The Birth of Harnas

The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden as its gardener to tend and care for it.
Genesis 2:15

More than 3 decades ago a vision and a dream were created by one man and one woman: Nick and Marieta van der Merwe. This vision became the ground stone of Harnas Wildlife Foundation:
A place where people fight for the life of animals, with the main aim to protect and save those animals that could never speak for themselves in a world full of social problems and grievances that destroyed our respectful exposure to nature.

On 19th January 2001, our founder, Nick van der Merwe, father and husband, died of a sudden illness. Since then his beloved wife Marieta, their children and their spouses continued to develop Harnas to make it one of the best known and acknowledged Welfare and Rehabilitation Centres of Namibia under management of Schalk van der Merwe.

Over the past 30 years lions, leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs to the smallest surricate have made Harnas their home after being neglected, abused or abandoned.

Our conservation principles are founded in the belief that God has entrusted humans with caring for this planet and its inhabitants, but the world is in a state of emergency because of our mismanagement of its natural resources.