Loziba Wilderness Reserve, South Africa

Situated In the heart of spectacularly scenic Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, our partner Loziba is an established wildlife conservation area that is fast becoming a catalytic revenue generator for local communities in the area and an extraordinary example of sustainable community conservation. 

Join us for a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about conservation from behind the scenes, while experiencing the beauty of the untouched wilderness of rural Zululand. The new Loziba Wilderness project will see the creation of a 25,000 hectare Big 5 wilderness reserve and is being established based on a wildlife economy, generating meaningful benefits to landowners and surrounding communities whilst conserving valuable cultural and natural heritage.

Participants on the trip will work alongside conservationists and rangers taking part in workshops and practical experiences on a wide variety of topics covering anti-poaching techniques, snares, APU tactics, black rhino and wildlife range expansion, camera traps, scientific data collection, animal collaring (leopard and elephant) and tracking. In addition, you will visit local communities and schools and delve into all of the complex issues surrounding human-wildlife conflict mitigation, eco-tourism, and sustainable development alongside wildlife. 

Toward the end of the trip we will spend three nights at the Mkuze Falls Game Lodge, a “Big 5” private reserve overlooking the majestic Mkuze River.

This trip is open to high school age students traveling with parents or adults traveling without children. South Africa has very strict travel restrictions for youth under age 16, so we cannot accommodate unaccompanied minors. 

We can’t wait for you to join us on these life changing adventures.

COST

$4,700, not including air fare to South Africa

GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATION

This trip is open to high school age students traveling with parents or a guardian, or adults traveling without children.

Our trips are intimate, hands-on experiences, maxing out at 14 participants.

Itinerary

Meet the Expedition Leader

Ellen O’Connell has led delegations to over 84 countries globally including 22 African countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, East Timor, Thailand and other parts of Asia. 

She is the Founder and President of Sankhara, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in non-profit management, governance and social enterprise. She is passionate about conservation, climate change, human rights and the environment and has spent over three decades in the non-profit arena pursuing her conviction that philanthropy plays a transformative role in the world. Ellen also serves as the President of Ngaren, Inc., an ambitious project spearheaded by world renowned conservationist, paleontologist and politician Richard E. Leakey to create a platform for state-of-the art science education and storytelling and a museum in the Rift Valley of Kenya, dedicated to telling the story of the origins of humankind through the lens of climate change and adaption.  

She is a Strategic Advisor for the Terra Conservation Initiative and a board member of Friends of Wildlife Justice Commission. And she was previously the Executive Director of Prince William’s charity, Tusk USA. From 1999 to 2014, Ellen served as Vice President at the humanitarian aid organization, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Associate Executive Director at Covenant House New York from 1991 to 1999 and the Director of Fundraising at Covenant House International from 1989-1991. In 1997, she designed and opened a social entrepreneur for-profit restaurant in Greenwich Village in NYC, that provided job training to at-risk and homeless youth.  Ms. O’Connell graduated in 1987 from Georgetown University with a BA in English and received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Wagner School of Public Service, NYU in 1991 and a Masters Degree in Anthropology at the New School for Social Research in 1995. She completed coursework for her PHD in Cultural Anthropology at CUNY and has a certificate in Executive Non-profit management from Columbia University.  

Terms of Payment

Your non-refundable $500 deposit is due on or before January 15, 2022

Payment in full is due on or before May 10, 2022

Upon receipt of your deposit you will be contacted by a Terra representative to schedule a Zoom call. We will assist you in answering questions regarding the expedition, including insurance, medical, and visa requirements, as well as in finalizing room and additional activity reservations.

Note that a portion of your payment is tax deductible as a donation through Terra Conservation Initiative, a sponsored program of Ngaren Inc.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation 31 days or more before the arrival date: deposit not refunded.

Cancellation 30 days or less before the start of services: 0% refunded. Can be rescheduled if COvid-related disruptions occur.

Malaria: Malaria exists in South Africa; please consult your family doctor to get the best form of prophylaxis for you.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Placement of an order with Terra on the Givvor fundraising platform for this trip is taken as acceptance by the customer of these terms and conditions.

1. INTRODUCTION

Please remember when reading through these terms and conditions that we would bend over backwards to try and solve any problems that could arise during your trip. We will do our utmost whenever necessary to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible, and 99 times out of 100 it does. Customers are asked to remember that things don’t always go quite to plan in Africa, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea as they do elsewhere.

2. LIABILITY

The company takes no responsibility for loss, damage or injury arising from any shortfall, error or omission in the information passed to the customer during the sale or subsequent delivery of the product. The company takes no responsibility nor can be held liable for loss, damage, or injury that occurs on a supplier’s or service provider’s premises or transport, or between two such premises.

Some of the elements sold by us inherently have a risk factor involved for the customer (e.g. diving, safari, walking safaris, trekking, flying, mountain climbing etc.) and we take no responsibility for the consequences of the customer taking on such risks.

It is the responsibility of the client to check the correctness of the services invoiced.

3. INSURANCE

Customers are required to provide for themselves all necessary insurances against personal injury, loss, medical evacuation, medical assistance, hospitalization, damage, theft, cancellation, delay etc.

All customers are responsible for ensuring that they have full insurance cover that includes rescue and hyperbaric recompression (if diving) from the moment that they first place their order and covering the whole period before, during and after travel.

We strongly suggest that you take out travel insurance to cover you in the event of inability to commence travel due to health reasons and medical insurance whilst abroad. This should be taken out in accordance with the terms and conditions of most travel insurance policies with cancellation and curtailment benefits.

4. THE BOOKING PROCESS

To place a booking with the company, the client will make a non-refundable deposit of $500 through the GIVVOR platform.

In the case of a last-minute booking (less than 60 days in most cases but occasionally 90 depending on the service providers used) the booking must be paid for immediately.

5. BOOKING AMENDMENTS

5.a Changes to a booking

Should you wish to make a change to your booking, then we may need to charge an amendment fee to cover additional administration costs. We will inform you of these before making any changes.

5.b If the changes involve the actual cancellation of any element of the booking, standard cancellation charges will apply. Changes which involve adding to an existing booking can usually be carried out without an amendment charge.

6. CANCELLATION

We often use charter dive boats, small establishments that book up months in advance, or lodges within national parks that have to pay their park fees in advance. We work with a range of service providers in different countries and they often have different cancellation policies. We inform you of the cancellation policy applicable on your invoice and this is the one applicable. We will do our best to work with our suppliers and you to ensure that you can make a claim for a full refund from your insurance company. 

7. DENIED BOARDING

If your journey starts in the EU, you must work within the EU denied boarding law. Your airline must cooperate with you. You are however, still liable for the costs of your booked

safari/diving/hotels/tours/services etc. The company will make every effort to help re-arrange your journey, but you will NOT be entitled to any refund due to your non-appearance for any sector or sectors or services of your journey.

8. TRANSFERS

The company is not liable for any knock-on effects arising from the failure of any one element of a sale, such as the non-departure of a boat or plane. Any cancellations arising thereof will be completely the responsibility of the customer. It remains the customer’s sole responsibility to arrive and depart and travel between all elements of a trip. The customer must check with local transport operators the exact times and schedules for transport. There are departures on which a failure can cause serious knock-on effects.

9. INVOICING

Invoicing is in US Dollars. Once a booking is paid for, the price is guaranteed except in the case of surcharges.

10. SURCHARGES

In some cases suppliers feel the need to pass on surcharges to us for exchange rate fluctuations, fuel price increases, extra government park fees, or changes to VAT regulations.

The company reserves the right to pass on to customers any increase imposed on us by our suppliers.

11. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT

If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (hotel, safari company, dive center) immediately who will endeavor to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved, please contact us as soon as you can, and email or text message is generally the most efficient.

11.a You must communicate any complaint in resort to the supplier of the services in question. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on holiday. Most issues can be dealt with straight away.

11.b Usually we can act quickly to resolve any such problem satisfactorily. Claims arising from problems through which the customer has suffered in silence and not given the provider or ourselves the chance to rectify, only to issue a complaint well after the event, will not be entertained.

11.c Transport complaints.

It is not uncommon for the transport methods employed on our trips to run with delays, or to run below operational standards that would be regarded as normal in Western Europe or North America. We cannot accept any claim of any nature which relates to any failure of transport operators to conform either to timetables supplied by us or to their own timetables or arising from deviations from operational standards by transport operators whose services form part of our itineraries (whether original or amended).

11.d Post service complaints procedure

In dealing with an unresolved complaint post trip, you must contact us within seven days of the end of our service. Please bear in mind that when determining whether a refund is due, we will need to negotiate with the supplier in question after your return.

Please also note that placing negative feedback on the internet usually negates any power that we have to negotiate on your behalf.

12. PASSPORT, VISA AND IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS

Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

The placing of a deposit/booking with Terra for services implies that you accept these booking conditions.