Responsible tourism in Zambia
Our Zambia Vacations
Zambia & Malawi small group safari
Unique adventure safari kayaking, game viewing & hiking
Small group safaris to Zambia
Look for wildlife from a canoe
Zambia safari in Luangwa with Victoria Falls
A Safari in South Luangwa and the Victoria Falls combined
Zambia camping safari
Camping expedition exploring Zambia's wilderness & wildlife.
Northern Zambia Luangwa expedition
Expedition trip to the finest wilderness area's of Zambia
Zambia safari vacation, Xmas & New Year
Safari & Victoria Falls at Christmastime
Bird and bat safari in Zambia
Specialist Bat and Bird Safari with Guides.
Malawi & Zambia culture and nature tour
Explore Malawi's unique areas and Zambia's National Park
Zambia wildlife vacation, the Luangwa Valley
Explore the best wildlife viewing in Zambia
Luxury Zambia safari vacation
Luxury safari lodges, wildlife encounters & Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls & Zambia family safari
An exciting highlights tour suitable for all ages
Zambia walking safari, tailor made
Eye opening experience exploring rural Zambia on foot
Mobile walking safari in Zambia
A mobile walking safari in a remote part of South Luangwa
Zambia family safari vacation
Wildlife-watching, national parks & Victoria Falls
Zambia 8 day safari vacation
Game drives & bush walks in Zambia's best national parks
Zambia wildlife safari vacation
Wildlife & unspoiled wilderness in Zambia's national parks
Zambia safari in South Luangwa
Some of Africa's best wildlife watching plus Victoria Falls.
Botswana & Zambia family safari
Family safari in the heart of the Okavango Delta
Zambia safari vacation, tailor made
Explore Zambia's great parks on this tailor made adventure
Zambia safari and Victoria Falls vacation
Zambia's wild national parks & the legendary Victoria Falls
East African budget overland tour
3-week wildlife odyssey in the heart of East Africa
Botswana and Zambia lodge safari, small group
Chobe National Park, Okavango Delta and Victoria Falls
Western Zambia wilderness expedition
Expedition trip to the finest wilderness area's of Zambia
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe expedition
Expedition through the wildlife havens of Zimbabwe & Zambia
Zambia safari and Malawi beach vacation
This wonderful combination of safari & beach will suit all.
Victoria Falls to Cape Town small group tour
Luxury small group tour from Victoria Falls-Kruger-Cape Town
Cape Town to Zanzibar overland tour
Stunning beaches with some of the best wildlife parks
Luxury Botswana safari & Victoria Falls
Luxurious lodges & spectacular wildlife viewing
Zambia small group tour
Raw and untamed adventure showcasing amazing African nature
PEOPLE & CULTURE
Cultural engagement
While a Maasai visit is woven into the fabric of Kenyan safaris, things aren’t quite the same in Zambia. Many lodges in Kenya are on Maasai land, and so the Maasai people are directly involved with management of it. That’s not the case in Zambia, but the good lodges with responsible management are doing a lot for local communities, especially those close to Livingstone. Even lodges that on the face of it don’t seem to offer much will generally be supporting the local community in some way, employing staff from nearby villages or contributing to their schools, for example.Ask! Ask your lodge about its responsible credentials and how it’s involved in local life. And then ask to visit any of the projects or villages it supports. A visit will no doubt be very welcome, even if it’s not widely advertised to travelers.
Supporting education for girls
Large families are still very much the tradition in Zambia and most women have between six and 12 children. Putting all these children through school proves almost impossible, due to the high price of uniforms and books plus other costs, and only a small percentage of children even finish primary school. Illiteracy stands at 27 percent, and the dropout rate in schools is very high. Girls fare particularly badly, with few in rural Zambia starting school before the age of ten and then often dropping out just five years later, when they are considered adults, ready for marriage, child rearing and crop tending.Source: The High Commission of the Republic of Zambia in Delhi.
What you can do
Many lodges and camps in Zambia work to support local schools, so rural children have a shot at education. This might be by paying teachers’ wages, building facilities or contributing supplies. Ask your accommodation supplier if they are involved in local education at all. There may be the opportunity to sponsor a particular project or initiative there, so that you can continue to support Zambia long after you come home.
WILDLIFE & ENVIRONMENT
Elephant poaching
Africa loses around 30,000 elephants a year to poaching. Most conservation efforts target badly affected countries, including Tanzania and Mozambique, with the southern African countries generally thought to be the main stronghold for savanna elephants on the continent. Recently, though, Zambia has been identified as a cause for concern, with the southwest’s Kwando region becoming an elephant poaching hotspot.This area sits within the huge Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, better known as KAZA. Covering an area twice the size of the UK, it straddles Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and is believed to hold as many as 250,000 elephants – roughly half of all the elephants in Africa. However, recent research by the Great Elephant Census, an elephant-counting project, reveals alarming statistics for KAZA’s Zambian portion. Overall elephant numbers in Zambia are stable, but in the southwest a staggering 95 percent drop has been estimated.
The Sioma Ngwezi Park between the Zambezi and Kwando Rivers has seen the worst poaching, largely because there isn’t much human activity there, with no tourism or researchers to deter the poachers, and so far no anti-poaching initiatives. In addition, poachers can escape into four different countries within minutes, knowing that local law enforcement officials won’t try to pursue them across international borders. The Zambian Tourism website acknowledges that the park has been badly poached, but says numbers are improving and wildlife recovering, although the Great Elephant Census would seem to directly contradict that.
Source: National Geographic, April 2016
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, guerrilla warfare and poverty all contributing to its perpetuation. In Zambia, the complex governance of the KAZA Transfrontier Park where poaching is occurring and the lack of cooperation between the nations involved hobbles anti-poaching attempts. There are, though, small ways in which you can make a difference.
Visit those game reserves that set a great example. Kafue National Park, which is also part of KAZA, has active patrolling by Game Rangers International. This NGO is an independent Zambian conservation organisation, which works with the government’s department of national parks and wildlife. Currently, Kafue’s elephant numbers are stable. Your visitor income supports this good practice.
Sioma Ngwezi National Park itself, where much poaching takes place, is still undeveloped, with just a few campsites and no roads, only tracks, but this will probably change in the future. It’s reported that the Zambian government plans to open the park to private management, providing better wildlife protection. Pop it on your list of ‘must-visits’ for the future!
Donate to an organisation such as WWF, which is pioneering innovative ways to deter poachers. Just £6 can send a local child to an elephant reserve, where they will learn about elephant conservation, and £35 will pay an anti-poaching ranger’s salary for a month.
Read more about WWF’s African Elephant Programme here.
Trophy hunting
Zambia currently allows trophy hunting, after controversially lifting a ban on big cat hunting in 2015. While the idea of shooting lions, leopards and other game in Zambia may seem highly irresponsible and unethical, the foreign revenue generated by well managed hunting trips can cover the running costs of the public agencies that seek to protect and conserve wildlife, benefitting larger numbers of animals in the long run. There are usually strict controls about where and what can be hunted, too. Since 2016, Zambia has imposed greater controls on lion hunting, with only older male cats allowed to be targeted and the number of kills restricted.At Responsible Travel, we would never sell trophy hunting trips or promote this practice in any way, but we do acknowledge that in the current absence of other, more ethical and sustainable options, such hunting trips can benefit local wildlife and communities by pulling in vital finance. Countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe, which also allow controlled trophy hunting, have seen animal numbers rise, with investment in anti-poaching rangers and conservation a positive by-product of trophy hunting revenue.
What you can do:
While it can be argued that trophy hunting can protect some of Zambia’s wildlife, we would ideally like to see more ethical alternatives in the future. Hunting has been banned in Kenya since 1977, and has recently been banned in Botswana. Put the idea that wildlife is worth more alive than dead into action by taking a game drive or walking safari and paying your entry fees to national parks and reserves. Seek out responsible camps and lodges that put money back into the local community and support conservation initiatives, too, so that shooting only with a camera may eventually become the most financially viable form of tourism in the country.
Responsible tourism tips
*Source: World Food Programme