ZAMBIA | OWNER RUN CAMP
OWNER RUN Camp [ WRITER: John Coppinger – owner of Remote Africa Safaris ] [ PHOTO: Remote Africa Safaris ]
[ 1995 Coppinger family with Mpamvu ] In 1994 my wife, Carol, and I were faced with a crossroads in our bush career. Following four years of guiding and managing at Nsefu Camp in the South Luangwa National Park, we managed Wilderness Trails Ltd for almost a decade, during which time we were based at Chibembe Lodge during the dry season and Lusaka during the rains. At that time Wilderness Trails was, by some distance, the largest private tour operator in Zambia with a portfolio of two lodges, five bushcamps (in both the North and South Luangwa) and a travel agency in Lusaka, which we set up. The company shareholders operated a high volume, low cost safari-beach tourist business in Kenya and had taken advantage of an opportunity to expand their operation into Zambia. But after eight years it had become clear to them that the Luangwa Valley would simply never fit into their business model. Despite British Airways flying three times a week directly between Lusaka and London, it was significantly more expensive than flying to Nairobi and operational costs in Zambia were vastly greater. On top of that they now realised that the rainy seasons would not permit extending the short tourist seasons. Their market segment would never withstand the rates that would have to be applied just to break even.
[ Getting around during the rains in 1996 ] 8
TRAVEL & LEISURE | May - Aug 2022
They were losing interest in their Zambian investment and it was clear that we either had
