Young travelers are hungry for adventure, and it’s taking them to Africa.
25.08.2023 - 14:24 / skift.com / Travel Experiences / Selene Brophy / Africa
No wiggle room exists anymore for superficial business as usual.
That may not sound very profound as an argument against greenwashing, particularly greenwashing by travel and tourism companies.
But when the person delivering that message is the Hollywood actor Ed Norton, people listened.
Speaking earlier this month at the 2022 WTTC Summit in Riyad, Norton, who serves as a United Nations biodiversity ambassador, pulled out all the punches on greenwashing and what he called a “superficial set of sustainable commitments” that are just too easy for the tourism industry to dodge without accountability.
If you didn’t know, Norton has advocated for global biodiversity for more than 15 years.
“The fact that somebody comes to look at wildlife at your camp does not make you an eco-tour operator,” said Norton in conversation with Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of Saudi Tourism Authority, during the 2022 WTTC Summit in Riyad.
He singled out luxury safari operators that need to question where their energy comes from and whether they’re using too much fossil fuel. They must explore sustainable water sources, and when it comes to being community-based, they need to mean it. Lastly, he stressed that measuring carbon neutrality to reach zero status is vital.
Norton outlined how a U.S. aid grant helped build a 70 kilometer pipeline from a water-dressed community to supply ensuite plunge pools of a well-known luxury safari brand in West Africa. He refused to name the brand but emphatically stated he would never return there.
“It’s just not acceptable,” said Norton, famous for his roles in such films at “Fight Club.”
With Norton’s observations in mind, Skift reached out to some of the largest private luxury safari players in South Africa to understand what their sustainable models entailed. Do they believe their models are superficial greenwashing or actual workable blueprints for establishments needing to make the sustainable grade?
Whether you want to call it ecotourism, responsible tourism or sustainable tourism, the emphasis should be on lifting a community up and development, said Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lapalala Wilderness and director of the Lapalala Conservation Foundation. Phillips has a long-standing history of shaping responsible tourism guidelines and minimum standards with South African National Parks.
Lapalala Wilderness Reserve is one of the largest private Big 5 game reserves in South Africa, spanning some 48 000 hectares. It was founded in 1981 by Dale Parker and Clive Walker as a conservation area – with its Lapalala Wildeness School being the conservation gem of its efforts.
Sixty percent of the school’s work is sponsored, community-based training done in collaboration with various schools in the
Young travelers are hungry for adventure, and it’s taking them to Africa.
South Africa – with its dramatic coastline, wildlife-filled parks, vibrant cultures and cosmopolitan cities – can be within reach for travelers of all budgets.
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South Africa is an excellent destination for family trips.
In October 2019, my husband and I booked a weekend getaway in the Pilanesberg, a Big Five game reserve in South Africa. Work had been really stressful, so we figured a trip to a nearby reserve for a few game drives (or safaris, as they’re commonly known) would be just what we needed.
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It once contained one of the densest wildlife concentrations in Africa. But once the Mozambican Civil War broke out in 1977, the wildlife in Gorongosa National Park was one of the casualties; at one point, a count of zebras in the park was reduced from 3,500 to nine. Starting in 2004, though, American philanthropist Greg Carr working with the Mozambique government began the process of returning the wildlife population to this territory in what is regarded as the greatest restoration project on the continent. In a week long tour scheduled for September, 2024 and conducted by Natural World Safaris as part of the company’s Expeditions for Change program, those efforts will be on view in experiences that will resonate even to those on frequent safaris.
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