Thamo Telele (formerly known as Royal Tree Lodge) is one of the new additions to the Natural Selection family. The name Thamo Telele means ‘long neck’ in Setswana and is an apt name not only because the reserve has approximately 20 giraffe on the reserve, but also because it will be facilitating two giraffe conservation initiatives. The first being a Giraffe Education Programme, and the second a Giraffe Genetics Programme.

The Giraffe Education Programme will establish a centre at Thamo Telele, that will provide for meaningful and impactful conservation education experiences for both tourists and local people, thereby increasing awareness around the plight of giraffe and the natural environment.

The Giraffe Genetic Testing Programme will support much needed research into the taxonomy and distribution of giraffe in Botswana working with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation(GCF). For the last 15 years GCF has collected genetic samples from giraffe throughout Africa for a taxonomic assessment. This work has helped to better understand how many types of giraffe there are and where they live, but most importantly it guides conservation management decisions for giraffe in all of Africa and where we should focus urgent conservation actions.  We plan to support GCF with genetic sampling in Botswana, thereby increasing our understanding of existing populations and informing local and regional conservation strategies. For more about GCF please refer to see here.

The Thamo Telele team have employed two conservation scientists (who specialize in giraffe) to oversee these two exciting programmes.

For more information on these projects see here