Renthia Kaimbi
Ultimate Safaris managing director Tristan Cowley has filed an urgent court interdict to halt mining and blasting activities at Goantagab.
He says the operations threaten a planned N$100 million luxury lodge and the survival of black rhinos in the area.
In his sworn affidavit dated 29 September 2025, Cowley told the High Court that the mining must be halted to protect a tourism investment that depends on international conservation funding.
The lodge project, named Doros Plains, is tied to a repayable loan from the Africa Conservation and Communities Tourism Trust (ACCT) Fund, supported by the Nature Conservancy and Germany’s development agency KfW.
Cowley said the funding is conditional on protecting the wilderness and wildlife that form the foundation of the tourism model.
He warned that the mining operations endanger both the investment and the rhino population that drives high-value tourism.
He cited a similar case in the //Huab Conservancy, where blasting activities allegedly forced rhinos out of the area, leading to the collapse of a previous tourism venture.
“This funding is a positive move for conservation in Namibia and will be a massive investment to the local community in the JMA,” Cowley said.
The planned Doros Plains Lodge is part of a conservation tourism model expected to generate over N$300 million for local conservancies over 25 years.
Cowley described the dispute as a clash between conservation-driven tourism and short-term mineral extraction.
The conflict has divided local communities. The chief of the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority, Zacharias Seibeb, has threatened to evict Ultimate Safaris, questioning the legality of its leasehold for Camp Doros.
He has expressed support for mining activities, saying they promise jobs for the community.
In his answering affidavit, mining claims holder Timoteus Mashuna challenged Ultimate Safaris’ case, calling it “procedurally flawed and substantively unfounded.”
He argued that only the minister of environment, forestry and tourism has the authority to suspend a mining licence and not the court.
Mashuna said Ultimate Safaris and the conservancies lack legal standing, describing their joint venture agreements as “unlawful” and inconsistent with the Communal Land Reform Act.
He claimed that the so-called joint management area created through these agreements is not recognised under Namibian law.
He also alleged that Ultimate Safaris operates Camp Doros illegally on communal land without a valid leasehold. Mashuna attached a letter showing that the company’s leasehold application had been refused.
He said the Sorris Sorris Conservancy and the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority support his mining operations, which he claims will create between 150 and 250 local jobs.
Mashuna has dismissed Ultimate Safaris’ financial projections as “inflated” and described the Camp Doros joint venture as “inequitable” and “abusive” toward the community. He presented calculations to support his claims, saying the deal offers very little to the 1 300 residents of the Sorris Sorris conservancy.
Using the lodge’s own pricing, Mashuna said a two-night stay costing a tourist over N$13 000 results in only N$133.33 being shared among the entire community.
He further broke down Ultimate Safaris’ projected N$300 million revenue, arguing that the conservancies would receive just N$15.55 to N$38.88 over 25 years, while the company would retain between N$272 million and N$294 million.
For the Sorris Sorris conservancy specifically, Mashuna said the deal amounts to a monthly rental of just 38 cents per hectare for land given up for conservation.
He denied that mining threatens black rhinos, stating that pre-blast surveys are conducted and no rhinos have been sighted near the site since he began visiting in 2022.
Mashuna said mining has taken place at the same location for decades under a previous licence, which Ultimate Safaris never opposed.
He said the safari company’s challenge is not about conservation but a bid to control the land for tourism profits that bring limited benefits to the community.
