RETURNAfrica

RETURN AFRICA

Sustainably protecting Africa’s vast wild parks is something that we at Jamma take very seriously.

Makuleke boys dancing

JAMMA INTERNATIONAL

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Parfuri, at the far north of the Kruger National Park, is one of Africa’s most spectacular landscapes, where wildlife including elephant, buffalo, and big cats roam free across a transfrontier park that spans three countries. Pafuri is one of South Africa's top birding locations with more than 450 species recorded. 

RETURNAfrica partners with local communities to develop, market and manage high quality visitor and safari experiences at iconic destinations in Southern Africa in a way that benefits all. 

Partnerships that return benefits to the land and all it sustains.

RETURNAfrica works with local communities to create meaningful and sustainable benefits. They provide employment, training and skills development for community members and make direct financial contributions to projects which respond to a range of pressing needs. Eco-friendly amenities and skills development all play their part in nurturing the environment and improving lives. RETURNAfrica’s projects are carefully selected and responsibly governed. Offering unique visitor experiences, RETURNAfrica’s ethos focuses on making local partnerships work for conservation and development.

RETURNAfrica is a safari lodge operator engaging local communities and communal land-dwellers to commercialise rights held by them, and thereby securing the success of local conservation initiatives.

Under a long term agreement with the Makuleke community RETURNAfrica operates a collection of safari products in the Pafuri area in the northern part of the Kruger National Park,  South Africa. This provides the Makuleke people with a substantial fee income and important employment opportunities.

These communities rely heavily on tourism-sourced revenue which has been severely impacted during 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic. With the vital assistance of Jamma, RETURNAfrica supports three “Drop-In” centres – one in each of the three Makuleke villages.

The Drop-In centres provide after-school care for the most needy and impoverished children of the villages – including many orphans and children from child-headed households. In many instances, the Drop-Ins provide the children with the only solid meal they will have all day. 100% of the funds received are utilised to purchase food and firewood for cooking. The staff of the Drop-In centres are all community members who volunteer their services.

“If tourism is to be the revenue generator from nature conservation, then local communities need to be invested and share the rewards.” - RETURNAfrica

“When you reach the edge of the map and settle into this peaceful corner of Africa, it’s good to know that you are supporting a sustainable form of tourism, one that shows humans and wildlife can share the wilderness, for the benefit of both.” - RETURNAfrica

In Sub-Saharan Africa, conservation is morally contested. This project explores some of the most important and contentious issues around conservation and sustainable use that are affecting people in Sub-Saharan Africa, where there appear to be major rifts between local and external moral worldviews. Jamma International is supporting this project in collaboration with the University of Oxford, Cornell University, and WWF Germany. The focus of this project is primarily on conservation areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
People
Planet

Morally Contested Conservation

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RETURNAfrica operates a safari lodge and two trail camps in Pafuri located in the most northern part of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. After having been driven away from the area at gunpoint in the 1960s the Makuleke people do now, as a result of the South African land restitution process, own the land with freehold title.

Despite this, they continue to live in three villages some 60 km away from Parfuri. Through RETURNAfrica Jamma funds a Drop-in Centre in each village where disadvantaged children can go after school to get a cooked meal and be assisted with their homework. These centres cater for approximately 450 children each day.
People
Planet

Return Africa

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JAMMA INTERNATIONAL

Interested in finding out more about our values, projects and processes?

Contact us

JAMMA INTERNATIONAL

Interested in finding out more about our values, projects and processes?

Contact us

Contact us

+44 1234 5678910
mission@jammainternational.com

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