A SAFARI THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
JEAN PORCHARD TRAVELS WITH NOMAD TANZANIA TO DISCOVER THE HEART - AND SOUL - OF AFRICA.
"There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne - bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive." Isak Dinesen, 'Out of Africa'.
Though it can still feel like this, total abandonment to the exotic joys of luxury African safari is more complicated nowadays. In the last decade, with celebrities, aid organisations and journalists all drawing our attention to the troubles of poor Mother Africa, it's harder for sophisticated adventure-seekers to even imagine having a good time in Africa when our social conscience pricks so sharply.
The good news is there is now a new breed of travel company that has been thinking about this issue somewhat harder than we armchair worriers.
To find out more, I approached Nomad Tanzania, a luxury safari company with some of the most fabulous safari camps in Africa.
I wanted to know if all the talk about eco-tourism is just a marketing gimmick, or the real thing. Can we truly be carefree, luxury tourists in countries where we have the per capita income as small change in our designer money belts?
At the foot of the Mahale Mountains (mind-blowing), on the sandy shore of the company's legendary camp, Greystoke Mahale (it's fabulous), I put this question to Roland Purcell, chairman of the Nomad Trust, the charitable arm of Nomad Tanzania.
"Yes, you can," he said, "but you have to be very selective. Tourism is by nature predatory and many tour companies don't even think about their impact. there are good guys out there who are pioneering travel with a conscience."
But how do they do that, I wondered, as we sat in the shade of a mango tree at the end of an incredible day of wild chimpanzee tracking. I was drinking iced Pimms - probably the only cocktail in any direction for 1000 miles - knowing that I had a gushing hot shower, a five-course dinner and a perfect night's sleep in paradise ahead of me.
"For starters, just ask them what they're doing to help local communities and conservation in their areas."
"When tourists visit national park wildernesses they imagine that they have always been uninhabited."
Roland described how Nomad Tanzania does it. "Firstly it's to do with the decency of a company across the board, like paying all your taxes, treating staff well and, in the safari business, being very careful about the social and ecological impacts of the tourism you promote. Secondly, it's about direct action: part of every Nomad client's safari payments automatically goes towards aid work."
Though there's much more in the pipeline, the Nomad Trust currently distributes the bulk of its funds to three independent organisations. One supports rhino conservation in the Selous, the other two are community projects set up for local people on the borders of Mahale and Katavi national parks. "When tourists visit national park wildernesses they imagine that they have always been uninhabited," says Roland. "But it's very rarely the case: local people have generally been displaced to make way." Community trusts, which provide funding for medical care and schooling are a means of providing some compensation for the loss of these lands.
"The fees we pay also make an important difference," says Mark Houldsworth, Nomad Tanzania's Managing Director. "Last time we looked, our Mahale park fees (paid for every tourist visitor) accounted for 90% of the entire tourism income for the national park. Given that Greystoke was set up there because the place needed support, we're happy about that."
In some areas, communities are the direct recipients: the company also has camps in Loliondo, just outside the Serengeti National Park boundary, and pays the Maasai villages $30 a day per tourist per day for the privilege. "This not only improves quality of life directly," says Mark, "but also shows a community that there's real value in preserving wildlife and its environment - and that there's real value in tourists."
So how can you ensure that you'll be a tourist of real value? Companies can, and sometimes do, say whatever's necessary to get your business, so you've got to be pretty shrewd. But for starters, just ask them what they're doing to help local communities and conservation in their areas.
If you're not happy with the answer, don't book. If you are, support them. Send out a message to the travel business that if they want our custom, they're going to have to be nice to others, as well as ourselves. And strike a blow for responsible travel before you've even left your armchair.
For further information about booking a safari with Nomad Tanzania please contact Alice Gully at Aardvark Edinburgh on alice@aardvarksafaris.com
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