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Madikwe Safari Lodge is committed to operator Conservation Corporation Africa’s (CC Africa) 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 – Madikwe Safari Lodge will contribute significantly towards improving the prosperity and living conditions of the communities surrounding the Reserve.
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Set in South Africa’s North West Province, Madikwe Game Reserve was established in 1991 when a number of degraded or mismanaged farms were bought by the government to be amalgamated into a vast protected area. Following habitat restoration work, a massive reintroduction programme dubbed Operation Phoenix returned all of the large mammal species known to occur in the region historically. After completion in 1997, Operation Phoenix was the world’s largest game translocation exercise, successfully reintroducing more than 8000 animals of 28 species. These include lion, rhino (both black and white), elephant and buffalo, making it a Big Five Reserve since leopard already occurred in the area.
In line with CC Africa’s vision, Madikwe Game Reserve is run as a joint venture between the North West Parks Board, the private sector and local communities. Strategy has been finalised by the North West Province to establish a 30 000 hectare (74 130 acre) Heritage Park, linking Madikwe and the Pilanesberg Game Reserves and creating one of the largest conservation areas in South Africa.
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Ecotourism in Africa: Our guests play a significant role in helping us realise our dream and vision: to create a model in wise land management, integrating international travellers and rural people to their mutual benefit and showing 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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