Zambia camping safari

Planet

We are acutely aware of the economic, ecological and ethical impact tourism should have on indigenous communities and fragile environments.

We visit a number of parks throughout the trip. Seeing the animals first hand in their indigeniuous environment provide a powerful insight into the benefits of conservation, we hope our clients will be inspired to be supportive of such activities in the future. The money paid to visit these areas in the form of Paerk fees directly goes on conserving the wildlife and providing employment for the local guides and scouts.

One of the parks we visit visit Kasanka National Park., one of Zambia’s smallest parks. There are no huge herds here, but this beautiful park protects some rare species, such as Pel’s fishing owl and even rarer blue monkey. The park is unusual because it’s under private management and entirely reliant on tourist revenue. It’s a valuable conservation area with diverse flora and fauna including many endangered species and exceptional birdlife. Elephants, hippos and buffalos are all present and the park is ideal for what must be the most energy sensitive way of traveling - walking safaris. Our game drive and walking safari offer clients the chance to learn about some fascinating species, like elephants, warthog, waterbuck, impala, Kudu from local experts.

The accomodation that we use uses solar power for the lodge - this generates enough power for the lights and fans.

When we visit in North Luangwa Zambia, only open to the public recently, you will see that there are no permanent lodges allowed here. Buffalo Camp is a seasonal bush camp which opens at the beginning of June and closes at the end of October. The camp is rebuilt and taken down each year ensuring minimum impact on the environment.

At home, our office also supports the need to reduce, reuse and recycle. We operate from an eco sensitive building. We encourage our workers to travel as environmentally sensitively as possible either by car share, bus or bicycle.

People

Operating in these remote areas also provides an avenue of employment for locals as guides , scouts, camp workers or supplying the vegetables etc. This allows local people to remain in their home area rather than migrate to urban areas which the lure generally exceeds the reality it also offers another alternative to hazardous and illegal poaching.

All local communities are included in the running of South Luangwa National Park and all the lodges we work with hire staff from the local area including cooks and guides.

We pay national park fees, which go towards conservation of wildlife but also to the communities which co-habit this space. Thornicroft lodge for example, supports South Luangwa Conservation Society and works with the local communities to improve access to water (Replacement water pumps).

We issue all our travellers with a Field manual that not only is full of useful information regarding health and visas and practicalities about their trip but also outlines the need to travel in an environmentally and culturally sensitive manner, explaining any local customs and ways to/not to behave in detail.