We regret to announce that recently, Rewilding Europe had to decide to withdraw from the Eastern Carpathians rewilding area. The main reason is that, despite several years of trying, we have found that at the moment there is no enabling environment for a major rewilding initiative in the region.
Wildlife Portugal, a wildlife tour operator, has become the fourth recipient of a Rewilding Europe Capital (REC) loan in the Western Iberia rewilding area. Wildlife Portugal is specialised in bird tours within the region and specifically in Faia Brava nature reserve. This enterprise focusses on wildlife watching, nature conservation and education.
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.
Linden Tree Retreat & Ranch is the only genuine working guest ranch in Croatia, surrounded by 200,000 hectares of the UNESCO Velebit Nature Park. The ranch, located within the Velebit rewilding area, offers a range of equestrian adventures through the picturesque mountains, valleys and coastal landscapes of Velebit. In 2013, Rewilding Europe supported the expansion of Linden Tree through Rewilding Europe Capital. Now, two years later, Linden Tree received an Excellence Award by TripAdvisor and recognition from the world travel market. Find out more in this blog by Megi Yerkovich, one of the Linden Tree owners.
In the early autumn of 2015, Rewilding Europe carried out a major attitude and knowledge assessment about rewilding, biodiversity and Natura 2000 network in eight rewilding areas. The assessment covered seven European countries: Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Poland, Germany and Bulgaria. The results are encouraging; people living in and around these eight rewilding areas understand and support the concept of rewilding, are aware about the problems of biodiversity loss and endorse the comeback of wildlife species.
Rewilding Europe started its initiative in 2011 with a substantial grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery for the project “Green Treasures of Europe”. This special project grant was received from the Dutch Postcode Lottery through ARK Nature, one of the initiating partners of Rewilding Europe. After four years of working in partnership with ARK Nature (2011–2014), the project was recently officially approved and closed by the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
Rewilding Europe Capital is Europe’s first rewilding enterprise funding facility that provides development loans and business support to new and existing businesses that look for opportunities created by the emerging rewilding movement across Europe. In its first stage, covering less than two years, REC supported 16 enterprises in four different countries (Portugal, Italy, Croatia and Romania) creating over 30 new jobs and enhancing the rewilding of 20,000 ha of land.
Born and raised in a small village among the mountain ranges of central Portugal, Pedro’s interest in the natural world began at an early age. Over time, what started as a child’s natural curiosity turned into a serious academic pursuit as Pedro, after experimenting with different pathways in his early student days, eventually graduated from the University of Lisbon with a Master of Science in Biology.
One year has passed since our family bee-keeping business, Guslice & Melnice honey, received a Rewilding Europe Capital (REC) loan. This loan was used to purchase new equipment, beekeeping containers, a device for collecting bee venom and for increasing our number of beehives. Continuing the family business with the support of Rewilding Europe turned out to be very important for us. We are both proud to be connected with this initiative and enthusiastic about the future and further development of our business.
“Mons Baebius” guesthouse is an authentically renovated house in the abandoned village of Štokić Pod in the Velebit rewilding area. However, it is much more than an ordinary holiday rental property.