A little more than a year ago, on January 13th, 2018, more than 800 people celebrated the opening of the first African Landscape of the Year in the Senegalese village Koumbidja Socé close to the Gambian border. A memorial stone and hundreds of fruit trees, which were planted after the festivities by African and European Naturefriends together with the local communities, remind us of that big day which marked the beginning of many activities to follow.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the first African Landscape of the Year in January 2018, Naturefriends International together with Naturefriends in the region and their partners organised a two-week model journey through Senegal and The Gambia. The journey's focus was on encountering the local population and learning about the regional traditions and cultural characteristics.

For more than two years, Naturefriends‘ activities have revolved around the Landscape of the Year Upper Rhine Valley. Over 500 participants took part in the closing event in Karlsruhe to celebrate the initiative’s success.

Since 1989, International Friends of Nature has designated eleven Landscapes of the Year, all of which have certain things in common. Irrespective of their diverse topographies, which range from high and low mountain ranges, via river landscapes, lakes and estuaries to wooded areas and vast planes, all of them are border-crossing, most of the time structurally weak regions banking on gentle tourism.