Torra Conservancy Kemp

Living with wildlife – the story of Torra Conservancy Kemp Torra – after the red ‘torra’ rocks predominant in the area Living with wildlife ‒ the story of TORRA CONSERVANCY TORRA offers an enchanting mix of Conservancies enable development and conservation over large areas... MILESTONES AND SUCCESSES 1995 – Damaraland Camp opens and becomes the first joint venture tourism partnership between a community and the private sector (Wilderness Safaris) in Namibia 1996 – policy changes allow communal area residents to benefit from wildlife and tourism by forming conservancies 1998 – Torra Conservancy is registered in June 1998 – Damaraland Camp wins an international tourism award, the Silver Otter 2000 – Torra becomes part of the annual North-West Game Count interesting cultures and dynamic communities vast, diverse and spectacular landscapes – charismatic, free-roaming wildlife – 2001 – Torra Conservancy becomes financially independent and is able committed to sustainability ¯ people living in the Huab River, mountains and desert plains... elephant, black rhino, lion, leopard, diverse plains to cover own operating expenses Torra share a common vision for a healthy environment diversifies economic game, endemic birdlife... wildlife generates a 2001 – Benny Roman, Chairman of Torra Conservancy, wins the managing their area and its resources opportunities and drives economic growth variety of benefits for local people Namibian Professional Hunting Association ‘Conservationist of people are living with wildlife, are managing natural resources wisely and are reaping the benefits... the Year’ Award A LITTLE HISTORY 2001 – implementation of the Event Book monitoring system in Torra A CONSERVANCY IS... Prior to Namibia’s independence in 1990, communal area residents speak a mix of Khoekhoegowab, Otjiherero and Afrikaans. While their Conservancy • a legally registered area with clearly defined borders and a constituted had few rights to use wildlife. Wild animals were often seen as little more origin prior to settling in Namibia centuries ago is uncertain, the Damara 2002 – Torra becomes the first communal area conservancy to sell live management body run by the community for the development of than a threat to crops, livestock and infrastructure, as well as community have occupied the general region for a very long time. Settlement in the game residents and the sustainable use of wildlife and tourism safety. Ground-breaking legislation passed in the mid-nineties laid the last century was heavily influenced by the German colonisation and later 2004 – Torra wins the UNDP Equator Prize at the UN Convention on • managed by a group elected to serve the interests of all its members foundation for a new approach to the sustainable use of natural resources. South African administration of Namibia. Throughout this period, much land Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • a place where residents can add income from wildlife and tourism to By forming a conservancy, people in communal areas can now actively was divided up as white farmland, with some farms subsequently being 2005 – Damaraland Camp receives the World Travel & Tourism Council traditional farming activities manage – and generate benefits from – wildlife and other resources in their reincorporated into the reshaped ‘homelands’ created by the Odendaal ‘Tourism for Tomorrow’ Conservation Award • a place where wildlife populations increase as they are managed for area, encouraging wildlife recoveries and environmental restoration. While Commission’s proposals of 1964. Many Damara people are originally productive gain a conservancy is a natural resource management structure, it is defined by from the general area, while others were forcibly resettled there when • a place where the value of the natural resources increases, enhancing QUICK FACTS social ties. Conservancies unite groups of people with the common goal Damaraland was created. Some residents of Torra were forcibly moved the value of the land Region: Kunene of managing their resources. Today, over 60 communal conservancies to Namibia from the Nama community of Riemvasmaak near Upington in • a forum through which services and developments can be channelled Size: 3,493 square kilometres embrace one in four rural Namibians, underlining a national commitment to South Africa in 1973-74. There are also many more recent immigrants from and integrated Approximate population: 1,200 both rural development and conservation. elsewhere in Namibia living in the conservancy today. Torra, which was • zoned for multiple uses to minimise conflict and maximise the interests Main languages: Khoekhoegowab, Otjiherero and Afrikaans Torra, which lies in the south of the Kunene Region and covers close amongst the first four conservancies registered in Namibia in 1998, has of all stakeholders Date of registration: June 1998 to 3,500 square kilometres, is home to approximately 1,200 people, who grown into one of the most successful conservancies in the country. Kemp 2 RESOURCES AND ATTRACTIONS Conservancies Situated on the eastern fringes of the escarpment, Torra provides habitat are living landscapes... for many of Namibia’s endemic and near-endemic species. Numerous rodents, frogs and scorpions, as well as 40% of the snake species and The culture of the Torra community is a rich mixture of heritage 20% of the lizard species are Namibian endemics. Over 170 bird species influences. The Damara have utilised the region for centuries, yet share have been recorded in Torra, including the near-endemic bare-cheeked a common language with the Nama, who settled in parts of central babbler, Carp’s tit, rosy-faced lovebird, Rüppell’s parrot, Hartlaub’s and north-western Namibia during the 1800s. Namas also made up francolin, violet wood-hoopoe, Rüppell’s korhaan, Damara hornbill, the majority of the original Riemvasmaaker community in South Africa. Monteiro’s hornbill, white-tailed shrike, Herero chat and rockrunner. Although forcibly resettled to Torra during the Apartheid era, many Plants have adapted to the harsh conditions in often extraordinary Riemvasmaakers decided to stay when the first democratic government ways. Torra is home to the renowned welwitschia, a unique plant with of South Africa returned the land around Riemvasmaak to the indigenous no relatives anywhere else in the world. Ana, mopane and camel thorn community in 1994. Hereros first settled in north-western Namibia around trees are the most abundant of the taller trees found along the larger 500 years ago and also make up part of the vibrant culture of Torra. rivers, providing important sustenance for elephants and other animals. Damara, Riemvasmaaker, Herero - red rocks tumble down from basalt hills to spread the million-year-old story of the break up of Gondwanaland across the plains; the residents of Torra can tell the stories of a turbulent history in a harsh yet stunningly beautiful environment... wildlife stops to listen, but hearing nothing other than a ringing silence and the whisper of the wind, goes on about its business... and the cultural heritage of Torra glows as rich as the red torra rocks in Torra we can almost feel the endless shaping of the earth Much of the spectacular Torra environment is dominated lying only 400 metres above sea level along the fringes Since the establishment of conservancies, wildlife numbers Around Torra... The conservancy is located on the southern edge by the remnants of enormous volcanic eruptions that of the Namib. The only long fence in the entire area is in communal areas have rebounded from historic lows prior to of the Palmwag Tourism Concession, an important refuge for wildlife in shaped this area some 125 to 132 million years ago, the veterinary cordon fence which separates Torra from the independence. Torra is home to a wonderful diversity of indigenous the north-west, and a popular tourism destination. The Skeleton Coast prior to the break up of the supercontinent of Gond- Palmwag and Etendeka Tourism Concessions. The region is fauna, including four of the Big Five ‒ elephant, black rhino, lion Park creates wanaland. The volcanic fissures that preluded extremely dry, with average annual rainfall ranging from about 150 and leopard. Giraffe, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, kudu, gemsbok, the western the continental shifts poured massive amounts millimetres along the hills in the east to a mere 50 springbok, duiker, steenbok, klipspringer, baboon, ostrich, warthog, border of of lava across the land, resulting in the hard millimetres along the Skeleton Coast. cheetah, spotted and brown hyaena, caracal and jackal also occur. Torra, while basalt layers that cap the nearby Most rain falls during sporadic further conser- Etendeka Mountains and litter thunderstorms between January vancies adjoin Overall Endemism the landscape with richly coloured and March, but is extremely Torra to the south of Terrestrial red rocks, after which the conservancy is variable. Evaporation rates and east. Together Fauna & Flora named – torra meaning red rock. The Huab are tremendously high, but conservancies and High Endemism River, one of Namibia’s largest ephemeral rivers, the harshness is often soothed parks create a vast creates a linear oasis winding its way through the by cool winds and morning fog contiguous conser- dramatic, ancient erosion landscapes along the southern coming from the Atlantic Ocean. vation landscape that border of the conservancy. The basalt escarpment in the In the west, Torra receives up reaches from the east of the conservancy rises

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