From elephant killing to protecting, the story of Puros Conservancy

“Any road is long when there is no wildlife to see.”
- Himba man from Puros Conservancy

When standing atop the Jan Joubert hill in the Puros Conservancy you may spot the long dark line of a giraffe’s neck jutting out from the crusty earth, or see a dark boulder at the foot of a far off mountain beginning to move and realize it’s actually an elephant. There aren’t many roads in Puros, but today if you were to look down one, it would be dotted with wildlife. Thirty years ago, however, the road was very long.

In the 1980’s the Himba living in Puros continued to honor important men at their funerals with a chant that included the line, “It takes a very great heart to kill an elephant.” Yet ironically, at that time elephants were long gone from Puros, as was most other wildlife, due to rapacious poaching in the region.

But in 1987 a small project that began as a joint venture between a tour guide and the Puros community, grew into something of a national movement.
Puros Conservancy
  • Community Income Earned:
    2000 = US$ 11,333
    2014 = US$ 156,908
  • People Employed:
    2000 = 0
    2014 = 61
The tour guide paid a small bed-night levy for his guests to camp in Puros, and in return the residents became caretakers of the wildlife. Animals started to rebound and even elephants returned. This approach to conservation – where communities benefit from managing their resources – became a model across the country. And in 1996, in part due to examples like Puros, a national policy was enacted to allow communities to benefit from wildlife and tourism by forming conservancies.

Since becoming one of the first conservancies in 2000, Puros now has three of its own businesses – a campsite, a mid-level self-catering lodge and a Himba traditional village and craft market. It has benefit-sharing contracts with a nearby five-star luxury lodge and a high-quality tented camp. Puros also earns annual income from a small trophy-hunting contract and has the right to a controlled amount of game utilization. Of the 300 residents in this conservancy, the majority of adult members who want a job, have one, in either tourism or in the conservancy itself. And in an area where water, infrastructure and services are scarce, Puros has a school, a shop and piped water and taps.

Today, with elephants and other wildlife present, the funeral chant has changed: “It takes a very great heart to protect an elephant.” And that is what most Puros residents are doing.
IRDNC began working with Puros in 1982, helping them start a community game scout program. We assisted with the joint tourism venture in 1987, helped them gain their rights as a conservancy in 2000 and today we continue to provide technical support and training to the conservancy.