Star Camp – a unique safari-style camp overlooking Portugal’s Côa Valley, opened up in June to welcome and host its very first guests. This nature traveler’s dream was an idea conceived by Rewilding Europe back in 2013. Through collaboration with the Associação Transumância e Natureza (ATN), our main partner in Western Iberia and sole owner of the Faia Brava Reserve, this idea became reality making the Star Camp Europe’s first real safari-style accommodation.

This November, the eighth web-based seminar of the European Rewilding Network took place. Members of the network shared valuable experiences on how to increase the tourism value of wild nature and wildlife. The seminar addressed the benefits that can arise from nature-based tourism for nature, wildlife as well as for local communities. One of the highlights was to learn how local people benefit from wildlife photography in the Iberian Peninsula.

After a long day of travel, five Rewilding Europe team members from Velebit (Croatia) and Eastern Carpathians (Poland) arrived at the Kuikka base camp of Wildlife Safaris Finland. Here, we would spend the next two days with experienced wildlife photographer Lassi Rautiainen, learning about his highly successful wildlife photographic and tourism business, with the aim of attaining a better understanding of the operating standards and finer details behind Finnish wildlife watching.

The family business that received the first Rewilding Europe Capital loan in Romania, Jenica pension from Danube Delta, is proud to present their first wildlife tourism offer for 2015, “Five days in the Danube Delta: the spring migration”.

For every day that passes there are now more and more nature and wildlife safari opportunities in Europe. You can travel around on your own, by bike or car and with map or gps in hand. Or maybe use some assistance to more easily get to the best spots, the most charismatic wildlife and the most interesting people.

Since 2011, arctic fox safaris not just generate money and attract new guests to the Helags mountain station in Sweden, but also helps the arctic fox to recover. Yet another proof that ecotourism can support the wildlife comeback.

From 9 to 14 October, Rewilding Europe organized a Training Seminar on Wildlife Watching and Conservation Enterprise Development in Finland. Representatives of the five rewilding projects from various European countries travelled all the way up to Finland to learn from first-hand experience in the Kuhmo region, which is famous for its bear-watching facilities.