andBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge

The &Beyond Academy Training School officially launched in February 2025. The goal of this centre is to empower youth from their partner communities with culinary and hospitality skills. Aligned with &Beyond and Wild Impact's Tomorrow's Leaders focus area, this initiative supports new-generation talent and potential through practical, career-focused training. The first three fully-sponsored students have now graduated. In April 2026, the kitchen team catered for Toyota Maun's branch opening for 200 guests, generating revenue that was reinvested into cooking equipment strengthening the school's training platform and opening future catering opportunities, taking this new initiative from strength to strength.

Nurturing resilient communities through building education capacity is a core focus for &Beyond and Wild Impact, and in Botswana, this shared focus is centered on primary and tertiary education. This work supports 1,400 learners across three primary schools in partner communities, with ongoing infrastructure projects constantly improving the learning and growth opportunities for young learners. At tertiary level, the Community Leaders Education Fund continues to support college-aged students with access to bursaries and vocational training. Having supported over 1,100 students since its inception in 1996, the program stimulates job opportunities and earning potential for a key demographic in communities.

Through the Harmony with Wildlife initiative, Wild Impact and its Community & Conservation Rangers have deployed 22 camera traps, capturing more than 28 000 wildlife images and identifying 39 mammal species. These images are helping communities better understand the movement and distribution of wildlife in the areas around them, supporting more informed responses to human-wildlife interaction. Their value also extends further. The image database is being used to train mammal and bird identification software within the travel and conservation space, turning local monitoring into knowledge with broader conservation application.