Travelling in Green

Travelling [ WRITER: Kellie Bocxe ] IN GREEN

[PHOTO: Green Safaris, Kellie Bocxe ]

Working in community development can be very challenging. There are days when you just want to stop. Then you see the smiles on children’s faces when they see elephants or hippos up close for the first time. Or you get caught up in the excitement of farmers who are finally harvesting the yields that their hard work deserves. These moments are so precious, and it is these people – with their passionate commitment to empower themselves and their communities – who keep us motivated and excited about the work we do. I don’t have the ability to uplift these communities. But WE do. The communities, me. And you, if you would like to!

Let me introduce you to the Green Safaris Conservation Foundation (GSCF), and to just a few of the initiatives that our Green Team, along with many members of our communities, have implemented to make positive change. And let me tell you a little about how you, as an eco-conscious tourist, can have a lasting impact on community development, conservation, and sustainability in vulnerable African spaces.

THE GREEN SAFARIS VISION

Green Safaris operates in five very different ecosystems around Zambia and Malawi. Their luxury sustainable lodges sit within carefully handpicked spots, each chosen for its pristine ecosystem, vulnerable wildlife, and isolated communities, since these are the places where Green Safaris can make the most positive impact.

Whilst these lodges focus on taking care of luxury travellers from around the world, our Green Safaris Conservation Foundation uses tourism as the cornerstone for an ever-growing number of conservation, community development, and environmental initiatives.

We could write a book about these projects, but since this is a word-limited article, here are just a few:

ASSET-BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

For our community-development projects, our Green Team works closely with the Zambian NGO, By Life Connected. We believe that their approach, a refreshing new take on development, is the key for sustainable community projects. It is called the ABCD method: Asset-Based-CommunityDevelopment.

This approach focuses on the assets rather than the needs of a community, and builds on existing strengths. Even more importantly, it mobilizes each community to start developing for themselves, thereby ensuring ownership and long-term sustainability in each project. The role of By Life Connected and the GSCF is therefor to facilitate rather than lead.

NURTURING FARMING HEARTS IN ZAMBIA

Working in community development in rural parts of Zambia quickly brought us all to a realisation: most Zambians are farmers at heart. They may mostly farm for subsistence, but they have a passion for growing. This is why many of our main projects focus on helping smallscale farmers increase their yields. The Mukuni Community Farm is located in the Mukuni Chiefdom in Livingstone, just by the mighty Mosi oa Tunya (or Victoria Falls). This space, which in 2020 was just a 12.6-hectare piece of barren, overgrazed land, is now a sustainable and organic farm. It provides fresh produce to the community and to nearby lodges whilst generating an income for the members of the community who work on the project. Most importantly, it provides free training about organic, healthy farming techniques to anyone who asks.

We first trialled this system at the Ila Community Farm, which was founded in 2015 and is now entirely run by the Nalusanga community. Many of the fresh veggies at Ila Safari Lodge by Green Safaris have been coming from this farm for years!

WILDLIFE LESSONS, IN THE WILD.

The GSCF also funds education in many forms, from building sustainable secondary school classrooms in Nalusanga, to installing a solar plant in the Chunga Community School to power computer lessons. But we were especially shocked to find out that there are children living next to the biggest National Park in Zambia who have never seen an elephant, lion, or hippo in real life. And if they have, it is usually in a fraught human-wildlife interaction, hardly likely to engender a passion for conservation.

So we set up a Conservation Education Club within the Nalusanga Community, to teach students about nature conservation directly from field professionals. The teachers are safari guides, researchers from the Zambian Carnivore Programme and Panthera; and even DNPW officers. And the classroom is the National Park itself, with a full safari experience hosted by Green Safaris.

Similar programmes are happening in the Luangwa Valley, where our Foundation supports Project Luangwa in their large range of community development work in the form of education, sponsorship, gender empowerment, and conservation.

SO HOW CAN YOU BECOME A PART OF THIS GREEN STORY?

Visit us. Walk around the Mukuni Community Farm and let the bright-eyed farmers show you how they now grow their family’s meals organically. Meet the Panthera researchers around the Ila Safari Lodge camp fire and learn the lessons they teach the Conservation Club on why big cats are vital for our wildlife. Get hands on and dance on the Tongabezi Trust School stage with the reigning National Champions of Traditional Dancing.

Or you could simply go on holiday, spoil yourself, safari in luxury, and know that the wonderful memories you are making are fuelling positive change for Africa. Whilst we are incredibly proud of our communities and the vital projects they work on every day, none of this would be possible without the support of people around the world with a passion for Africa. By visiting a Green Safaris property, part of your magical safari is directly benefitting local communities. Creating a direct line of empowerment from safari tourists to local communities is a vital step in spreading a passion for protecting our wildlife and ecosystems throughout Africa. Without this relationship, we could not carry out all of our vital work.

It is thanks to our guests that we have started reforestation projects near Tongabezi, Ila Safari Lodge, Kaya Mawa in Malawi, and Shawa Luangwa. It is thanks to travellers with a purpose that we can support the Young Mother’s Programme on Likoma Island, and that the Tongabezi Trust School (a fully registered and self-sustaining trust school) can provide a free, holistic education to over 300 local children. Thanks to you that we can invest in Panthera’s vital conservation work, fund Conservation South Luangwa, and support anti-snaring projects by the Zambian Carnivore Project.