Local enterprise

Grootberg Lodge has just 12 rooms but plays a vital role in keeping thirty jobs going in Namibia.  It is the country’s first middle-market establishment to be 100% owned by the community. The Khoadi Hoas Conservancy was set up in 1998 to manage wildlife and tourism and it now has 6,500 members.


The European Union donated  $US650,000 to fund the Lodge project through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism's Development Programme. And the private sector is supplying training and management skills until the community becomes self-sustainable.
Conservation is the driving force but additional Lodge benefits are:

• Increasing direct job opportunities in a poorly developed area
  
• Supporting marginal people with schemes such as building schools, clinics
  
• Creating a community kitchen for the elderly and vulnerable groups
  
• Bursaries for promising pupils

Another aim is to reduce the animal/human conflict so that the locals will be more tolerant of the lions, cheetahs and elephants from a tourism perspective. Residents continue farming but collectively manage wildlife and other resources.  The conservation efforts mean wildlife can also be seen on the surrounding farmland in this area specially set aside by locals. But the income generated by the Lodge helps offset families’ losses when livestock is killed or elephants damage water installations.  The success of the Lodge is critical to demonstrate the value of the land-use that the conservancy is promoting.   The exclusive development area needs to show it pays to have “core” areas for tourism and biodiversity conservation.

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