Zimbabwe luxury safari and Victoria Falls

Planet

Many of Africa's protected wildlife areas were once the domain of trophy hunters. Camps and basic infrastructure were set up to accommodate wealthy hunters and the revenue accrued assured that the areas were protected from cattle farming and habituation. Traditionally, trophy hunting was the only means available to acquire the vast sums of money needed to keep the wildlife lands from being developed.

Thankfully, not any more.

Think of safaris today and one conjures up an image of excited khaki-clad tourists in a traditional game vehicle, stopping to photograph animals and learn about the bush from their guide.

Because of the increase in interest from travellers around the world to go on an African safari, far more of the local communities around these wildlife areas are actively involved in the protection of their natural heritage.

Many communities close to wildlife reserves benefit from secondary employment directly from tourism in these protected wildlife areas – souvenir sales, the supply of fresh produce to lodges and camps to name but a few. Instead of trophy hunting keeping reserves open and wildlife able to roam freely, safari tourism is doing this. Safari tourism saves Africa's wildlife by creating much needed local employment and revenue to the extent that governments find these areas worth preserving.

We provide clients with information about environmentally-friendly tourism and choices that can be made while still enjoying a bucket-list holiday – leave sea shells on the beach, don't visit 'petting' parks or go on a shark cage diving. The guides that we work with teach guests the problems associated with feeding wild animals and other important environmental concerns in each specific area of travel.

At Nehimba we recognise that the fate of people and wildlife are inextricably connected. In recognition of this, our strategy is to develop lodges on the edges of parks or peripheral areas. The reason for this is our footprint has less impact on the park.

Tongabezi - The Tongabezi Gardens are our most effective means of cutting our carbon footprint. We have two immense gardens and grow most of our own fruit, vegetables and herbs on site and organically. We also use our own food waste as compost, so nothing really goes to waste. Whatever we don’t grow ourselves we try to source as locally as possible, and our menus utilise seasonal produce.

Where possible on our itineraries, we encourage non-motorized activities – city biking, trail road running, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, canoeing etc. Not only are these CO2 free but they encourage a healthy lifestyle.

One of South Africa's indigenous succulents – the Spekboom – grows naturally in the beautiful Eastern Cape. This carbon-sucking plant can sequester more than four tonnes of carbon dioxide a year per hectare planted, making it more effective than the Amazon rainforest at removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

To reduce carbon emmissions in South Africa, a member of our team plants one cutting of Spekboom in the Gamtoos Valley near the Baviaankloof Mega Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, as a company we actively plant trees.

Tongabezi - We bottle all of our own still and sparkling water to save on cans and plastic bottles. We also have a grey water system that recycles any water used at Tongabezi or on Sindabezi Island. Sindabezi is run entirely on Solar panels and Tongabezi runs on Zambia’s hydropower. Our clean rubbish is taken to the Tongabezi Trust School where it is up-cycled in their incredible art projects and jewellery creation. We even sell their items in our shop and the money goes right back into the art project. We have a staff bus to cut down on CO2 emissions from our staff coming in to or leaving work, and the Tongabezi Trust School uniforms are recycled donated uniforms from other schools.

People

We recognises that employment created through tourism helps to stop poaching, raises education and skill levels, and uplifts local communities in and near the tourism hotspots. Our company policy is to use local suppliers that employ staff directly from the communities around them. We use local guides because they are the most knowledgeable specialists in the area, and by employing them, the local community in turn benefits.

Nehimba - Game water supplies and our interactive ‘pump runs’ that involve guests directly, mobile dental clinics, village boreholes, water pumps, building schools and school libraries and providing educational aids… the list goes on. We have spent over 20 years creating symbiotic relationships between man and nature and we have at last formed some mutually beneficial relationships with our surroundings. You can become part of this by joining us on a safari of a lifetime

Our guests are therefore directly supporting ecotourism, by providing jobs and education and helping to restore hope and livelihoods.

Tongabezi - In 1996 Tongabezi donated the money for our founder's wife, Vanessa, to build a single classroom for a preschool. This Tongabezi Trust School now goes right up to Grade 9 and is made up of over 270 children, none of whom pay school fees.