A few of the Projects Funded By DTours
Travel with Purpose
Here are a few of the incredible projects funded by Dtours. See more of the projects funded by Tanglewood Foundation.
Creating Change Through Education
This project uses art to get the message about the value of rhino to entire schools at a time in "risk" areas around parks.
During the first visit the team spends 30 minutes with the students explaining the poaching problem and how important the Rhino had been to their ancestors, how important they are in the “circle of life” in the bush and how they help provide income to the community by bringing visitors who provide jobs in the tourism industry. Tourism is one of the major sources of employment in the remote areas around the game parks. The children are then given an A3 paper with the outline of a Rhino and asked to colour this in and add their personal message to the art.
Mukingie Hospital
Funded by DTours Zambia 2018
The Zambian DTours Expedition raised $121,000 USD to build the hospital in Mukingie. All the bricks were made onsite with local tradespeople, it truly is a Mukingie Community initiative. Medical equipment is being sourced from Europe and the Hospital is on track to open up soon.
The DTours 2018 group visited the hospital to see the progress and meet all of the incredible people involved in the project.
Stopping The Demand for Rhino Horn
Reducing the demand for rhino horn in the end consumer countries is the most essential strategy to stop the poaching. “Nature Needs More” uses techniques pioneered by anti-smoking and road safety adverts to publish demand reduction campaigns in Vietnam.
The campaigns directly target the end users – wealthy Vietnamese and Chinese men who use rhino horn as a ‘status good’ to negotiate business deals. “Nature Needs More” has also identified by user interviews that end users do not wish to buy farmed Rhino horn. This negates the position taken by advocates of Rhino farming that Rhino could be farmed like cows and have their horn harvested.
The Zululand Anti-Poaching Wing
(ZAP- Wing)
ZAP-Wing is assisting rhino anti-poaching operations in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. ZAP-Wing currently provides surveillance for 26 State and private game reserves (+300,000ha of protected area) and contributs significantly to the conservation of over 3,000 White and Black Rhino. It is pioneering a new way of using aviation as an important resource for conservation and wildlife crime needs.
The 2014 DTours donated £5000 to Brent Stapelkamp's research & protection of the lion population in Hwange National Park
Brent Stapelkamp has been studying the lion population and been using amazing unconventional methods to train them out of wandering into civilian areas. He has GPS trackers on the lion and can alert his team of locals via WhatsApp when a young lion is approaching a civilian area.
They round up some neighbours and fan out in a long line. Their GPS will tell them where the lion is and everyone creates as much noise as possible, blowing their vuvuzelas. They light firecrackers, beat drums. At times, the lion charges but is met with people all blowing their vuvuzelas at the same time, not moving, standing their ground. The lion stops short. They’ve called his bluff. He turns and runs away.
Brent has seen 50 percent fewer cattle killed because of this type of work compared with all those years before the program, and due to this the locals are happy to allow the lion to live in the area without culling the populations.
It is an incredible story, please follow the link above to read more.
Bringing impoverished children together through sport and educating them on conservation.
Matsetso stars was started by Jane High, who lives in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. She received a letter from some youngsters who had tried to start their own football team. These kids lived in a traditional village known as Matsetso which was known as the poorest neighbourhood of Chimanimani town. Matsetso has a high proportion of disadvantaged kids and HIV orphans who live on the edges of the golf course in Chimanimani.
They have a Youth Centre with library and computers and where they hold a weekly power point presentation on issues which affect them, in particular environmental issues such as Climate Change, fires, care of our Trees, soils and rivers. Jane believes sport teaches many valuable life lessons to children but her larger vision is that this Sports Program be used to teach them how valuable and how vulnerable their natural heritage in Chimanimani really is. With help from local tourism businesses and tourists, children who were previously unable to attend school receive school uniforms, supplementary feeding and their school fees paid.
Tanglewood Foundation is sponsoring one of their students, Tim to complete his birding training so that he can become a bird guide for tourists in the area.