Botswana mobile tent safari

Planet

This mobile tented safari leaves very little environmental footprint. Specific camping areas are used and the camp moves every few days. Support vehicles ensure waste is removed from the site and recycled and fresh local produce bought in.

The company that owns the camps takes pro-active steps to ensure the properties and tourism activities are run in an environmentally responsible manner. This is important in protecting the fragile ecosystems in which they operate and that wildlife and local people rely upon for their survival.

Water Conservation
The conservation of water is of critical importance in the environments they operate, where many local people do not have ready access to safe, clean drinking water and droughts are commonplace. They conserve water through regular maintenance to reduce leakages, fitting flow restrictors on shower heads and taps where possible, watering our gardens and grass roofs at cooler times of the day, planting only drought resistant native plants where landscaping is necessary, and implementing a guest towel re-use and water conservation programme.

Waste Management
All of the waste produced is recycled, re-used or disposed of responsibly. In order to reduce waste, they avoid the purchase of glass bottled and tin canned goods where possible and offer our guests refillable steel water bottles in place of plastic water bottles.

People

The focus of the trip is the quality of our guides, hence there is a close association with Okavango Guiding School, a training facility which has been created to elevate the standard of guiding in Botswana, using local members of the local community. Many of Botswana’s top guides pass through Okavango Guiding School’s doors at one time or another.

The company is locally owned and managed and support staff are all from local communities, bought up on the fringes of the Delta.

To this end, a dedicated environmental team - made up of members of the local community - manage the day-to-day running of the reserve, ensuring its long-term biological diversity and sustainability.

Cultural Sensitivity
They have in partnership with the local community developed a Responsible Code of Visitor Behaviour that is shared with guests before they go into the community for village visits so as to protect traditional cultures and minimize the impacts of tourism on living culture. They also provide guests with an Insider's Guide to Responsible Safaris which includes important cultural aspects.