Matiti Safaris
Our Social Responsibility
"Creating a strong company and building a better world are not conflicting goals
They are both essential ingredients for long term success!"
Live, Travel & Act Responsibly
At Matiti Safaris we endeavour to protect and enhance our environment and community.
We commit to superior service by embracing Eco Awards and Travelife standards, ensuring our dedication to exceed expectations is harmoniously aligned with the tenets of responsible tourism.
Our promise of the highest professional integrity is not only towards our clients but also towards the environment, as we continually strive for sustainable practices that support and enhance the ecological well-being of our destinations.
In doing so, we lead by example, offering our clients an experience that is both ethically and ecologically considerate, without compromising on excellence.
There is a lot of information regarding responsible travel. We believe that no matter what we do, we should do our best to ensure we act and live responsibly, and since travel is part of our lives, this extends automatically to travel.
We strive to protect our natural environment in our daily lives, in our working environment and by extension in the holidays we create. We aim to empower our team and the community where we live and work, not because it is fashionable or good for marketing, but because if we can all do our little part in our daily lives and actions, together we can ensure a more pleasant and sustainable working environment, community, town, country and world.
We still have a lot to learn and we strive daily to improve, below are a few projects we are passionate about :
Working with rhino rangers
A number of our private and scheduled departures include an excursion with a local rhino ranger in the remote Damaraland region of Namibia, in search of rhinos that live freely in this area.
This activity supports local rangers, trained by the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), in rhino protection. When they go out with our customers on a tour, it allows them to share important information about the environment, their work, the rhinoceros and to keep an eye on the area at the same time. In 2019 we organized a rhino training camp for all our guides, together with the Save the Rhino Fund, sponsoring the food and vehicles for all the teams for the training, as well as 2 cameras and 2 Gps’ses for the rhino trackers to assist in anti-poaching efforts.
In 2018 the Save the Rhino Trust Association working in the Kunene region was proud to announce the birth of 9 rhinos in the Erongo-Kunene region, compared to 0 rhinoceros killed by poachers.
A victory in the protection of these animals and the fight against poaching! Rhino + 9; poachers 0 !
Support for local communities
Matiti Safaris is committed to helping disadvantaged communities, especially in the Katutura township north of Windhoek, but also participates in other projects around Windhoek:
Some of the projects include:
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Trips for street children to various areas of Namibia to show them the beauty of the country (places visited include: Etosha, Swakopmund, Waterberg, Okonjima, NamibRand Nature reserve).
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Special events for children in Katutura such as Easter decorations or baking Xmas cookies.
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Soup kitchens with various institutions in Katutura (generally includes donations of blankets and/or clothing).
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Tree planting and assisting with payment of water for those trees monthly at the Family of Hope Centre.
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Participate in the Clean-up project of Windhoek.
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Participate in the cactus clearing project.
Discovering all their country has to offer, and having fun at the same time ...
Kids in Etosha
Kids in Swakopmund
Christmas Party
Easter Party
Soup Kitchens
Contributing to environmental associations in Namibia
We contribute to a number of environmental non-profit organizations working towards responsible tourism and environmental preservation in Namibia, including TOSCO (Tourism Supporting Conservation), Namibia Scientific Society, NEWS (Namibian Environment & Wildlife Society).
TOSCO supports scientific research, those who live with wildlife and public awareness for the benefit of all and is committed to increasing the positive impact of tourism on three levels:
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Economic : by creating financial benefits for local communities
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Social: taking care and respecting traditional and local cultures
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Environmental : by protecting biodiversity (fauna, flora, landscapes).
Matiti Safaris is one of the main sponsors of TOSCO on several platforms of the association to support its various projects. These platforms include: annual membership fee, voluntary payment of a fixed contribution for any person making riverbed excursions in the Damaraland region (especially in search of desert elephants, that is to say in Huab / Aba-Huab, Hoarusib, Ugab ...), once-off project funding during the year (eg for counting wildlife in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and other associations).
Go Green Matiti #Less Plastic Is Fantastic
In order to increase the quality of our service, we offer filtered water to our travelers during our guided tours. In the past this meant many plastic bottles that were discarded when empty.
To improve our ecological footprint, and reduce plastic pollution in Namibia, travelers now receive a water bottle as a welcome gift, which their guide will fill with regularly tested filtered water transported in sterilized 10 liters reusable containers.
Let's keep Namibia picture perfect!
Go Green #Carbon Off-Setting Program
There is an invisible pollution during travel in Namibia which is that of the engines of our vehicles. Tourism is responsible today for 8% of global warming. The good news is that trees can clean some of this invisible pollution long after we have left ! But someone still needs to plant them.
Since 2018, Matiti Safaris has been actively involved in the nursery project with TOSCO and ELOOLO PERMACULTURE. From 1 January 2019, this program is automatically included in all our scheduled departures as well as being offered optionally for private departures.
The goal is to propose to travelers to reduce their ecological footprint in Namibia during their trip by sponsoring the project that allows to offset the carbon emissions emitted by vehicles.
This is a major step towards more sustainable tourism that we take together. We need to lead the way and participate in the efforts to reduce global warming.
ELOOLO plants trees with the local community and schools that will benefit from these trees and take care of them. This also allows families to increase their income and enjoy the food source and shade provided by the trees.
Vulture adoption project
Vultures are an extremely important part of our eco system. In our continued efforts to be part in protecting Namibia’s environment Matiti Safaris has “adopted” a vulture from an organization called Vultures Namibia.
Vultures Namibia install tracking devices on vultures for the purpose of following their movement, allowing them to identify the locations the birds spend a lot of time in. This enables them to ensure that these areas are safe for the vultures .
Although many vultures breed in national parks, game reserves and protected areas, they often feed on farms and communal areas. Here they become victims of the struggle between farmers and predatory mammals attacking domestic livestock.
For reasons of sustainability (and because we appreciate the diversity of our amazing Namibian wildlife), we are sponsoring the airtime costs for one vulture with its tracking device for one year.
In exchange we receive regular updates on the vulture’s movement and location.
We decided to name the vulture “ZAZU” – meaning movement in some languages.
Training teams in the foreign language
Matiti Safaris has always been committed to training its teams (guides and consultants) in their respective fields, but also in the French language. A dozen Namibian guides are now considered French-speaking and accompany your travellers on their French-speaking guided tours. The training of guides and consultants is done through courses in our offices with a dedicated teacher.
Investment in real estate
Investing in real estate is one way to help people earn extra income. It is difficult for a person in Namibia to be able to buy their home on their own. We therefore created employee associations within Matiti Safaris that allows people from our team to invest and be a shareholder in real estate. Once this investment is paid, they reap profits from the rent paid.
Other projects
We have a number of smaller projects that allows people from our community to make a living, these include:
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sewing of cotton bags to replace plastic shopping bags
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creating wire animals as gifts for our clients
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offering all our guests on camping organic trips firelighters made in Namibia from invasive bush
Matiti Safaris gets 5 flowers at ECO-AWARDS
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The Eco-awards Namibia program is a partnership between private and government institutions that rewards and promotes responsible tourism in Namibia. Each accommodation or tour operator may request to be evaluated by an inspector who is part of the program. The classification of 1 to 5 flowers then depends on the candidate's social and environmental commitments.
Certification is awarded for the 3 years after the results are obtained.
Matiti Safaris applied in 2019 and after an inspection of our premises and during a guided tour, we were awarded our classification in the five flower category for the next three years.
This is a reward for our commitments to create journeys with a positive impact for all and a great motivation to develop new programs and ensure that Namibia remains a preferred destination for travelers looking for authentic encounters and untouched nature.
CONTACT US
Physical address:
17 Parsival Street,
Windhoek, Namibia
Office number :
+264 (0) 61 259 041
24 hour service number :
+264 (0) 81 128 4020