With Africa’s rhino and elephant poaching worsening by the year, Charlie Mayhew, founder and chief executive of conservation charity Tusk, says nations must pass tougher legislation or risk losing their prized wildlife. In early December, four black rhinos were found dead at the Lewa Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya. They had been shot. The news was shocking: this was Africa’s most secure facility. Protected by 150 armed officers, it had gone from 1995, when it was founded, to 2010 without losing a single rhino.

“Raw.” The simple, but evocative word Susan Fanning chooses to describe Africa. After spending a good chunk of her life on the continent (11 years), native Irishwoman Susan decided to return once again and continue her love affair with the country and its people. This time, she spent it within the Maasai community through a Maasai Warrior Training program put together by Laura Alessandrini and Silas Kitonga. Silas is a Maasai from Il ‘Ngwesi, the area where Maasai Warrior Training takes place.

By Angie Aspinall

Our main reason for visiting Mauritius was to learn about the nature conservation being carried out on the island. It was, therefore, with a great deal of excitement that we learned we had been granted special permission to visit the conservation areas of the Frederica Nature Reserve in Bel Ombre: areas which are not open to tourists, but are the preserve of conservationists – and rare bird species.

By Polona Vida Čeligoj

Kafuli – which in the local Dioula language means ‘a gathering of different people’ – is a local grassroots organisation running a variety of projects, from foster parenting to programs in education, fair-trade agriculture and responsible tourism. Yes, you heard right – it’s small but it actually runs all of these projects.

By Leif Ryman

Kyabobo is Ghana’s newest national park, stretching over 360 square kilometres and contiguous with Fazao National Park, just across the border in Togo. Kyabobo’s Breast Mountains, so named for the distinctive shape of two adjacent hills, are at its front door. The rest of the park is surrounded by dry plains that rise into hilly terrain covered in semi-deciduous forest.

By Roger Wynne-Dyke

As part of a new initiative, Roger Wynne-Dyke and Maddy Savitt have been travelling to the lesser known parts of South Africa to see if there is more than meets the eye, if there is beauty outside of Cape Town, animals outside of Kruger and contrasts outside of the Garden Route. They were sure they would find an easy yes to that answer but what they really found was a whole new country, a country full of smiles, cultures, smells, flavours, tastes and so much genuine hospitality.

Ali Dempsey

Global Basecamps and Maasai Wanderings strive to make education easily accessible and free to the Maasai children of Ilkurot, with the hope that educated Maasai will be better equipped to aid in retaining their ancient culture. In addition to providing valuable educational opportunities to children, Ilkurot Nursery School also supports teachers and cooks by offering employment, and promotes additional cultural tourism throughout the village.

Association “Neni E” (meaning “Neni, Yes!”) was founded in 2004 by two French brothers, who had lived with an African family for four months and observed the tourist flow passing by the village of Neni. The Association aims to provide a different way to discover the Dogon Country: in a humane, ecologically responsible and ethical manner, giving the travelers a real insight into the life in an African village.

Basecamp Foundation Kenya and Mara Naboisho Conservancy, in collaboration with The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), will celebrate the World Tourism Day (September 27th, 2011) in Maasai Mara, a national game reserve in Southwestern Kenya. The celebration will be hosted at Koiyaki Guiding School, at the heart of the Conservancy and will focus on this year’s WTD theme, “Tourism Linking Cultures” and tourism’s role in bringing the cultures of the world together and promoting global understanding.

By Kim Houghton, Marketing Manager, African Impact

Volunteering offers an opportunity to see and experience a culture in a way that’s not possible through conventional travel. By visiting parts of the world not available as a normal holiday destination, you become immersed into a local community. No longer bystanders on the side of the road, volunteers, with dirty hands and broad smiles, are integrated into the local community in a way they would not have been before.