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Help Save Giraffe from “Silent Extinction” with Hands-On Radio Collaring, Funding and Education on New Wilderness Travel Safari

Story by Wilderness Travel

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Namibia Safari Wildlife Conservation Wilderness Travel

Africa’s magnificent giraffe are an iconic symbol of the continent’s astounding wildlife, yet little is actually known about these gentle giants, and that has put them in peril. WildernessTravel is stepping up to help save the giraffe from extinction with a new world-exclusive one-departure conservation safari in 2017 that provides not thrilling safari experiences, but lets travelers play a part in saving this gentle giant from extinction by working with a researcher who is studying the giraffe.

On the 13-day Namibia: Giraffe Conservation and Safari, limited to just six people, participants will step into the heart of conservation in the country, traveling to a remote mobile camp to work with field biologists at the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, which operates the continent’s first ever long-term monitoring of the giraffe. Led by Dr. Julian Fennessy, Africa’s pre-eminent authority on giraffe conservation, travelers will each help put GPS radio collars on two giraffes after they are tranquilized.

“This safari puts you into the heart of one of the most hopeful stories of African conservation,” says Barbara Banks, director of new trip development and marketing for WildernessTravel. “Namibia has been incredibly successful with the only population of growing wildlife in Africa. We are looking to support these researchers, who have a difficult time funding such important work and who truly need our help. Our guests get to see the direct impact of their funds and even get directly involved on the front lines. This is the definition of a meaningful safari.”

WildernessTravel added this safari after the conservation group requested help from the company in the wake of their successful funding of two seasons of research of the desert lion in Namibia as a result of their In the Realm of the Desert Lion conservation trip. The trip sends six participants to work with Dr. Flip Stander, who has worked alone in the desert for decades tracking the path of this wild animal to help local communities save their livestock from attack and keep them from killing the lions as a result. The desert lion conservation safari has three departures in May, July and September 2017.

On the giraffe conservation safari, not only will participants to get learn about efforts to save the giraffe, but they will also enjoy traditional safari experiences, including tracking cheetah on foot at AfriCat, the world’s largest big cat rehabilitation project, and searching for leopard on the great salt pans of Etosha National Park, a World Heritage site. Travelers will also meet with field staff at the Save the Rhino Trust, to which WildernessTravel has contributed a full mobile camp, adding to the front lines of the defense to stop poachers. Safari-goers also get to interact with the semi-nomadic Himba people, as well as track the endangered black rhino and follow the desert-adapted elephant.

In addition, a separate tax deductible fee is added to the cost of the trip, 100 percent of which goes directly to support giraffe conservation efforts in the country. Namibia: Giraffe Conservation and Safari departs July 7, 2017 and is priced at $6895 per person double occupancy.

For more information or to book the safari, visit www.WildernessTravel.com or call 800-368-2794.