Shearwater to expand regional footprint
LEADING leisure and travel company, Shearwater Adventures plans to invest in Namibia and Angola as it moves to expand its presence in the Southern African region, an official has said.
Formerly a division of Innscor Africa Limited, the company presently has operations in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.
Shearwater group public relations manager Clement Mukwasi said plans were afoot to expand its regional footprint.
“We want to expand into other countries we have not operated from before.
“We will soon be moving into Namibia, we will probably be moving to Angola. We carried a survey in DRC on their rivers in order to find out if we can actually do rafting there, so it is something that is still being incubated, but our expansion plans are unlimited,” he said.
“In the region we are looking at (investing) between $10 million to $15 million over five to seven years.
“Each destination has its own circumstances. Our activities will be coined according to what we find in an area,” he added.
Mr Mukwasi said an investment of about $5 million would be made on the local front in the next five years. The company has also ventured into accommodation facilities and is building a camp site, which will be completed by December this year, he said.
Established in 1982, Shearwater owns and operates most of the leisure activities available in Victoria Falls including helicopters, cruises, bridge activities, rafting, safari activities and restaurants.
The company has well-developed destination infrastructure and a team of over 250 staff members based in Victoria Falls, Livingstone in Zambia and Kasane, Botswana. In 2015, the company upgraded its vehicle fleet and has a wide variety of game drive vehicles, buses and microbuses at its disposal for tours and transfer requirements. — New Ziana