PHILOSOPHY

Through a variety of initiatives, we support local communities, focused on creating career opportunities in the tourism industry.

Leaders For The Future: By offering bursaries for tertiary education, the Leaders for the Future initiative is helping develop Botswana as a leading tourism destination. To date, approximately BWP380, 000 has gone into assisting students with their tourism studies. Students who have successfully completed their studies through the program are guaranteed work placements and career opportunities within the local travel industry.

Community Employment: With several of our camps and lodges within close proximity to communities, we create career opportunities in our organization for individuals from within those communities. Through ongoing training and development, staff members within our camps can expand their knowledge, forging a career within the Botswana travel industry.

Youth Trainee Development Program: The Youth Development Program focuses on creating workplace opportunities for youth from disadvantaged social environments. Working closely with the Khumaga Primary school, we offer career guidance, education assistance, day trips through the Makgadikgadi National Park, as well as lectures for the youth of the Khumaga Village. The Tsidillo Stimulation Centre offers direct aid and support for the children of Maun with learning, mental and physical disabilities.

Desert & Delta Safaris employs approximately 320 staff members within the eight safari lodges. Owing to the remote location of our properties and the amount of time staff members spend living and working in the camps, access to medical care is a challenge. In light of this and in an effort to better support our staff members medical challenges, Desert & Delta Safaris employs a full time company doctor.

Run as a family practice, the company doctor conducts regular visits to each of the properties within the circuit allowing him to get to know the staff members individually to understand their specific medical needs, not only administering a GP service but ensuring that the best medical advice and mentoring for all our staff is freely available.

Offering HIV/AIDS testing, ensuring anti-retroviral treatment is effectively administered as well psychological support are critical functions of the doctor, all done with complete confidentiality to ensure job security. All medical treatment supplied by the company doctor is funded by Desert & Delta Safaris.

Botswana is widely recognised as one of Africa’s most diverse and pristine natural environments with a large percentage of the country under national parks and protected by wildlife concessions. As custodians of this natural heritage, Desert & Delta Safaris understand the role we play in conserving and protecting the areas in which we operate.

Wildlife Conservation: Desert & Delta Safaris is active in our endeavours to raise awareness and further funding for the Botswana Rhino Relocation and Reintroduction program, an initiative which involves key Government departments together with the private sector, working together for the protection of the countries rhino population and donating $10 per bed night on our Leroo La Tau Rhino Package, a tour that has been promoted to our traveler network for over 10-years, is allocated to a rhino fund which is used for rhino conservation-related activities including direct support to the Botswana Rhino Relocation and Reintroduction Program.

The value of scientific studies in protected areas is of paramount importance to the sustainable use of natural resources. Desert & Delta Safaris financially supports the Peter Smith University of Botswana herbarium with and estimated BWP 50,000 per annum. The focus of the herbarium is to make their collection of preserved plants useful and accessible to a wider public, including those who plan for and manage the future of the Okavango Delta.

Sustainable Tourism Development: In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, Desert & Delta Safaris, through Chobe Game Lodge, has introduced Africa’s first fleet of electric powered CO2 emission-free vehicles and safari boats to the Chobe region. Offering a quieter and superior safari experience for our travellers, the vehicles and boats have dramatically reduced our usage of fuel and significantly lowered our carbon emissions at our largest property. Our solar projects extend beyond Chobe Game Lodge when we built a solar plant at Camp Okavango, ensuring the newly built camp runs entirely on renewable energy.

As members of Botswana Tourism, several of the Desert & Delta Safaris camps and lodges are EcoTourism rated, the highest status recognised by Botswana Tourism for sound sustainable tourism initiatives. This includes the usage of greywater treatment plants, careful waste management protocols as well as the use of sustainable building materials wherever possible.

As a Botswana owned and registered company, equality in the workplace is of fundamental importance to Desert & Delta Safaris. The Botswana safari industry is one of the country’s biggest contributors to GDP but has historically offered limited opportunities for Botswana citizens in senior positions within the industry.

Citizen Development Program: Through an annual training schedule, the Desert & Delta Safaris Citizen Development Program educates, trains and mentors Botswana citizens to help them acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to attain employment as camp managers. Owing to the ongoing success of the program, the Desert & Delta Safaris camps have been managed exclusively by Botswana citizens since 2014. An achievement which has had a profoundly positive impact on our business by creating career goals and growth for our staff.

Empowerment of Women in the Workplace: Further to creating more employment opportunities for Botswana citizens, Desert & Delta Safaris is committed to promoting gender equality by actively addressing the gender divide that exists within the travel sector. With this in mind, the current camp management group has a 50% female representation, highlighting the important role women play in management positions. Female empowerment is also brought to the forefront with Africa’s first all-female safari guiding team at Chobe Game Lodge.

At the heart of Desert & Delta Safaris is the Staff Wellness team who are committed to ensuring the well-being of our staff. This includes a deep understanding of the cultural and spiritual challenges our staff face working in remote locations away from home.

To ensure a healthy work environment, the staff wellness team are dedicated exclusively to coordinating regular visits from the company Pastor and spiritual leader. During these visits guidance talks, family advice and motivational classes and religious sermons are offered to the staff within the work environment.

This support structure ensures a healthy, happy and welcoming soul while solidifying bonds between our staff by creating a work environment that is conduction to a small family business.