Our Impact

Encapsulated by mountains, rivers and desert, the Richtersveld holds some of the country’s greatest natural riches and truly indigenous cultures and is also home to some of South Africa poorest communities. Open Africa created the Richtersveld Route in 2008. The goal was to attract attention to the previously unvisited towns surrounding the Richtersveld…

The Route runs through the beautiful tourist-rich area known as the Garden Route. Even though the area receives high volumes of tourists, previously disadvantaged communities did not see any tangible benefits. Eight communities in the southern Cape were frustrated with being marginalised and so with help from the Southern Cape…

Many emerging enterprises in our rural areas lack adequate support structures and capacity to grow their businesses. While there are a number of business training programmes, not many provide mentorship support afterwards. Open Africa identified this as a key need on many routes and decided to design a programme that…

Typically in urban and rural settings within Southern Africa, the youth form the highest segment amongst unemployed and rural unemployment among youth is estimated to be as high as 48%. Our youth have the most to benefit from skills development and capacity building programmes and recognising the need, Open Africa…

A few years ago Barbara Raats developed an idea to build grass huts (similar to that of the San traditional homes) and offer homestays to tourists. Her idea received a boost when Open Africa launched a programme along the Kalahari Red Dune Route in 2013. In less than two years, Barbara was…

Emma Seas, a small business owner on the Richtersveld Route, began baking roosterkoek (traditional grilled bread) in 2005 to fund her daughter’s education at her food stand, Die Opellig Kombuis. It has been an uphill battle for her to learn how to run a business and now, 10 years later, she has become a household…

In 2013 a youth internship programme was piloted in the Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal (KZN) to address unemployment among rural youth. The local youth were provided with an opportunity to increase their work experience, skills and employability working on Open Africa’s tourism routes to help integrate them…

Local entrepreneurs will derive benefit from five new packaged travel itineraries that have been developed in the area surrounding the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape. The itineraries were developed collectively by tourism businesses and interns along the Kalahari Red Dune Route as part of an enterprise development project,…

Open Africa held three networking sessions with stakeholders from four routes in the Northern Cape in 2015. Representatives from local and district municipalities, the province and national government were in attendance. With all spheres of government and the private sector under one roof, they came together to listen to each…

In October 2015, Open Africa appointed nine Route Mentors as part of a programme funded by the European Union Delegation to South Africa. The Mentors are based in various geographic locations across South Africa, and will provide the necessary support and mentorship to get the route management structures working more…