Preparing for safari blog route map. You are here:
Mindset and research – how to think about packing and do your homework
Luggage – picking the right container
Personal bag – ready for anything
How to pack – the ABCs
Clothing – dress for success
Safari kit – what do you really need?
What not to bring
Preparing with purpose – thinking about your impact
Preparing with purpose
You’ve made it to this point thinking about all the fancy new gear and clothing you want to or should buy. Now I’m going to offer an alternative view on everything you have just read. I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time in Africa, traveling both to tourist highlights and to remote corners rarely visited by outsiders. Over the years I’ve become increasingly attentive to how travel by tourists like you and me affects the places we visit. Traveling is one of the most rewarding things in life and the world would be a better place if more people experienced other countries. But that’s not all there is to it.
Meeting people and making friends is one of the most rewarding aspects of travel. Get to know the places you’ll be visiting and take an interest in their histories and cultures.
For as much as we benefit from it, travel comes with costs. These range from climate impacts of our flights to cultural impacts (visitors climbing Uluru Rock in Australia, for example) to disruption of traditional ways of life to uneven local gains from the tourist economy. Taking a safari in Africa is a luxury, whether you’re a low-budget overland traveler or staying at the poshest lodges in Kruger. A visitor might spend more on a 10-day safari than a local resident earns in a year. Are there ways to recognize the overlooked costs of travel and take actions that give back to the places from which we gain so much? The simple answer is yes. I call this preparing with purpose. Here is a small selection of ideas for ways you can be a more conscientious traveler.
Learn the language
You’re not going to master Swahili in a month, to say nothing of the clicks in Zulu, but you can learn basic greetings and phrases. European languages are widely spoken in most places tourists will visit in Africa. Strictly speaking, you don’t need to learn the local language, but doing so shows you care. People will smile when you greet them in their tongue. You’re making an effort and taking an interest in the people around you. It makes a difference. Download language apps onto your phone, watch videos online, borrow materials from your library, there are lots of easy ways to develop an introductory proficiency.
Make a donation
Research what local charities or NGOs are doing positive work in the community. Send them some money. If you can afford airfare to the continent you can afford a monetary donation. If you would rather support a good cause in a more personal way, reach out to a charity directly and ask if they have specific needs. If you have the time and can make a delivery in person, that is a great way to contribute. The last time I was in South Africa I took a couple crates of supplies to the primary school in the village where I used to live. On my upcoming trip to Zimbabwe I am planning to bring clothing, school supplies, and toys to an orphanage.
I delivered supplies to the assistant headmaster at Mfongosi primary school when I returned to the village. The strengthening of the relationships I made as a result deepened my connection to the community and was a gesture that the school appreciated. Photo by Godfrey Tshumah.
This part of a journey can create a meaningful connection and make a difference to the community, but please do your homework and coordinate your contributions with the recipient in advance. For example, I got in touch with the Zimbabwean orphanage director two months before my trip to ask if it would be okay for my family to visit and to learn what specific requests she had. Don’t just show up expecting to be welcomed with open arms. Without preparation you can’t be certain if the organization you want to support can use your donation or has capacity to meet you. If you plan well and treat a visit with humility, this could be the most memorable part of your entire trip.
Buy pre-owned
It’s exciting to pick out new stuff for a trip, but it doesn’t have to be new to be exciting. Most of the items I mention in this blog series can be bought used. You might want to buy your sunscreen, first aid supplies, and medications new, but it’s easy to find quality clothing, binoculars, watches, luggage, and even cameras on the secondary market. You’ll end up paying a lot less than you would for new equipment and you’ll reduce the overall environmental footprint of your trip by extending the life cycle of existing products. Craigslist, ebay, and Facebook Marketplace are all good places to shop. You can even find great clothing for a bargain at thrift stores and leave most of it behind as gifts or donations before you return home.
Buy local
Purchase items made in the region you’ll be visiting. It’s not practical to acquire everything you’ll need in advance but certain clothing items and shoes are good to buy from your destination countries. You’ll want to spend money in the places you visit, as well.
Learn the history
Getting close to an elephant may be a desired highlight of your trip, but it’s important to appreciate the bigger picture. African nations have fascinating backgrounds, rich cultural traditions, and thriving modern societies. Understanding this broader context will make your visit more meaningful and will give you a more nuanced comprehension of what you see around you. Like the language, it’s a tall order to master the details of every historical event, but gaining a familiarity with the highlights and major forces shaping the path a country has taken will deepen your appreciation for where you are and how you relate to it.
If you are going to South Africa you must know who this man is and the significance of his role in the nation’s history. Photo by Nick Bratton.
Offset your carbon
Planes, trains, and automobiles: they are part of our journey and they all have carbon impacts on our atmosphere. Fortunately, it’s easy to offset these effects if you can’t cross the ocean on a sailboat. You can use a program like Evergreen Carbon Capture, in which a simple online calculator helps you to figure out the carbon footprint of your trip and you pay a non-profit sustainability organization to plant trees that will remove the equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere. It’s a convenient way to reduce your impact. (Disclosure: I work for the organization that runs Evergreen Carbon Capture.)
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this blog series on preparing for safaris in Africa. I hope you find it useful and I welcome any feedback you have on how this strategy works for you. It is a lot of content to contemplate but if I had to summarize it all into a single phrase it would be the first principle of Leave No Trace: plan ahead and prepare. Please reach me through the contact form. Have a wonderful journey and I hope the beauty of the landscape, the wildlife, and the people moves you as much as it has moved me.
Have fun and enjoy your journey through this spectacular continent. Photo by Nick Bratton.