African Safari Foundation

Dear all. The African Safari Foundation has closed down.

Our Community/Public/Private partnership models for community benefit and commercial rights have been widely adopted. We set out to show how more respectful and inclusive community private partnerships were the right way to do business on community owned conservation land. The directors agreed that we had achieved this and our role was not longer needed.

We and our partners will continue to support communities in our work or private capacity but not through the ASF. Thank you for the support and efforts by our CBO, conservation and private sector partners who did the right thing.
Steve Collins
February 2026.

Rather than seeking to impose external conservation processes and institutional structures, collaborations that respect the multilevel governance and political structures of Indigenous and local peoples allow the robust and appropriate production, strengthening, and transmission of complex knowledge and diverse resource use practices in and through ICCAs. As Indigenous and local peoples across the globe have long advocated, their voices, concerns, and needs must take precedence in the existing and new conservation governance arrangements that involve their ancestral territories and embrace multifunctional landscapes. Rather than espousing the exclusive wilderness territories as an antidote to the ills of the Anthropocene, externally funded, designed, and implemented conservation initiatives must now align with or cede to Indigenous and local governance initiatives that drive research, policy making, and variegated landscape management.

Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness The environmental crises currently gripping the Earth have been codified in a new proposed geological epoch: the Anthropocene. This epoch, according to the Anthropocene Working Group, began in the mid-20th century and reflects the “great acceleration” that began with industrialization in Europe ...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/living-bee-fences-protect-farmers-from-elephants-and-vice-versa/

Living ‘Bee Fences’ Protect Farmers from Elephants, and Vice Versa A string of hives between posts can fend off the pachyderms better than other deterrents, research shows

We support this work done by Resource Africa to mobilise and assist community leaders organise for better benefits and more control of natural resources.

Community Leaders Network - Resource Africa “We are the custodians of our natural resources and the key to its sustainability. Our voices matter" Our primary goal is to increase recognition of the right of peoples to sustainably use and benefit from the resources on their land and enhancing community leader’s ability to engage and exercis...

This is why the ASF exists and supports land claimant communities in South Africa and community conservancies in southern Africa.

Human rights must be at heart of new biodiversity framework, experts say The planet’s wildlife is disappearing at unprecedented rates and ecosystems are deteriorating rapidly, according to a growing number of studies. This is why the world’s largest biodiversity conference, COP15, taking place later this year, could be an important moment for the planet. But one of t...

Go to www.barefootguide.org for excellent community organising resources.

The Barefoot Guide Connection A global community of practice producing free Barefoot Guides and fresh resources to stimulate transformative approaches to social change

This is why we support southern African communities getting clearer custodial rights and tenure on high biodiversity land.

New UN report shows evidence that Indigenous and Tribal Peoples are the best guardians of the forests of Latin America and the Caribbean Improving tenure of forests by Indigenous and Tribal Peoples can lower deforestation rates and biodiversity loss, avoiding C02 emissions, but more investment is urgently needed to address rising threats.