Responsible safari holidays

Safaris are some of the world’s most exclusive holidays. Travelling to some of the least explored wildernesses, staying in camps sleeping just a dozen people and enjoying the expertise of highly trained guides is an absolute privilege, as is seeing some of the continent’s most threatened wildlife, in the company of its most ancient tribes.

But these indulgent holiday settings sometimes belie the fact that most safaris take place in some of the poorest and least developed nations on earth; in regions where electricity and running water remain a privilege, not a right, and where, until recently, conflict or drought may have ravaged the landscape and its people. There is, of course, great potential for this wealth to cut through the poverty, to empower native communities who have long been without a voice, and to tackle conservation issues such as the extraction of natural resources and that ever-present vice: poaching. But doing so requires the participation of governments and tour operators, local communities and travellers, to ensure that safaris are not something we will one day look upon as a quaint holiday of the past – while the animals still roamed the continent.

 
Wildlife is Africa’s biggest draw. Throughout history it has attracted wealthy outsiders, from epic hunting safaris to the devastating ivory trade, through to modern day safari holidays and wildlife photographers and filmmakers. Thankfully, governments across southern and eastern Africa recognise that wildlife has a considerably greater value alive than dead, and the creation of national parks and wildlife reserves has generated a number of success stories across the continent, from the reintroduction of lions and cheetahs into Malawi’s reserves, to the virtual eradication of rhino poaching in Namibia.

But in each country with a wildlife success story, the benefit is not necessarily shared with the local people. Across Africa, local communities are the ones who face the 'opportunity cost' of living with wildlife, whether that is being evicted from ancestral lands such as the San in Botswana, suffering damage to their crops or livestock as a result of increased wildlife, or the loss of access to natural resources such as bamboo, honey, fish or wood, essential components of their daily lives. Government-run national parks may promise a share of the fees to local communities, but sometimes this fails to materialise or does not adequately compensate for what has been lost.

The damage is twofold. People living around the parks’ borders – already often disadvantaged – face being plunged deeper into poverty, while indigenous groups such as the San, Maasai and Batwa face the very real prospect of losing their traditional way of life, skills and rituals that have been part of their culture for centuries. Wildlife is also lost. Animals suspected of raiding crops or killing livestock may be shot or poisoned, while hungry communities may illegally hunt bushmeat to sell or to feed their families. Without receiving any benefit from living alongside wildlife, they may turn to poaching, or at the very least, turn a blind eye to illegal activities taking place in the parks and buffer zones.

The fact is simply that without community involvement and integration, wildlife conservation cannot be successful in the long term. Fortunately, in many destinations this is now being recognised, and local people are finally being involved in conservation efforts and in tourism. One of the keys to this has been the concept of conservancies: land owned and collectively managed by communities. The land may be leased to safari companies, or to lodge owners for a fixed period of time, meaning the communities don’t just benefit from wildlife tourism, they have control over it. Some lodges or camps have been handed over to the communities themselves, giving them even greater control. Game drives and bush walks on this land will involve a community guide, and visitors are encouraged to learn as much about the community – through workshops, conversations, performances and demonstrations – as they do about the wildlife. There is also a much greater transparency in the redistribution of the fees and lease money paid to the landowners, which is usually reinvested in the land and the community.

In Kenya, the conservancy model allows Maasai farmers to continue grazing their cattle in areas which are also set aside for wildlife. In Namibia, remote communities benefit greatly from tourists visiting their land and their engagement has played a huge role in the prevention of poaching of elephant and rhino, as they act as a kind of desert Neighbourhood Watch. In South Africa, conservancies which border national parks create even greater wildlife corridors; an important factor in species’ ability to thrive.

What you can do
Staying in a community run lodge, on community run land, has a far greater impact on conservation than you may think – as well as contributing to community development. And who better to teach you about the East African savannah than a native Maasai guide?

 

Without a doubt, the biggest threat to African wildlife today is poaching. In 2007, just 13 rhinos were killed in South Africa, but with rhino horn back in favour again as part of Chinese traditional medicine, despite having no proven medical benefit whatsoever, rhino horn fetches vast sums on the black market. The cost to the rhino has been huge. In 2018, the BBC reported that more than 1,000 rhino were killed in South Africa in 2017, for the fifth year running. The international monitoring group Traffic says nearly 5,500 rhino have been killed over a five year period. With so few rhinos left in the world, it’s not hard to imagine that they could become extinct not just within our lifetimes, but within the next decade.

While far more numerous than rhinos, elephants are also suffering as a result of the new taste for ivory. In 2013 there was a mass poisoning of over 300 elephants in Zimbabwe in a single incident and the WWF estimates that around 20,000 African elephants are being killed each year for their ivory and, shockingly, around 90 percent of African elephants have been wiped out in the last 100 years. This is mainly due to the ivory trade and despite the international ivory ban that came into effect in 1990. While the ban briefly devalued ivory and caused it to fall out of fashion, the rapid increase in wealth in the Far East has seen it grow in popularity once more.

Meanwhile, across Africa, darker motives spur the poaching industry. In Central Africa, where thousands of elephants have been killed each year, armed guerilla groups, resistance fighters and corrupt armies – as well as organised criminals – have been involved in poaching, using the high profits to purchase more weapons and continue with their other illegal activities.

Poaching is not what it used to be – and not just in terms of numbers. The poachers aren’t individuals with rusty rifles, they are part of powerful syndicates, well equipped with weapons and GPS, and strict orders from above. 'Above' typically means China, historically the largest purchaser of ivory, particularly from East Africa. Despite claiming to be opposed to poaching, the Chinese government is alleged to have equipped the poachers and numerous Chinese officials have been stopped at Kenyan airports for attempting to smuggle ivory – no doubt many more have been let go. In 2018, however, China made all trade in ivory and ivory products illegal and a survey carried out nine months later, funded by the WWF, found that fewer people in China were interested in buying ivory*. Whether this legislation and shift in public opinion genuinely translates to a reduction in poaching elephants for ivory remains to be seen.

* Source: National Geographic



What you can do
Putting an end to poaching is like putting an end to drug trafficking – it is an enormous, global issue with factors ranging from corruption to misguided beliefs and poverty all contributing to its perpetuation. But there are small ways in which you can still make a difference.

Visit game reserves and national parks. Your entry fee will contribute directly to conservation efforts. A lack of income means fewer rangers to patrol the landscapes and less of an incentive to protect the wildlife. If visiting Tanzania, we highly recommend including Selous and Ruaha in the south of the country. These more remote reserves receive a handful of visitors compared to the Serengeti, and their enormous size makes them incredibly hard to police. When it comes to poaching, this is where most elephants are killed.

Donate to an organisation such as WWF, which is looking at innovative ways to deter poachers. Just £10 could pay for one day's sniffer dog training to detect illegal wildlife products, while £30 could pay for a police forensic kit to collect evidence at poaching crime scenes.

Read more about WWF’s African Elephant Programme here.

Photo credits: [massai farmers: Matt Biddulph] [poaching: alcuin lai]