Wilderness Safaris and Olympus have partnered up to ensure the ongoing conservation of Africa’s remote wilderness areas whilst contributing to the empowerment of local people through conservation education.
The partnership was officially announced during the ITB Berlin travel trade show on March 8.
The two main elements of the partnership will focus on enhancing photographic skills for interested guests in all regions where Wilderness Safaris operates, and to make a positive impact on social development by supporting a scholarship programme for secondary and tertiary education run by Wilderness Safaris’ non-profit partner, Children in the Wilderness (CITW).
This collaboration has already seen Olympus provide lightweight and compact OM-D photography equipment, as well as Olympus binoculars to 20 Wilderness Safaris guides and camp managers from Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. German Photographer and Olympus Ambassador, Michael Poliza has also conducted guide-training workshops to ensure that Wilderness Safaris guides are able to provide insights and recommendations to guests who are interested in photography.
Wilderness Safaris’ guests will also be given a unique code to be able to purchase Olympus equipment online at a discounted rate, with 10% of all proceeds being donated to CITW.
“We are proud to partner with a like-minded company like Olympus, which not only shares our love for wildlife photography but also a similar set of values and ideals about making a bigger positive impact to our world and our place in it”, said Dave Bennett, Wilderness Safaris Chief Sales Officer.
Bennett continued: “This partnership gives us the opportunity to offer our guests a further value-add during their journey with us, which, in turn, helps us to continue using high-end ecotourism to make a dramatic and far-reaching impact to the conservation of Africa’s pristine natural heritage.”
Ali Kiani from Olympus commented:” It is when someone visits a place like Africa that we realise how valuable it is to capture the moments that would otherwise be forgotten. Each picture tells a unique story and we are delighted to have partnered with Wilderness Safaris to provide the tools to keep these stories alive and capture them. We are excited that through this partnership we will be able to contribute to Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in partnership with a company that has a proven history of making positive change.”
