The Wilderness Wildlife Trust, an independent non-profit entity associated with the Wilderness Group, supports a wide variety of projects across Africa. The projects and researchers that it supports address the needs of existing wildlife populations, seek solutions to save endangered species and provide education and training for local people and their communities.

The Trust focuses its work in three key areas:
Research and Conservation – including species studies, monitoring of populations and understanding human-animal conflicts.
Community Empowerment and Education – such as community upliftment and the Children in the Wilderness programme.
Anti-poaching and Management – including aerial surveys, anti-poaching units and increasing capacity for researchers in general.

The goal of the Trust is to make a difference to Africa, her wildlife and her people.

Children in the Wilderness is a non-profit organisation supported by ecotourism company Wilderness Safaris, which aims to facilitate sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of children in Africa. 

Insight, care and commitment are required to conserve Africa’s pristine wilderness and wildlife areas. If we are to ensure that these places continue to exist – in this generation and those to come – we need the rural children of Africa to understand the importance of conservation and its relevance in their lives. Hence, our Children in the Wilderness programme: an environmental and life skills educational programme for children, focusing on the next generation of decision-makers; inspiring them to care for their natural heritage and to become the custodians of these areas in the future.

This is achieved in a variety of ways – from hosting Eco-Club programmes at local schools, to running camps at Wilderness Safaris and partner camps, for the children within the rural communities that live on the edges of the wild areas of Africa.

Did you know that Africa’s lion population has almost halved in the past 25 years? Habitat loss and fragmentation, illegal wildlife trade, bushmeat poaching and human-lion conflict continue to threaten lions across Africa, – which are now classified by the IUCN as Vulnerable, with the West African subspecies Critically Endangered. Yet lions are a resilient species and a turnaround is still possible if these key issues are addressed. The Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) was established by the Wildlife Conservation Network in 2017, in partnership with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, to reverse this sharp decline in lion populations. The future of Africa’s irreplaceable wilderness and wildlife, and the ecotourism industry are inseparable from the future of the African lion. Wilderness Safaris is therefore proud to have partnered with the LRF and other leading ecotourism operators to launch the Lionscape Coalition – an innovative initiative that has seen commercial competitors come together to help secure a future for Africa’s lions and the restoration of their landscapes. By joining forces for lions, we are collectively showcasing our dedication to conservation, and exceeding our reach beyond the mainstream tourism circuit to other areas in dire need of support.