PLEASE NOTE OUR WEBSITE IS CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH MAJOR REVELOPMENT AND WILL BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL IN EARLY 2023
Our reason for being
Dreamcatcher was established in 1991 before Nelson Mandela was released. Today a leading African Sustainable Development Organisation, we were founded to kickstart social change through inclusive social-economic development in struggling communities affected by Apartheid.
Spending our formative years engaging with township communities across South Africa, our founder Anthea Rossouw identified the challenges inhibiting sustainable socio-economic growth. Key barriers were the lack of secure employment, inadequate education and skills, and poor environmental protection. There was also exclusion from tourism, and its peripheral services, which offered significant opportunities for job and enterprise creation thereby stimulating social-economic change.
South Africa is blessed with incredible diversity in cultural encounters and unsurpassed nature. Historically the tourism offering had many shortcomings including the lack of locally owned enterprises, and geographical exclusion with the benefits of tourism not being shared throughout the awesome country. Tourism hotspots led to over tourism, and the rich cultural diversity not being affirmed and celebrated. Tourists were being short-changed and not experiencing the ‘real’ South Africa and its incredible people. It was time to break the mould and place humanity at the heart of tourism for sustainable futures.
Nelson Mandela’s plea to all South Africans was: ‘To work together to create a better future for all our people’. Today, Dreamcatcher South Africa offers unprecedented globally recognised expertise, tourism experiences and community-based projects celebrating the people and environments of South Africa and beyond.
Our services include: developing bespoke tours; ‘Go Truly Local Experiences’ such as ‘Homestay and CookUp with Kamamma’; guided community walkabouts; and volunteering opportunities. We collaborate extensively with communities on a wide range of projects including sustainable destination development, environmental protection, literacy and early childhood development. You can also find an ‘Impact & Research Library’ documenting our impact over 30 years.
Through the inclusive, integrated Dreamcatcher model, every visitor, local enterprise and engaged community contributes to realising Mandela’s plea whilst tangibly contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our award winning work is globally recognised.
We are ahead of the curve. Join us on your next African journey!
