Discovery Initiatives

The Eden Project is the well known Biosphere Project in Cornwall. Eden as a visitor experience, and the the Eden Foundation is developing as a centre of excellence for research and teaching in science communication.

Discovery Initiatives works with Eden to offer trips and journeys to areas of outstanding flora for its ‘Friends of Eden’ programme, as part of its Educational remit.

Founded in 1903, FFI is the world’s longest established international conservation body. It is one of the few organizations whose remit is to protect the entire spectrum of endangered plant and animal species on the planet.

They provide support to conservation initiatives throughout the world, in the form of partnerships, technical assistance, direct funding and consultancy.

Discovery Initiatives funds FFI through our Mountain Gorilla tours though their partnership with the International Gorilla Conservation Project.

Global Tiger Patrol (GTP) is a conservation agency prioritising protection of the tiger in the field, funding projects that support Tiger an habitat conservation. GTP concentrates its work in India, as the subcontinent is home to about 55% of the world’s remaining wild tigers.

Discovery Initiatives makes regular contributions to this organisation through its group and tailormade journeys to Tiger reserves.

The Scott Polar Research Institute was formed in 1920 as a memorial to Captain Scott and his colleagues and is now a major international centre for polar research, information and expertise. From its base in Cambridge, the Institute provides a service to scientists, explorers, governments, industries, polar inhabitants and even armchair travellers the world over.

Discovery Initiatives makes all Polar travellers members of the Friends of the Research Institute.

The John Aspinall Foundation in conjunction with Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks in Kent, UK, is devoted to saving rare and endangered animals, returning them to protected areas in the wild. They work to save endangered species in their natural habitats and support many worldwide conservation activities and these activities include two lowland gorilla rescue and rehabilitation projects, one in the Republic of Congo and other in the neighbouring state of Gabon.

Discovery Initiatives is working with them on some University Study and Educational school tours.

The main aim of the ecological monitoring programme is to contribute to the effective, long-term conservation management of lions in the Delta.

Findings are passed on to the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks and to the concession holders to help identify any areas of concern and for use in future management planning. This information is vital in helping to stop the decline in the lion population, which has dropped by an estimated 90% in the past 20 years. The objectives of the project are to estimate the number and membership of lion prides in two particular concession areas (NG29/NG30) and to obtain detailed data on lion population.

Studies include the seasonal movements; habitat utilisation and range use of the different prides, along with their social dynamics within the pride, the frequency of pride take-overs and the implications for cub survival.

The largest independent nature conservation organisation in the world founded in 1961 with over 5 million supporters. In the past ten years they have spent over £211 million on conservation work and currently have more than 1000 international projects.

Discovery Initiatives has worked closely with the UK organisation in the past and visits a number of project regions within its travel programmes.

The objectives of the Institute are to increase primate habitat conservation, increase the awareness of, support for and training in issues related to our relationship with each other, the environment and other animals, expand non-invasive research programmes on chimpanzees and other primates and to promote activities that ensure the well being of chimpanzees, other primates and animal welfare, particularly by supporting sanctuaries in Africa for orphan chimpanzees illegally taken from the wild.

Discovery Initiatives supported long term research in Kibale in Uganda, and annual membership is included with all Chimpanzee programmes in Uganda.

The Global Canaopy Programme is global alliance linking studies of forest canopies worldwide into a collaborative programme of research, education and conservation addressing biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation.

Discovery Initiatives runs Canopy research tours in Sabah that helps to fund host scientists to have the capabilities to work within this little known environment.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, WDCS is a global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins and their environment, and runs a host of campaigns, education training and field research programmes worldwide.

We make financial contributions to WDCS, but because we have one ‘swim with cetacean tour in Norway’ have been excluded from being recognised as a corporate sponsor.

It is our belief that not being able to view wild creatures within their natural marine environment, rather than from a more dangerous propeller driven boat, wherever possible and where responsibly conducted and overseen, is the equivalent of not being allowed to walk in the wilderness, an action that will further hasten our detachment from the natural world.

We have a recognised code of conduct for whale watching and if we believed that our ‘swim with’ programme was adversely affecting their behaviour we would stop selling the trip. We continue to monitor this on a season by season basis.

Each small group trip and tailormade trip supports the Gorilla Organization The Gorilla Organization

The goal of the Gorilla Organization is to ensure the intergration of traditional mountain gorilla conservation and research with ecomonical development through education and conservation projects in the forest habitat of Rwanda, Uganda and Central Africa. It manages community-based conservation projects directly associated with Dian Fossey who said the gorillas’ future lies in the hands of the people who share their common heritage.

It includes a year’s membership to the Organization (formally known as the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund).

Click here to listen to the varied calls and sounds of these great apes!

The mission of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (known as The WildCRU) is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems. Since 1986 The WildCRU has grown to become renowned worldwide. The WildCRU projects strive to foster all four elements of its Conservation Quartet: research to understand the problem, education to explain it, community involvement to ensure participation and acceptance and implementation of a solution.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is dedicated to the conservation and protection of gorillas and their habitat in Africa, and was originally set up by Dian Fossey herself. They are committed to promoting continued research on Mountain Gorillas’ threatened ecosystems and education about their relevance to the world in which we live. In collaboration with government agencies and other international partners, they also provide assistance to local communities through education, training and economic development initiatives.

Discovery Initiatives works with the Karisoke Research team to fund projects and conservation initiatives in Rwanda.

Founded in 1959, the Charles Darwin Foundation is dedicated to the conservation of the Galapagos ecosystems. The Foundation operates the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands to conduct scientific research and environmental education for conservation.

The Station has a team of over one hundred scientists, educators, volunteers, research students and support staff from all over the world. The Foundation works under an agreement with and in close contact with the Government of Ecuador to promote Galapagos conservation.

Discovery Initiatives funds the Herbarium section, to the tune of $16K per annum, of the Research Station through its 10 day special Galapagos cruises.

Established as a field operating Trust in 1990, the Trust raises funds towards a host of conservation projects throughout Africa. Over the last fifteen years Tusk Trust has supported more than 30 projects in 15 African countries. Many of these are still ongoing believing in providing long term support for projects and can be relied upon to provide funds for emergency situations.

Discovery Initiatives is a regular contributor to projects under the Tusk Trust banner in Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana.

Conservation International (CI) is a field-based, non-profit organization that protects the Earth’s biologically richest areas and helps the people who live there improve their quality of life. CI uses science, economics, policy, and community involvement to promote biodiversity conservation in tropical rain forests and other endangered ecosystems worldwide.

Discovery Initiatives visits some of their project areas and ‘Global hot spot’ wilderness areas around the world.

The Central Limpopo Research Project, which combines all the research programmes, including Elephants and leopard reaserch – on going within the Mashatu and Tuli Block region.

Discovery Initiatives is helping to fund this project and its research teams through our Elephant and Leopard study tours in Botswana.

The Snow Leopard Conservancy is dedicated to promoting innovative grassroots measures that lead local people to become better stewards of endangered snow leopards, their prey, and habitat.

Discovery Initiatives funds this charity through its Ladakh Snow Leopard treks that are involved with their research teams.

Peace Parks Foundation Launched in 1997 Peace Parks Foundation is an independent, not for profit organisation aiming to establish a network of conservation areas that will protect the wildlife heritage of Africa.

Two hundred thousand square kilometres of transfrontier conservation areas are planned to promote regional cooperation, job creation and biodiversity conservation.

Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) is a field-based non-governmental organization.

It evolved out of a pioneering partnership with community leaders in the early 1980s to end the massive commercial and subsistence poaching of black rhino, desert adapted elephant and other species then taking place in the north-west of Namibia, formerly Damaraland and Kaokoland, now the Kunene Region. The active participation of local people in conservation also nurtured a vision of wildlife becoming a valuable cultural, social and economic resource. Discovery Initiatives’ Namibian safaris support them through their visit and insight to their community conservancies.

Durrell’s mission is saving species from extinction. One of the oldest wildlife trusts, part of Jersey Zoo, and founded by Gerald Durrell, the well known nature lover. With our scientific expertise, dedication and support their best known work has been in Madagascar.

Discovery Initiatives is running a Madagascar study tours that visit their projects and that fund their work.

The Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) Partnership is an innovative and ambitious project of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with an immediate challenge – to lift the threat of imminent extinction faced by gorillas (Gorilla beringei, G. gorilla), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus) and orangutans (Pongo abelii, P. pygmaeus) across their ranges in equatorial African and south-east Asia.

The mission of the Orangutan Foundation International is to support the conservation and understanding of the orangutan and its rain forest habitat while caring for ex-captive individuals as they make their way back to the forest. The long term research in Tanjing Putting National Park is the longest, most detailed wild orangutan study ever conducted. It also manages a rehabilitation programme for ex captive orangutans.

Discovery Initiatives has been funding Orangutan conservation for nine years through its London chapter, the Orangutan Foundation.

Pro Peninsula is a United States based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering communities and organizations on the Baja California peninsula, to protect and preserve their environment. Pro Peninsula envisions the creation of a network of strong and effective environmental organizations backed by an educated and active public working towards the common goal of environmental preservation.

Pronatura, a Mexican NGO, has an established research project studying the local whale shark population in the nearby Yum Balam & Contoy Island areas of northeast Yucatan where the sharks are found that aims at contributing to both a wider understanding of them, particularly their migration routes, population dynamics and eating habits, and the sustainable development of the sharks as a tourist attraction. Your contribution will go towards the funding of the valuable research this project is undertaking.