ZAMBIA | SUSTAINABLE SOUTH LUANGWA
Sustainable
SOUTH LUANGWA [ PHOTO: Green Safaris]
[ WRITER: Sarah Kingdom ] Rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we drink our morning coffee as we spy two male lions lying on the bank of the Luangwa River. It’s hard to tell if we are watching them, or they are watching us. We finish our coffee and head to the crossing point over the river, where a team of young men await to pull the pontoon across the water. Reaching the opposite bank, we jump into the waiting game drive vehicle and head off in search of the lions.
In these days of consumerism, depletion of natural resources, pollution, global warming and more, travellers have started taking stock of the environmental impact of their holidays. They’ve started becoming more conscious, and conscientious, in their choices; looking to travel in a way that strikes a balance between seeing the world, and doing so in a way that won’t damage the planet. For these eco conscious travellers, in fact for all travellers, choosing a sustainable safari is a good start. A sustainable safari supports and empowers local communities, protects the natural environment, advocates wildlife conservation; leaving behind a minimal footprint. Luxury and amazing wildlife adventures don’t have to come at the expense of sustainability. Some safari lodges have started to prioritise eco-friendly practices, in addition to the incredible wildlife experiences that people have come to expect. It was for this very reason that we had come to Green Safaris’ Shawa Luangwa lodge, in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, who pride themselves on their ‘green’ approach to safaris. Green Safaris is a pioneering and passionately eco-friendly safari operator, with a strong commitment to reducing its footprint and focusing on sustainable initiatives. The company goal is to leave the areas they operate in as untouched as possible. Shawa Luangwa Camp is 100% sustainable, running completely off the grid, with a large solar farm
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TRAVEL & LEISURE | Jan - April 2022
powering the entire lodge and also recharging their other innovation, electric Land Cruisers. The lodge operates the only ‘eCruisers’ (electric game drive vehicles) in South Luangwa. These are not only more environmentally friendly, but also mean you experience your safari in an entirely new way… silently. No more revving engines as you drive through the bush, a quieter, more immersive, and more enjoyable experience. In fact it was interesting to see the animals’ reactions to the ‘silent treatment’. We would find ourselves surrounded by a herd of zebra who hadn’t really noticed our arrival, and it was just as easy to ‘creep up’ on a group of buffalo, who would only give us the most casual of glances before carrying on eating, as if you weren’t even there. Having crossed the river we set off in search of the morning’s lions, but our search was in vain. By the time we reached where they’d been lying, there was not a trace of them to be seen. The lions may have been elusive, but there was plenty else to see. Two of the park’s endemic species, Thornicroft’s giraffe and Crawshay’s zebra were spread across the plains. Impala, waterbuck and a lone Cookson’s wildebeest (another endemic species) dotted the landscape. A huge herd of buffalo, hundreds, possibly thousands strong, surrounded us as they crossed the road. A spotted hyena lay sleeping in the sand, illuminated in a patch of sunlight. Helmeted guinea fowl trooped across the grassland. Weaver birds’ nests hung like
