Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust: HIV Support and Community Development in Mufindi District, Tanzania
- Indigo Earth Foundation
- Apr 28
- 9 min read
Indigo Safaris has been collaborating with Foxes Safari Camp in Tanzania for several years. It is only recently that we began to understand the full extent of the work conducted by the Fox family beyond tourism, across the communities and ecosystems of the Mufindi District.
What began as a safari operation has evolved into a long-term commitment to community support and environmental protection, through the Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust (FCWCT) and its sister charity, Orphans in the Wild.
The Fox Family Story
Foxes Safari Camps is, at its core, a family story.
Geoff Fox was born in England and grew up in Uganda. After completing his education in England and serving in the Royal Marines for two years, he began working for Brooke Bond Tea, one of the largest tea companies in the world at the time. This brought him to the Mufindi District in Tanzania’s Iringa region, where Vicky later joined him.
Geoff and Vicky Fox
Driven by their love of Africa’s wilderness, developed during numerous walking safari holidays in Tanzania, Ruaha River Lodge, the first safari lodge in the Foxes Safari Camps portfolio, was established in January 1982 on the banks of the Ruaha River. It was a pioneer in its time, as the lodge was the only safari camp in Ruaha National Park for at least two decades, before wildlife tourism in Tanzania developed further.
This marked the beginning of the Fox family’s long-term involvement in Tanzania. Over time, the business developed into a network of camps across Southern Tanzania, now managed by the next generation of the family.
Alongside this expansion came a clear understanding of the conditions in the surrounding communities. The development of tourism could not be separated from the realities faced by the region.
The importance of Sustainable Development and Responsible Tourism
From the very beginning, the family understood the importance of sustainable development and responsible tourism. That is why they established the Friends of Ruaha Society in 1984 to protect this sensitive ecosystem, promote wildlife conservation, and support the surrounding communities. Today, this work continues through the Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Orphans in the Wild, based in the UK, supports these efforts by raising additional donations from UK donors.
The Fox family founded the Trust in 2005 to support the local community in the Mufindi District, the Great Ruaha River catchment, and the Rufiji Basin catchment. It does so through education and life skills, while creating local employment opportunities and supporting community-based conservation efforts.
The registered non-profit provides social welfare services and runs environmental conservation projects through the support of guests, sponsors, partners, and volunteers, alongside the Fox family’s ongoing involvement.
Their mission is to provide social welfare in the form of shelter, sustenance, education, and medical care for vulnerable children and families in the Mufindi District of Tanzania.
In environmental terms, conservation efforts focus on protecting the flora and fauna of the Mufindi rainforests. The Trust runs a Forest Enrichment Programme, a tree-planting initiative that has introduced more than 30,000 indigenous trees to date, supporting wildlife conservation and carbon sequestration. Daily forest patrols help protect the ecosystem from illegal logging and wildlife poaching.
More than 3.6 million trees have been planted since the early years of the family’s work in Tanzania over four decades ago. This carbon sink absorbs up to sixty million kilograms of carbon dioxide each year.
Background and Origins OF THE HIV SUPPORT PROGRAMMES
Foxes’ Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust began as an idea in 2004 and was formally established in 2005. From the beginning, the objective has been to work with the Mufindi community to provide shelter, sustenance, education, and medical care for vulnerable children and families affected by HIV and AIDS.
The initial focus was on providing shelter and family support. It quickly became clear that access to treatment was a critical barrier. This led to one of the first major developments: the creation of a Care and Treatment Centre, enabling patients to receive medical care without travelling long distances. Containing the spread of HIV and AIDS remains a central priority.
Context
The context in which the Trust operates is challenging:
Around 35% of the population in the project area is living with HIV/AIDS
Approximately 44% of women of reproductive age are HIV positive
A sizeable proportion of children have lost at least one parent
Average income remains below one US dollar per day
Life expectancy is low
Core Areas of Work
The response has not been limited to a single programme. Instead, the Trust operates across sixteen villages through a combination of projects:
Education support, including school-fee assistance
Access to clean water and rainwater systems
Shelter for children up to eighteen years of age, with continued educational support beyond this age
Targeted inclusion of disadvantaged individuals within families, including advocacy to support the implementation of existing legal provisions such as minimum employment quotas for persons with disabilities
Awareness initiatives through committees, conferences, and village leadership engagement
A home-based care system
Temporary placement for children when no immediate shelter is available
Youth programming and training
The Mission Statement
“To provide shelter, sustenance, education and medical care for vulnerable children and families in the Mufindi District of Tanzania; to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS, to teach life skills (language, fiscal, vocational and self-sufficiency) and to create supportive networks and opportunities for future generations.”
Structure of the Work
The work is organised across three principal areas, with programmes that are directly connected rather than isolated.
Vulnerable Childcare and Social Welfare
Igoda Children’s Village is central to the Trust’s work. It currently provides care for thirty-six children, with equal numbers of girls and boys. All attend school, except those whose medical conditions prevent them from doing so.
Care extends beyond accommodation. Children receive daily support, access to healthcare, and education within a structured environment supported by house mamas and staff.
When children reach the age of eighteen, support continues. The Trust provides food hampers, assistance with accommodation, and covers school fees, uniforms, and books where required. This ensures continuity rather than interruption.
The Baby House operates alongside the village, caring for infants who have been orphaned or whose parents are unable to care for them due to health or social conditions. Seven infants are currently supported.
The Milk Powder Programme, running since 2010, provides milk powder and nutritional supplements to HIV-positive mothers, caregivers, and vulnerable infants. More than 230 infants and toddlers have benefited from this programme in the Mufindi District, improving nutrition and contributing to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Social welfare and Child Rights Advocacy extend into the wider community. In collaboration with local and district Social Welfare Offices, the Trust identifies children living in unsafe conditions or not attending school. Follow-up visits are conducted regularly. Families receive support based on their needs, including healthcare guidance, access to income-generating activities, school materials, and enrolment in community-based programmes.
Healthcare Access
Access to healthcare remains a central issue in the region.
The health team, led by an on-site physician, dentist, and nurse, manages a range of programmes designed to improve access to treatment and support. More than 5,000 HIV-positive patients have registered at local clinics to receive care.
The clinic at Igoda Children’s Village, established in 2013, serves both the village and surrounding communities. It acts as the base for several programmes, including Home-based Care and the Milk Powder Programme, and supports visiting medical professionals.
The Mdabulo Care and Treatment Centre was developed to provide access to HIV/AIDS treatment within the district. The facility includes consulting rooms, a pharmacy, and a fully equipped maternity ward. It is now operated by the government, ensuring continued access to treatment.
Healthcare support extends beyond facilities through the Home-based Care Programme.
This government-approved programme improves access to healthcare in rural areas through trained local volunteers. More than twenty-one volunteers have been trained and supported by the Trust.
Thirteen volunteers currently operate across Ihanu, Mdabulo, and Luhunga wards. They are trained in first aid and provide support by:
Encouraging clinic visits for testing and treatment
Identifying cases requiring medical attention
Reporting cases for follow-up and coordination
On average, around 650 patients are visited each month.
Additional programmes include Doctors on Wheels, which brings medical care directly to patients through home visits and local clinics, and a dental unit providing both fixed and mobile services. More than 6,000 patients have received dental care through this initiative.
Education and Skills Development
Education programmes address both access and quality.
The Kindergarten Outreach Programme operates across multiple villages, supporting early childhood education through teacher training, classroom materials, and ongoing monitoring. This responds to a lack of training and resources affecting pre-primary education across the district.
At the Children’s Village, nursery and kindergarten facilities provide structured early education for young children, including those from nearby communities.
Student Sponsorship and Student
Financial support is provided to vulnerable students to enable access to primary, secondary, and higher education. Over time, more than two hundred children have been supported through this programme, with a number progressing to secondary school, university, and employment.
Vocational training plays a key role for older students.
The Youth Agency in Mufindi provides skills development in carpentry, tailoring, mechanics, agriculture, and entrepreneurship. These programmes aim to create practical pathways to employment and income generation.
Particular attention is given to young people with disabilities, through targeted support, training, and placement in employment or rehabilitation programmes.
Access to school has also been targeted, and a school bus provides transports to the students from the Children’s Village to and from school.
Childhood Education Outreach Programme
Through providing access to education, FCWCT is changing the trajectory of children’s lives, from infancy to adulthood. Its Early Childhood Education Outreach program is now located in eight villages and trains over twenty teachers per month.
Infrastructure and Community Support
The Trust has contributed to the construction and development of essential facilities across the region. These include classrooms, libraries, school kitchens, dormitories, elderly houses, and community meeting halls.
Igoda Community: a community meeting hall located at the heart of Igoda Village in 2009 and seating up to five hundred people and outfitted with a functional kitchen,
Igoda Primary School: a school kitchen, six classrooms and a fully stocked English teaching library.
Luhunga Secondary School: additions to the existing secondary school with a fully stocked library, a computer lab, a girl’s dormitory with beds for sixty-four students.
Support has also been provided for the reconstruction of schools damaged by environmental conditions: Ikaning’ombe & Mwefe Primary School
Bibi Houses: eight houses for elderly women, these houses are used by grandmothers who are in charge of their grandchildren after the death of a parent.
Sustainability and Environmental Work
Environmental work is intricately linked to community stability.
The Trust supports conservation efforts in the Mufindi highlands, including forest restoration and protection. More than 30,000 indigenous trees have been planted as part of targeted programmes, and over 3.6 million trees have been planted over the longer term.
Daily patrols cover approximately eighty square kilometres, reducing illegal logging and poaching, and removing traps that threaten wildlife.
Sustainability
Agriculture contributes to the nutritional needs of the children and staff and helps support sustainability goals. The production consists of eggs, vegetables, avocados, honey, beans, and bitter tomatoes.
Nyamalongolo Mini Hydropower Plant
A hydropower project, The Nyamalongolo Mini Hydropower Plant, is currently under development, with the aim of providing stable electricity to the village, school, and vocational training centre. The primary goal of the project is to generate 20 – 70 kW (depending on the season) reliable and stable electricity for the Igoda Children’s Village, Kindergarten and Vocational Training Centre.
Wildlife Conservation
FCWCT has made major contributions to protecting the rainforests of Mufindi, a region crucial to the watersheds of surrounding savannah habitats.
The Conservation Highlights:
30,000+ indigenous rainforest trees planted and nurtured
Forest enrichment in areas damaged by past logging or degradation
Daily forest patrols cover 80 sq. km, significantly reducing poaching
Over 20,000 snares and traps removed, easing suffering and preserving biodiversity
Special trap sweep conducted near ICV forests and valleys
This work supports a healthier environment with cleaner air, better water access, and greater ecological resilience for future generations.
Measured Impact
The results of this work reflect consistent, long-term activity:
116 orphaned and vulnerable children have received direct care at the Children’s Village
All identified vulnerable families in the surrounding villages receive ongoing social welfare support
Around 650 patients are visited each month through home-based care
More than thirty-three infants receive nutritional support each month
Twenty-one community health workers receive ongoing training
738 pre-primary students are enrolled in outreach programmes
Eighty-two students currently receive financial support to attend school
Current and Future Work
Ongoing developments include:
Expansion into additional villages
Continued support for education and healthcare infrastructure
Further development of youth programmes.
Work will continue to focus on access to services, inclusion, and long-term sustainability within the district.
How to Support
Support can take several forms.
Regular financial contributions provide stability and allow programmes to continue and expand.
Volunteering, particularly in education, remains valuable. English-language support is especially relevant, as many students struggle at Form Four level, particularly due to the transition to English-medium instruction in secondary education. Access to English-speaking teachers or volunteers would significantly strengthen academic outcomes.
Booking a safari with Foxes Safari Camp (Indigo Safaris can support with the logistics)
Raising awareness
Raising awareness also plays a role. Sharing information about the Trust’s work helps extend its reach and support base.
Share the project on social media (Instagram, Facebook (Orphans in the Wild), Facebook (FCWCT), LinkedIn)
Visit their website, following their updates, and subscribing to their newsletter
Learn more through the Indigo Earth Foundation website
This is not a short-term project. It is the result of sustained involvement in one region over several decades, built on continuous engagement with the communities it serves.
Do not hesitate to get in touch should you wish to support them and volunteer with them.
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