If you are preparing to take a safari in the jungles of Africa, you will have heard about what is known as “soft tourism”, especially with the decline in the number of tourists wishing to take a tour that includes dozens of vehicles that crowd together to give their passengers a brief glimpse of a tiger crouching nearby.
Increased awareness of the need to protect the environment, criticism of flights causing air pollution, and fears of the repercussions of climate change have damaged the reputation of group safaris.
Those who love watching animals in their natural environment do not want their tourist trips to harm them. Rather, they prefer that companies divert some of their revenues to protect wild animals and preserve their environment.
Environment first
Safaris in Africa say that tourists are starting to ask a lot of questions related to the environment before they book their trips, and they are also increasingly choosing companies that organize tours according to environmental standards, according to Julie Cheatham, director of the “Wefa” platform, which supports sensitive tourism companies. For the environment.
Cheatham adds that South Africa is a leading country in ecotourism, and she sees a significant shift in the way people think about the safari sector, explaining that many safari organizing companies are keen to help visitors enjoy nature, without harming what they came to see.
Companies also invest money in environmental projects, combat poaching of animals, and seek to eliminate polluting gas emissions.
Eco-friendly trips
Cheatham confirms that the demand for environmentally friendly safaris has increased, as visitors stay in places that preserve nature, which means that inns and hotels are now being built from environmentally friendly materials, instead of the methods that were prevalent during the colonial period, which relied on the construction of brick buildings. And cement.
For his part, Prince Ngomane, Head of the Environmental Conservation Department at the Tswalo Foundation, says, “We find, for example, that the new Tswalo Lobi camp, in the Kalahari Desert in the northern region of South Africa, was built mainly of local wood and thick fabrics, on sturdy stilts, and underneath it are walkways.” Small animals and reptiles can find shelter in it, and this construction does not affect the soil.
The camp is provided with electricity through solar energy, rainwater is used for showers, and there are no containers, garbage bags, or plastic packaging materials inside the camp.
The camp restaurant serves seasonal dishes, using ingredients from local suppliers as much as possible.
Many companies that follow the environmental approach in organizing safari tours work to provide electricity and water for each guest, and invest in projects that serve climate protection.
Options range from replanting forest trees, to providing climate-friendly stoves for poor locals, and offering guests the opportunity to provide compensation for carbon emissions resulting from flights to the area.
“Long Term” Initiative
This program has helped the Tswalo Reserve, which has an area of 114 thousand hectares, to become a protected area from carbon emissions, and also provides compensation for these emissions, the value of which exceeds the carbon gases it produces.
The Tswalu Reserve is part of the “Long Term” initiative, founded by German businessman Jochen Zeitz, which includes an alliance of dozens of resorts actively committed to preserving the environment and nature.
The reserve sequesters more than 13 tons of carbon annually, and Njomani, its sustainability manager, says, “We only use about a quarter of what we receive compensation for, and the rest remains as a positive carbon reserve.”
Electric mobility also has its place in this new green world. For example, the luxury Cheetah Plains hostel in Kruger Park in South Africa uses solar energy to generate electricity, and electric cars charge their batteries with solar energy.
This renewable source of energy saves a lot of emissions, says Marketing Director Peter Druce, who explained that each vehicle used on safari in this reserve, which is private property, covers approximately 32,000 kilometers per year.
Better yet, electric cars do not emit sounds, so visitors can better hear the sounds of birds and wild animals.
By foot
Cheatham points out other options for guests, including touring the reserve on foot, horseback or bicycles, noting that there is no longer a need for visitors to take shelter from animals inside cars, but rather they can rely on trained forest guards, who carry loaded rifles. Shot, to be used when necessary.
This means that visitors feel as if they are part of nature, and not just spectators of its features.
Njomani says, “Taking a safari on foot gives one a very different impression and concept of the wilderness, as one feels that he has suddenly become in the heart of it.”
The tourism industry is more focused on making profits, and companies exploit nature, without thinking about the consequences that may occur in the long term.
While what is new here, Cheatham adds, is that tourists are the drivers of change, with many of them looking to climate as a key element when they think about booking trips.
Rehabilitation of natural environments
On the other hand, we find that Londolozi Lodge in the Sabi Sands Reserve, in the northeastern region of the country, reinvests a fixed percentage of its annual revenues in preserving the environment, as each guest indirectly pays, for every night spent at the lodge, an amount used to protect 6 of rhinos, to help send eight children to school and train one adult, according to the lodge’s website.
The Tswalo Reserve has become a prominent example of organizing eco-safari trips. In 2021, the reserve’s owners spent 86% of their total investments in preserving the environment, rehabilitating natural habitats for birds and animals, and combating poaching.
The Tswalu Reserve is also home to a climate change research project involving scientists from universities across South Africa.
