Camping safari in Southern Africa
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Low impact tourism
- Camping safaris mean that the environmental Impact of your visit are a bare minimum. We stay in designated campsites, and we leave each campsite in the same pristine condition when we leave. Camping safaris leave a very small footprint.
- Cooking on gas when feasible so that we don’t have to burn firewood which depletes limited resources (particularly in desert environments – Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Nxai Pan National Park & Makgadikgadi Pans National Park).
- Requesting clients to purchase small wooden carvings curio instead of large pieces, again to conserve the forests around the carving markets.
- Ensuring that we take all of our rubbish out of wilderness areas and use proper waste disposal facilities on all tours (and in the workshop).
Entrance fees: All entrance fees for the National Parks in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana are used by the local authorities to maintain the condition and infrastructure of the National Parks, and run regular anti-poaching patrols.
Bottled water: We encourage clients to drink the local clean drinkable tap water wherever possible in order to minimize the amount of plastic bottle waste produced buy the purchase of bottled drinking water.
Wildlife: On all game drives, our trained and qualified guides ensure that our groups interact with wildlife in the appropriate way. Slow movements, no talking and to respect the animals “personal” boundaries. Our philosophy is that we are visitors in the amazing places that we visit, and we do not want our presence to impact the wildlife and environment in any negative way.
SOS trees project - Okavango Botswana
For hundreds of years, the local communities in and around Botswana's Okavango Delta have used the wood of the sausage tree to craft their traditional mokoro (dugout canoes). The knowledge and skill have been passed down from generation to generation and, up until recently, has been a sustainable practice. With increasing numbers of people visiting the Delta each year, more mokoro are needed and as a direct result, more and more sausage trees are being felled and the sausage tree is sadly disappearing from the region. A traditional wooden mokoro will have to be replaced every five years, thereby placing increased pressure on the dwindling sausage tree supply.
We have established a project to encourage polers in the local communities to buy replica fibreglass mokoro’s, which have a lifespan of approximately ten years, are more stable and are produced without any negative affect to the environment. As such, sponsorship for each fibreglass mokoro is needed, and a portion of the tour cost will be donated to the project, but we also will offer our clients the opportunity to contribute to this worthwhile cause. Please feel free to contact the Sunway Safaris office for more information on the SOS trees project or if you would like to make any contributions towards this project. It is something that is close to all of our hearts and we hope that it will be successful.
Community
Local guides: This ensures employment for local people and direct benefits for the community from tourism. The local guides are highly knowledgeable so please ask plenty of questions; you’ll be amazed at what you can learn.
Great Zimbabwe Ruins: A local guide takes on a walk through the ruins and lets us know all about the amazing history of this ancient civilization Motopos National Park: A local guides take on an open 4Wd game drive into the park to view the wildlife of to view Cecil John Rhodes grave site Hwange National Park: A local guide takes us a full days game drive in an open 4WD game vehicle Okavango Delta guides: We use local “polers” to take us into the Okavango Delta. The polers have an intimate knowledge of the Okavango Delta, and their employment as guides ensure that the local community benefit from tourism and ensures that these areas are conserved for future generations.
Khama Rhino Sanctuary: The Rhino Sanctuary was set up by the local community to restore an area which had been used as a cattle post to it’s natural state. Rhinos were introduced in the Sanctuary at it is being used as a breeding centre for the re-introduction of both black & white Rhinos into the national parks of Botswana after the natural population had virtually been hunted to extinction by poaches. Proceeds from visitors to the park help with the Rhino breeding programme and go to the local community.
Food: All food and drinks on tour are bought in local grocery stores which creates economic activity directly from tourism
Charities: When in Maun we visit Sibandas Fine Art Fabrics. This is a local community initiative to employ local women who produce hand crafted fabrics. This is a non-profit organisation, and all visits from our groups generate some revenue for the charity and if any clients buy some of the products, it ensures that the charity remains self sufficient.
Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre: We assist a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Springs, outside Johannesburg. Judy Davidson runs a licensed rehab centre from a small holding. She is an amazing person, dedicating her life to the welfare of animals and makes enormous personal sacrifices to live on this plot and care for sick and injured birds. A variety of birds are cared for, from injured barbets, doves, and crows to a brown snake eagle, a gymnogene, and a spotted eagle owl.
All birds are treated in a small makeshift clinic, and then kept in aviaries until they have recovered. Once able to fly, or care for themselves again, they are moved to a “flight” aviary, for a period until they have regained strength. They are then released back into the wild. Those birds which are unable to be released are kept in large aviaries and fed through various donations. We assist the project with donations of practical equipment including shade netting, paint, etc. These are used to repair and maintain several of the existing aviaries.
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