Southern Africa tailormade safari
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
For all of our tours we provide customers with an itinerary specific responsible travel guide aprox 4 weeks before they depart. This includes a generic travellers code of conduct which emphasises basic responsible travel advice – e.g. reduction of waste and consumption of natural resources, purchase local produce where possible etc.
The AfriCat Foundation is based on the lodge at Okonjima in central Namibia. The foundation plays a crucial role in rehabilitating large carnivores captured on farms across the country. A board of trustees meets four times a year to guide conservation and animal welfare priorities, while the daily running of the organization is handled by the director and a small staff. Almost a quarter of the foundations running costs are covered by tourists including Okonjima in their itinerary. The funding of AfriCat's work is dependent on donations from the public and other large welfare organizations. We will adopt an animal from Africat on your behalf for every booking we take that includes Okunjima. As well as helping the foundation this will provide you with a newsletter and history and progress of your adopted animal for the year after your return from your holiday.
Community
The vast majority of lodges used in this itinerary are owner managed and are important employers in the local area. Most of them are also actively involved in nature conservation, planting indigenous trees and in some cases (e.g. Nunda) reintroducing game onto the lodge’s property. Many lodges employ local people as lodge staff and wildlife guides (with necessary valid ranger’s certificates ensuring quality guiding). Specific examples include:
Lianshulu Lodge has formed excellent partnerships with community owned conservancies, such as Lianshulu, Lizauli, Sauzuo, Sachona and Lubuta, and provides direct employment and skills training for some of their members. In addition, a bed night levy is paid, which is then divided between individual households and community projects. As this is one of the only areas in Namibia to have grass, the lodge has also assisted the communities in marketing their thatch. Thatch is now sold to lodges far to the west and south. Furthermore they help by paying compensation for livestock killed by lion. A decline in poaching in the Park has been noted.
Our holidays are specifically designed to bring guests into direct contact with locals from a range of different tribes and cultures across Africa. We also therefore provide destination specific guidance including advice on local customs and some key phrases in certain languages (e.g. Swahili). We also offer guidance on how to barter responsibly for local curios and what curios should be avoided (e.g. certain wildlife artefacts such as coral, turtle shells etc.). As all of our guides and groundhandlers are local we also give guidance on what a fair and reasonable level of tipping would be at the end of the holiday.
We support the work of Tourism Concern both in distributing their advice to customers and as an active participant in the Ethical Tour Operators Group. Our managing director sits on this group and is a regular attendee of meetings contributing to work towards developing industry wide fair trade standards. We also distribute materials to customers and make periodic donations for the following charities: Tree Aid; International Fund for Wildlife and Survival International Trust. In Southern Africa we support the Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative and forward their guidance to all customers on which seafood is sustainable when offered a choice at restaurants.
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