Biosphere Expeditions is delighted to be announcing the opening of the Biosphere Expeditions Hanyini Research Station in the Caprivi region of Namibia. The Research Station is a model for sustainable development, local people benefitting from wildlife conservation, as well as local job & capacity creation.
Biosphere Expeditions Hanyini Research Station - twin room huts
The new Research Station will provide a much needed base for work in the area on the border of Mamili National Park where we are running a new expedition this year concentrating on five of Africa’s largest carnivore species – lions, leopards, spotted hyaenas, cheetahs and wild dogs. The station was built by our local scientists, Julia Gaedke and Francois de Wet of the Wildlife Community & Development Fund (WCDF) and funded by Biosphere Expeditions through a very simple, but effective model. Biosphere Expeditions provides an interest-free loan to the scientists and this loan is then paid back over the years with the scientists providing “free” accommodation for Biosphere Expeditions' research teams until the loan is paid back.
That way we generate capacity, local jobs and facilities and in the end our scientists have a research station that belongs to them for their research & conservation work and that generates income and provides employment for local people. A "win/win situation" for everyone concerned.
Biosphere Expeditions Hanyini Research Station - shower & toilet block
Situated right on the border of Mamili National Park, the Biosphere Expeditions Hanyini Research Station boasts 14 twin room huts, an office, a kitchen & communal area, showers, toilets, stores & a workshop and elephants migrating past on an almost daily basis. It is built from local materials using local labour exclusively on community land in the Caprivi region of Namibia and provided employment for 25 local people during its construction phase and now 12 for its day-to-day running. Local resources are not touched as the station is self-sufficient in its power generation, biological sewage treatment and has its own water source and biological filter system.
The station will serve as the base for Biosphere Expeditions' Caprivi expedition and negotiations with universities and NGOs are under way to also make the station one of their research bases.
Biosphere Expeditions Hanyini Research Station - the central area with kitchen, dining room, etc.
Kathy Wilden, a Biosphere Expeditions Director, says "we at Biosphere are immensely proud to be involved in this project and to have our name on this brand-new, important and certainly beautiful Research Station. It will stimulate research, provide local employment and help secure the future of conservation in and around Mamili National Park. Mamili National Park, the Caprivi expedition’s main study area, is directly adjacent to famous wildlife hotspots such as the Okavango and Chobe National Park in Botswana, but it is rarely visited by foreigners at all and as such is one of the last true wilderness areas left in southern Africa. We are delighted to be well placed now to make sure that this wilderness is protected and enjoyed in a sustainable way for future generations."
