Luxury safari specialist, ROAR AFRICA, will host its fourth Women’s Empowerment Retreat in Zimbabwe from April 11-17. Past retreats were hosted in South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda.

The tangible impact of introducing an international brigade of female philanthropists, filmmakers, impact investors and entrepreneurs to their African counterparts has soared beyond expectations.

From solving conservation issues to cultivating community, to driving humans and animals away from conflict and toward peaceful coexistence, the last three years have seen educational opportunities, scholarships, documentaries, funding for conservation projects, TED Talks, and new businesses for African women stem directly from the first trip in 2019.

Women who gave TED Talks at past retreats include zoologist, Dr Lucy King, who received the ‘Magic Grant’ from the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation to fund a series of beehive fences bordering farms and local communities in the Tsavo region. This initiative has drastically reduced crop raiding, enabling residents to make money off the resulting honey while creating a safe and peaceful boundary between humans and elephants.

Deputy Director of Ewaso Lions, Resson Kantai Duff, was also invited to give a TED Talk at a past retreat. Duff works primarily in the Samburu region, where she champions leadership from local people as a conservation model. Her initiatives have tripled the local lion population and transformed tightly held patriarchal attitudes about the place of women in society.

In addition to being a TED platform, ROAR AFRICA is in its third year of funding a paid internship and scholarship for a female Zimbabwean student at the South African College of Tourism. These young women often go on to work at some of Africa’s best lodges, gaining invaluable experience, exposure to global travellers, entrepreneurial skills and, most importantly, empowerment.