Secret Kalahari was founded in 2016 as Donkey Milk Industries (Pty) Ltd under the Botswana Companies Act and is a 100% citizen owned.
We are a sustainable family business crafting organic products for a local and international market. Our products range from donkey milk cosmetics like soaps, lotions, scrubs to edibles like fresh donkey milk and various indigenous capsule remedies using powdered donkey milk and plant extracts indigenous to the Kalahari.
We believe that the Kalahari Desert contains many hidden treasures that are worth sharing with the world, hence the name Secret Kalahari.
We started by selling a few liters of donkey milk during markets in 2016 to having five stalls in Gaborone, distributors across the SADC region
and plans to grow even further! In 2017 we won the Exceptional Farmer of the Year award at the Botswana Farming Awards.
Brand Botswana, Botswana Innovation Hub as well as LEA endorse Secret Kalahari.
My name is Johannes Visagie and I am the founder of Secret Kalahari. We are a family business crafting organic donkey milk products and this is our story. I grew up in the middle of the Kalahari Desert in Werda, a small village in Southern Botswana together with my grandparents who inspired me to what now is Secret Kalahari. Both grew very old (98 and 101 years), aged beautifully and were still fit until their last days. This got me curious and passionate about the secret of my family’s long lives.
Often, I wondered away on my donkey called Rietbok into the scotching Kalahari sun exploring the marvels of my surroundings. Even as a boy, I already was an indigenous scientist. Eventually I found out about our family secret: our humbled donkeys.
Secret Kalahari beauty products are a complete food for your skin: it soothes and moisturizes the skin leaving it soft and refreshed. Research on donkey milk shows that it has been used throughout history for its cosmetic and medicinal
qualities. Donkey Milk has high levels of protein, phospholipids, ceramides and vitamins A, B, C, D and E; its pH-level is very close to the pH-level of human’s skin.
These properties are the reason for the various benefits of the donkey milk beauty products:
Donkey milk adds creaminess to the soap and the sugars in the milk add the bubbly lather.
Donkey milk constituted a significant part of my family`s daily nutrition. Most villagers looked down upon the donkeys as they associated them with poverty but we knew how precious they are. Secret Kalahari is a proud indigenous family enterprise producing organic soaps and other beauty products like lotions and scrubs using donkey milk. Our animals are loved and treated with respect; it is our mandate to protect donkeys from abuse and ill treatment.
Launched in 2023, Savanna Collections is a premium women-led ethical and sustainable fashion brand. Sustainably produced and ethically made in Botswana, the collection empowers women and elevates artisans by connecting them to the global marketplace.
