Kalahari mammal watching vacation, South Africa

Environment

In South Africa we (as with everywhere we go) we carefully choose accommodation, supplies and transportation that either minimises its effect on the environment or helps to contribute to its sustainable development. By choosing small, privately owned accommodation where possible we also look to only stay in truly eco-lodges that abide by basic and also pioneering methods of ecological sustainability. Where possible, we make sure that the lodges, camps and ranches that we use support local projects for the protection of the wildlife and local communities which rely on tourism as the principal source of income. Many of the places that we stay in the Kalahari are small privately owned places that are more concerned with quality than quantity and as a result they are very ethical in their approach. Most use solar power electricity and water recycling pumps as well as making sure that all the food consumed is produced locally. We also contribute and participate in as many studies that the local researchers are conducting as possible. By enlisting the help of black-footed cat and pangolin researchers we are able to directly contribute to their continued studies and help to establish long term research.

At the end of each we offset our carbon footprint (based on the number of tours we have completed and the number of passengers we have taken with us), with the Carbon Trust.

Wildlife Promise:

By bringing people here with a professional zoologist as well as professional local guides we aim to showcase the environment in full but also to allow you to learn about the problems facing the ecosystems here and highlight the ways that continued development and human exploitation are affect the species and how cutting edge research is countering the problems as well as showing you examples of success stories. We also keep a record of all the great sightings we see on each tour and record the environmental factors, this data is used by ourselves but also given to the researchers who are working on many of these species. All the information collected in invaluable as the knowledge of some of the animals that live here are little understood. We also donate our pictures to the researchers to aid in their photo identification studies.

Community

As with any of our tours of Africa or elsewhere in the world we always employ local guides and drivers. They have a much better local knowledge and also helps to bring in revenue sources to the local community. All of the accommodations that we stay in whilst in the Kalahari and Kimberley we make sure that all our resources such as food, drink and equipment is locally sourced and we are always looking for ways to introduce local people into a guiding career. Southern Africa has been doing this very well for the last decade or so and it is quite common to have local guides taking you into the reserves. We think that by employing local guides we have encouraging a future generation to follow this career. Many of the accommodations that we use are involved in community based projects and schools in particular. Many of the projects that are funded by people staying here are geared towards helping the local people of the Kalahari deal with an increasingly developed world and how they can continue to live in harmony with the wildlife and environment into this technological age. We also employ the services of local researchers and scientists who are studying species like black-footed cats and ground pangolins. This increases their funding for much needed studies. We also encourage the purchasing of local handicrafts which are all created in a sustainable way and provide great unique souvenirs.