2024 Annual Report
Celebrating 15 years of Giving through the Wild Frontiers Foundation
Over the past 15 years we have been proud to support grass roots initiatives, either established ourselves or alongside our valued charitable partners to create positive impact through quality education, women’s empowerment and community conservation.
The Wild Frontiers Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Wild Frontiers. Set up in 2009, the aim of our foundation is to provide a platform to create awareness, raise money and deliver funding to projects in countries where we operate as a travel company.
Marking 15 years of giving with a major fundraising evening was certainly a highlight of 2024.
With 190 dinner guests, fabulous auction prizes, generous sponsors and supporters, and the unwavering help of the Wild Frontier team, the evening exceeded all expectations as we doubled our £50,000 fundraising target.
Over £130,000 raised
Adding to other fundraising streams, including a £10 donation made by Wild Frontiers on behalf of each client that travelled with the company in 2024, and the generosity of Wild Frontiers clients who made individual donations, we had the best fundraising year in our 15-year history.
Moving forward, this allows us to further develop our existing projects and partnerships, while looking to broaden our support and work in often more socially and environmentally vulnerable communities we visit.

Main Projects & Initiatives Supported in 2024
- Baleygon Community School, Pakistan
- Lone Buffalo English Development Centre, Laos
- The Gondar Girls Football Team, Ethiopia
- Camara Education, Ethiopia
- Lake City Rickshaw Company, India
Baleygon Community School, Pakistan
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It was another successful academic year at Baleygon Community School in northern Pakistan, with progress going from strength to strength under the management of our partner, the Felix Foundation.
Not only have community education awareness campaigns been effective for school enrollment and attendance, 2024 saw 29 students, who had their start at Baleygon School, studying within higher education institutions within the Hushe Valley, as well as in the nearby bigger towns of Skardu and Khaplu.
Highlights of the school year at Baleygon
- 119 students were enrolled, 63 male and 56 female, from nursery through to Year 6
- A new Early Childhood Development teacher was employed, taking the number of Wild Frontiers Foundation funded teachers to five
- A cultural programme was developed and implemented
- A study tour was organised for the first time for a group of 18 students
- Balegyon School again hosted a poetry and speech competition with eight schools from the region attending
- Baleygon School hosted a 6-day teacher training programme for 16 teachers from across the region
The Wild Frontiers Foundation has been supporting the school and the education of young people within the Baleygon community since 2010.
Class Sponsorship Lone Buffalo, Laos

The Wild Frontiers Foundation continued to support the class sponsorship programme at the Lone Buffalo English Development Centre in northern Laos, marking the 10th year of our partnership.
Co-founded by Wild Frontiers tour leader, Mark Steadman, Lone Buffalo creates opportunities for 180 - 220 young beneficiaries each year in rural Laos through free English classes.
Sponsoring a classroom guarantees 4.5 - 5 hours of quality English tuition per week for a class of between 20 and 30 young people, who are also able to join in with Lone Buffalo’s extra-curricular activities including football coaching, media and film making, life skills workshops, the Green Buffalo environmental team and the Student Coffee Co-operative.
Over 1000 young people have now benefitted from our free English and life skills programmes, and almost $1m has been invested in developing youth in our community. The fact that 93% of our recent high school leavers are now in tertiary education is testament to the success of our programmes. We appreciate the long-term support from Wild Frontiers which has helped us achieve these successes
Gondar Girls’ Football Team, Ethiopia
The Wild Frontiers Foundation continued to support the Gondar Girls’ Football Team, an initiative that first kicked off with charity partner, Together We Learn Ethiopia, in 2020. The initiative supports a team of 20 girls from low-income families, promoting gender equality and building self-confidence through football.
‘Conflict has been ongoing, with fighting in the town, school closures and transport strikes. The fact that the project has continued to run is testament to how much the team members value the project and the dedication of the staff. The training sessions will have played an important role, bringing a sense of normality and joy to the girls’ lives during a very difficult time,’ Caroline Walker, CEO Together We Learn Ethiopia

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- 20 girls (with an average age of 15) participated in the programme this year
- A total of 56 training sessions were held, focusing on improving technique and fitness as well as having fun and building friendships
- Food and beverages were provided at a nearby cafe after training sessions
- New kits were purchased including, t-shirts, shorts and trainers
- Reusable period kits were also provided for team members, alongside educational sessions on menstrual health, puberty and sexual health
- Friendly matches were arranged with other local teams over the school break, offering a valuable opportunity to practice and build confidence, even in challenging circumstances
Lalibela School Computer Lab, Ethiopia
The Wild Frontiers Foundation has a long-standing relationship with Camara Education, an organisation that recycles and refurbishes computer equipment to install in schools in Africa, having worked with the charity to fund computer classrooms within three Ethiopian schools since 2012.
In 2023 we began fundraising to help re-install a computer lab in the high school in Lalibela after it was looted during conflict in the Tigray region.
We planned to re-install the computer lab for the students in 2024, however due to renewed conflict in the region it was not possible. Along with our Camara partners on the ground, we will continue to monitor the situation in Ethiopia and together re-install the computers when safe to do so.
Lake City Rickshaw Company, India
Work is well underway with our not-for-profit partner, Access Development Services, to launch the Lake City Rickshaw Company in Udaipur, India.
The Lake City Rickshaw Company models the Pink City Rickshaw Company, a social enterprise which offers employment opportunities for women from low-income households to work as driver/guides, hosting tourists on electric rickshaw tours in Jaipur.
All going to plan, the Lake City Rickshaw Company will launch in early 2025. As an initiative which empowers women through tourism, we aim to help expand the social enterprise model to other cities across India.

Special thanks
Special thanks for an amazing year for the Wild Frontiers Foundation goes to:
- Our Board of Trustees
- The Wild Frontiers Team
- Our 15-year anniversary event organising committee
- Our generous sponsors and prize donors
- And all those who raised their hands at our fundraiser to help make it an exceptional success
Looking to 2025……
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Looking to 2025 and our existing programmes, the Wild Frontiers Foundation will continue our support of the Baleygon School in Pakistan and help ensure that standards of education continue to develop within the small rural village.
We will also continue our much-valued partnerships with the Lone Buffalo English Development Centre, in Laos, and the Gondar Girls’ Football Team, in Ethiopia, as we continue to see real positive impact on young people’s lives.
Working with our partners Camara Education, in Ethiopia, we are confident that we can start the process of re-installing the computer lab in the Lalibela secondary school.
We are also looking forward to the launch of the Lake City Rickshaw Company in Udaipur, India, and plan to add more rickshaws to the fleet, as well starting to look at rolling the model out to another city.