Natural World Safaris

How the minimum criteria of the responsible travel standard was met...

Economic responsibility

• On many of our safaris a direct contribution is made is made to the conservation and preservation of wildlife in the destination of choice. We are always looking at new conservation projects that we can support. Contributions are made for the conservation of the wildlife, local communities and projects, and local conservation agencies.
• We encourage the use of local guides in every destination and with every local agent. Even on our specialist led safaris we try to ensure that a local guide is also used. We do not believe in taking jobs from local populations in order to provide for western needs.
• Where possible we will always use local suppliers in preference to others whether this is in the purchase of provisions, accommodation, transport or equipment.

Environmental responsibility

• We make every effort to use responsible and eco-friendly local agents in each destination.
• Wherever possible we use environmentally friendly local accommodation. If this is not possible we make every effort to alert the management of the accommodation in question to ways of improving their service with the environment in mind.
• We aim to minimise our impact on the environment as much in the UK as we would do in any of our destination countries. We do this through recycling of any office waste including, paper, plastic, cans, glass, refuse.

Responsible tourism is the way forward for travel in the 21st Century; as we destroy more and more of our natural environment we slowly begin to realise how much we need it. It is predicted that within this decade the Orangutans of Borneo (some of our closest living relatives) will no longer be able to survive in what remains of their natural habitat due to logging and habitat destruction. Unfortunately, it is not hard to find similar such examples in relation to wildlife in the world in general. When visiting destinations we bear this in mind and remember how privileged we are to be able to see the wildlife and nature that you are visiting, and, in a few years, if no action is taken, the fact that it will no longer be there… If travellers would like to make a donation to the conservation and protection of the world’s wildlife they can get in contact and we will either put them in direct contact with a local organisation or pass a donation on to one of the local projects that we support in the destination of their choice.

Social responsibility

• The purpose of our safaris is to contribute to local populations, communities and projects. We give our travellers advice on how to interact with the local population, flora and fauna in order to minimise any negative impact.
• We advise people not to bargain just for the sake of it and because it is the “thing to do”; you should pay what you feel the object is worth to yourself and the vendor, bearing in mind local cultures, society and standard of living.
• Local guides can advise on how to respond to begging. Often if you want to donate some items it is best done through your local guide in combination with a local body such as a school or local community leader. Please think of this before you travel as it is often better to donate clothes and school materials that you can bring from home rather than money.
• We believe the best way to learn about and enjoy the experience of being on safari with us is to make the effort to mingle with the local people, taste new foods and try new experiences.