written by Sue Watt
updated 22.05.2019
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written by Sue Watt
updated 22.05.2019
‘Safari’ traditionally means journey in Swahili, but the word now describes the ultimate bucket-list trip to discover Africa’s wondrous wildlife. Yet today, that wildlife seems increasingly vulnerable, so how do you ensure your safari will be both safe and ethically sound?
With a bewildering array of safari options and complex logistics, it can be a false economy to book independently: specialist operators have invaluable insider knowledge and often better rates. Websites like safaribookings.com are a good place to start, and offer helpful customer reviews of hundreds of operators and the tours they offer.
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Get closer to nature on an exhilarating walking safari: you’ll be accompanied by an armed ranger but the gun is only ever intended as a last resort. Make sure it doesn’t need to be used by always obeying your guide’s instructions, walking quietly in single file, and never ever run – by doing so, you act like prey, and predators will act accordingly.
Most safari destinations, with the exception of parts of Namibia and South Africa, are malarial – use prophylaxes and insect repellent, and if you’re on a budget trip, you may need your own mosquito net. Avoid wearing blue and black since these colours attract tsetse flies – they have a nasty nip similar to a horse fly and can cause sleeping sickness.
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While issues around disappearing cultural heritage and marginalisation of tribes remain, in general communities are now recognised as being crucial to successful conservation. Tourism gives wildlife a longer-term value by providing sustainable jobs and social benefits like better education and healthcare. When wild animals are then worth more alive than dead to local people, they are therefore worth protecting.
You can make a difference by staying in community conservancies, where locals collectively manage and lease their land to lodge-owners or run their own camps and lodges. Visit their villages with local guides: they get an income while you get an authentic insight into living alongside the wildlife. Namibia has over 80 conservancies including Nyae Nyae, home to the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen, and Kenya’s Maasai are reaping rewards from conservancies surrounding the Maasai Mara.
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As a traveller, it’s easy to help anti-poaching efforts: simply go on safari. Where there’s tourism, there are rarely poachers – there are just too many eyes on the ground and the risk of being caught is too great.
Conservationists are increasingly working with former poachers. At Malawi’s wild and wonderful Nkhotakota Reserve, for example, conservation organisation African Parks offered an amnesty on weapons and exchanged poachers’ guns for jobs.
Opponents maintain hunting is immoral, unjustifiable and unsustainable. Supporters (including some conservationists) claim that, if properly managed, it can bring much-needed income to communities and protects precious habitat for wildlife on a continent whose human population is set to double to 2 billion by 2050.
In reality, if you’re on a photographic safari, you’re unlikely to come across hunters – they visit private concessions or farms set aside for hunting, with favoured destinations including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Tanzania. To avoid hunters altogether, head for Botswana, Malawi and Kenya where trophy hunting is banned.
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Similarly, riding elephants in Africa (as in Asia) is not ok: their training is often cruel and inhumane. Indeed, Botswana has recently banned this activity. Instead, visit a respected sanctuary like the David Sheldrick Trust in Kenya and adopt an orphaned elephant.
Top image © Pixabay/CCo
written by Sue Watt
updated 22.05.2019
Sue is an award-winning writer addicted to Africa. She specialises in travel & wildlife conservation with bylines appearing regularly in The Telegraph, Times, Independent, BBC Wildlife and Travel Africa. In true safari spirit, she's at her happiest in the bush, enjoying a cold G&T while watching elephants, lions or wild dogs as the sun goes down. Follow her on Twitter @suewattuk
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