conservation and ethos
Harnas soundly believes in “life lived extensively” and take their role in conservation and protection of Namibian wildlife, land and its people seriously. Due to human encroachment on these animals’ natural habitat the necessity of Harnas is needed. With human activities such as hunting, poaching and buying and selling of wild animals, it is becoming increasingly hard to prevent and improve on the given situation without the help of foundations like Harnas. Without them the eventual extinction of certain wild African animals will be difficult to prevent.
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In principle, Harnas is against the confinement of wild animals, unfortunately however there arise occasions when this is unavoidable. Through the years these occasions have become our focal point. Some of these tame animals are no longer able to adjust to living in the wild and orphaned baby animals lose their basic survival instincts. Once wild animals have lost their fear of humans, they become their own worst enemy. These animals learn that where there is a human population, there is easy access of food. This creates a dangerous situation for both people and these wild animals. All animals retain the instinct to hunt, but never learn how to correctly and actively do this in captivity. Their daily survival skills, in the wild, can only be learned through trial and error. Most of these animals did not have the opportunity to observe and copy their mother or other members of the group. |
With release into the wild, there is a very high mortality rate in previously captive animals. There is also a shortage of safe and hospitable release sites for large carnivores and all wild animal species in Namibia. It takes a great deal of manpower, effort and money to successfully monitor a newly released animal and ensure its survival. Harnas provide animals that have nowhere else to go with the opportunity to live in semi-wild roaming area. This is the safest place for those animals that cannot be successfully released. The Harnas family does everything possible to avoid resettled animals from being used for hunting. To combat this Harnas launched a program called the “Harnas Life Line Project”, wherein Harnas will relocate various predator species under monitored circumstances which will also allow for the thorough research of these animals.
Harnas has a clear policy of employing as many people from the local community as possible, thereby supporting their social economical growth and well being. The result is a sense of conservation for the community and the indigenous animals.
mission
A harnas is a protective breastplate, usually worn into battle. Our mission at Harnas is to protect an environment that includes all forms of life, as well as the knowledge and ideas that ensure its sustainability.
Our conservation principles were further founded in the Bible:
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden as its gardener to tend and care for it.Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them and told them multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. You are masters of the fish and the birds and all the animals.
The world is in a state of emergency. There is a great imbalance because man has mismanaged the planet’s natural resources to a point where we now stand at the edge of a catastrophe. Harnas represents an attempt to redress this inequity using knowledge, experience and education. On a National level, we invite economic investment to Namibia through tourism. This, in turn, creates jobs and new skills for locals who inform guests and volunteers from around the globe about conservation awareness, research and our rescue center. |
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vision
The Harnas Management Team has developed a strategy to address the operational and financial future of Harnas Wildlife Foundation. It is the beginning of a dream of utilizing tourism to provide sustainable income for all who live on Harnas, including the animals, local employees and Harnas family.
| Harnas is becoming a leader in eco-tourism in Southern Africa by establishing a conservation model area using the best business and practices to benefit the animals of Harnas. The Harnas Management Team appreciates that nature and wildlife conservation will succeed when we include the surrounding communities and stakeholders in the conservation area. The leading camps and lodges in Southern Africa have voluntarily established community empowerment programs. |  |
These are aimed at sharing the returns of environmentally responsible tourism with the people living around the wilderness areas. This is precisely what Harnas wants to achieve, establishing a game reserve for orphaned, injured and neglected animals from which the surrounding communities can benefit.
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The vision of the Harnas family is to transform a large part of Harnas into a self sustainable nature reserve where specific species can be released. Certain enclosures are constructed to hold new arrivals, sick and injured and animals that cannot be rehabilitated. Over time we will purchase further land to enlarge this designated “safe release site” and in this method try to restore the land and indigenous animals. Harnas would then function as a low impact tourism organization. |
The overall effect, for those who come to experience Harnas, will be to have the unique opportunity of experiencing the unspoiled African wilderness and culture with the knowledge that they are contributing to both the conservation and development in this vulnerable rural area.