, counseling techniques and gender issues.... The health of the
habitat is critical to the health of the individuals in it.... The conservation industry is uniquely positioned to take the treatment of
HIV/AIDS in radically new directions.... Benefits [of the program] include acquiring 'hard skills' such as maintaining clean water, producing food, and home-based methods of dealing with illnesses that are not life threatening.... It takes only the will of ecologically minded people to make
sure that the wild places are not lost."
Africa Geographic, October 2005
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