ARU - Who We Are

NAMIBIA

N A M I B I A

We see a world full of undiscovered trails and expeditions. We’re happiest when we’re deep in the bush, waking at dawn to catch first light and surrounding ourselves with wild animals.

Losing yourself in the wild connects us to the natural world and brings us closer together. It reminds us of when we were kids, spending crisp summer nights outside, around a campfire, and dreaming of the day ahead.

Though common love of the outdoors, ARU is here for today’s adventures and tomorrow’s experience-driven adventures. We champion respect for the land and wildlife, family values, and the outdoor enthusiasts. Our experiences offers boundless adventures, and we proudly open our doors to the world.

We are ARU, and we are the very best of Namibia.

The scenery enveloping you is vast, diverse and postcard-perfect.

The game that challenges you is big, fast and wild. The bond you’ll form with nature is life-changing.

This is the spirit of ARU — a family-run safari company with an impressive commitment to sustainable, ethical hunting practices, proven wildlife and habitat conservation efforts, stellar customer service and attention to every detail.

STAY

Luxury Retreat When you’re hunting in Namibia and the going gets tough, a luxury retreat is a comforting thought. Our three locations allow you to explore the diverse terrain Namibia has to offer.

Here the red sand dunes of the majestic Kalahari wilderness meet the rustic luxury of our lodge. It lies here quietly but strong. It it energised by wildlife, passion and unimaginable landscapes. It is perfected by stories, moments, and campfire evenings. We live for the shared carnal instinct of our guests, we revel in happy moments high on a mountain or endless stretches of land.

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At our Kalakwa reserve every corner of this terrain is filled with life. You never know what to expect on a guided walk. Birdlife is spectacular and silence is never quite achieved, as we are woken every morning with birdsong and jackal cries. The landscape at Kalakwa is surreal, especially on sundowner excursions up the hills. These diverse sceneries crowned with breath-taking sunsets promise every visitor a taste of Africa at its finest. Together we wander mountains high and dune crests .... panoramas that make us look up.

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The Zambezi—a magic experience where hard earned sweat sizzle on red sand and stone, our boots meeting ground rarely treaded before. Around us game and bird thrive in diverse landscapes and endemic habitats. It overflows, it is so much more than what you’ve anticipated. We walk and stalk, we observe, we listen, we wait, we take, we use, we give back, we slow down, we speed up, we share, we live.

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ACTIVITIES

WE ARE ARU. We are the very best of Namibia.

A family-run safari company with an unwavering commitment to practicing sustainable and ethical hunting, to conserving our unique wildlife and habitat, and to providing exceptional service to our guests.

Horse Riding Mount your saddle and giddy-up through unspoilt Namibian terrain.

There is no better way to enjoy nature than on horseback.

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Game Drives Cruise through the African bush on one of our open 4X4 safari vehicles. We stop to give you the chance to view and photograph these majestic animals from the safety and comfort of our vehicle.

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Shooting Range Learn more about target placement and trigger firing at our shooting range. Try out different weapons, and hone in on those shooting skills.

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Sundowners Soak up the sun’s setting rays over a glass of your favourite beverage.

Watch as the crimson light cascades over our beautiful landscape.

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Quad Biking Join us for an unforgettable adventure as we take you on a thrilling ride through the reserves on our 4x4 quad bikes.

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Guided Walks Grab your binoculars and head for the hills on one of our guided tours.

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Star Gazing Take in the African skyline and thousands of twinkling stars from the lodge’s patio or from your seatby the fire-pit. You don’t need to venture far to witness shooting stars and vast star alignments.

Swimming & Fitness Take a plunge into our crystal clear swimming pool to cool off from the African heat. Having a swim will freshen you up after an exhilarating day hunting, and help you relax.

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Spa For those not partaking in the hunting, why not relax and get pampered at our lodge spa? Indulge in professional body treatments enhanced with our unique African products.

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Weddings Celebrate your special day at ARU.

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THE ARU EXPERIENCE

ARU goes beyond We hunt because we survive from it and care for it and because we cannot go without it. It is part of our existence. We love it because it brings us beauty, realness, adventure, experiences, stories around the campfire, and a life well-lived. There is something ecstatic in hunting—not bloodlust as people want to make it out to be, but a powerful CONNECTION we feel with all of life. When you shoot, the feeling doesn’t dissipate with the sound of the shot. It lingers. It permeates your limbs and sharpens your senses—adding a certain self-possession to your being, or a being to your self-possession.

Anyone can buy a car, or a night on the town. Most of us shell our days like peanuts. However; one in a thousand can look at the world with amazement. Not through staring at the Eiffel Tower, but through the wing of a dragonfly, the yellow of an eye, the rhythm of a gazelle, of walking through an unsullied hour with an unsullied heart.

ARU goes beyond that. For us it is about our lives, our communities, and our living off the land.

Therefore; we offer experiences that dig deeper than the normal tourist sitting comfortably on the back of a vehicle who only observes nature—we endeavour for our clients to PARTICIPATE in it.

Photo Safaris Jaw-dropping natural wonders make ARU a destination you’ll never forget.

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Flying & Gliding Gliding is the ultimate adventure sport which requires the pilot to harness the power of nature to stay airborne when flying long distances crosscountry or soaring at high altitude.

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Nourish Come join our culinary experiences in an honest farm-to-table approach and join in our everyday living off the land.

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ARU Blockman Our Veronica reserve prides itself in one of Namibia’s best butchery’s. With an incrediblearray of venison products, we serve the wider Namibian community with free range, fairchase and hormone free products. ARU Blockmen is just another great example of our sustainability and commitmenttowards being responsible citizens and conservationists.

The Rhino Royale The exquisite Rhino Royale is ARU’s newest venture that has taken the world by storm.

Set on one of the most picturesque locations on the Kalakwa reserve, it boasts a nine course menu & wine pairing evening whichmakes for a sensational, never-before seen experience in Namibia.

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Travel Namibia Namibia is the soul of Africa, characterised by vast open spaces, breathtaking scenery and great contrasts – ocean, dunes, mountains and deserts. This vast desert country of rolling dunes and swirling mists stirs the spirit and moves the heart.

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ABOUT ARU Aru Game Lodges (Pty) Ltd (ARU) was established in 2005

ARU family takes pride in our community and efforts towards a better Namibia. We cannot wait to welcome you into our family.

ARU has 2 hunting reserves with 2 upmarket lodges to the east and south east of Windhoek and pride itself as being ranked as one of the most professional and ethical hunting outfitters within Namibia.

We believe very strongly in humility – in working hard to ensure our clients have an amazing time on safari with us. ARU has been honoured to receive accolades for our incredible efforts, including the prestigious Outfitter of the Year award in 2018 by the Dallas Safari Club.

Conservation.

At its most basic level, conservation can be described as a wise and careful utilisation of any resource.

It’s not a completely hands-off, fully protected approach. Nor is it an absolute, full utilisation of anything. It typically is a collective of actions that lie somewhere in between those two extremes. It’s an understanding that nature rarely exists entirely on its own, with no human influences. We act in concert with the natural world. Our choices can be either at odds with it, or harmonious in that regard. Conservation requires the realisation that what we do today affects what we can have tomorrow—both in the short as well as the long term—and that natural resources, although renewable, are not limitless.

A hallmark of conservation is that nothing truly stands alone.

Everything is interconnected to varying degrees. Maintaining biodiversity adds to the resilience of any system. There are countless examples within any conservation efforts that illustrate the importance of actions on migratory as well as resident species, seasonal as well as annual needs, and the importance of acknowledging that both nature and human activities are in constant states of flux. As such, effective conservation programs are typically ever-adapting and changing in accordance with needs and conditions as well.

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ARU Conservation Trust

Anti-Poaching

The ARU Conservation Trust was established to fund and

Conservation is a continually varying process that must

support various ongoing efforts in ARU’s actions which we

adapt and react to not just local conditions but to regional

directly take to ensure that we do not destroy any resource

and even international ones in many cases. And, since

that we wish to see remain. We thank our loyal and dedicated

most human populations are inextricably intertwined with

clients who continuously contribute to this trust (which is a tax

nature to varying degrees or even just interested in it, they

deductible contribution), and which helps us secure a better

can greatly impact it in both positive and negative ways.

future for our pristine wilderness areas, our communities and

As such, we are faced with hardships like poaching. Our

our treasured wildlife.

anti-poaching teams are an intricate part of our being, with an ongoing monitoring and fight against poaching.

There are indeed many problems to be solved, many challenges to address, many techniques to employ, and many successes to celebrate as well. Please contact Danene should you wish to make a contribution.

ARU Sustainability

Our Community Our communities around us are a declaration of what our priorities are. What we tolerate, promote, protect or partake of. A reckoning of how we can best accommodate

We believe that ARU’s sustainable and responsible hunting

needs and wants, and how far ahead we envision or do

practices and direction, based on sound and healthy habitat

what we care about. With 60 employees and their families

management, serve a greater role in the positive impact on

living and sharing our beautiful areas, they are our main

the world and provide an exemplary direction of conservation

priority as it is the backbone of our business. Our schools

as a whole.

in the area also regularly receive meat and other supplies from ARU but also our very generous clients.

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Danene van der Westhuyzen The managing director of Aru Game Lodges (Pty) Ltd, Danene van der Westhuyzen, is a qualified Dangerous Game Professional Hunter and Aru Game Lodges (Pty) Ltd furthermore have 6 professional hunters in their permanent employment, of which three are Previously Disadvantages Namibians.

Danene is one of only a few qualified female professional hunters in Namibia, and the first female dangerous game PH ever to qualify in Namibia. She loves the outdoors and is passionate about ethical hunting and bringing the big one home. She is a skilled bow hunter so bring your knee pads! She also has an enthusiasm for educating the hunter in all aspects. She was voted president of the Namibia Professional Hunting Association in 2016, the first woman worldwide to hold a position like this in the hunting industry.

She is the past president of the Namibian Professional Hunters Association (NAPHA), CEO of Operators & Professional Hunting Associations of Africa (OPHAA), Trustee of Hunters United Against Poaching, Board Member of The Nature Conservation Board of Namibia and serves on the DSC Conservation Advisory Board. She was also elected as Director to the Conservation Force board in late January 2020. She was also voted onto the CIC board in 2023 as African advisor.

She is passionate about Namibia, her family and heritage and has written a beautiful recipe book reflecting all of this called From The Veld. She has also produced a variety of articles and presentations worldwide.

She achieved many accolades and awards for her contribution to conservation throughout the years, such as the following:

2018 Outfitter of the Year award

Ambassador for Southern Africa

by Dallas Safari Club

She served as the ambassador for Southern Africa at the world One With Nature event in Hungary in 2021

2020 SCI President’s award

Presidential Accolade

Ox of the Okavango award

She received the presidential accolade awarded to her by the deputy prime minister Dr. Zsolt Semjén, and the government commissioner Zoltán Kovács, at the Hungarian Parliament.

by the African Professional Hunters Association for her exceptional conservation contributions

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The Most Medal Trophy award by the Namibia Professional Hunting Association six years in a row

Our Family The ARU family is the life and backbone of our business with friendly faces surround us constantly.Our team is your family. We live for the shared instinct of our clients, we revel in happy moments high on a mountain or endless stretches of land. Our team treasure the moments with you, and under the stars we will retell each other’s stories, relive old memories, and most certainly make new ones.

Gysbert van der Westhuyzen Gysbert has over 22 years professional hunting experience. He is an excellent guide and has a fantastic knowledge of animal behavior. He is skilled in locating eland, kudu, mountain zebra, etc. He is a patient stalker and guide, with guaranteed success in the field—fespecially in dangerous game concessions.

He gets excited about every trophy a hunter shoots with him. You’d better be fit to keep up with him. He will take you far, in every aspect.

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Our partners

Contact www.arugsafaris.com General Contact Info Danene & Gysbert van der Westhuyzen Cell: +264 (0)81 129 5536 (Danene) Cell: +264 (0)81 296 2651 (Gysbert) Email: danene@arugamelodges.com Email: gysbert@arugamelodges.com PO Box 9222, Windhoek, Namibia Veronica Game Lodge Email: veronica@arugamelodges.com Cell: +264 (0)81 129 5536 GPS: S 23° 26’ 12.2” E 18° 15’ 99.9” Kalakwa Game Lodge Email: kalakwa@arugamelodges.com Cell: +264 (0)81 129 5536 GPS: S 22° 37’ 18,5” E 18° 02’ 35,4”

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