In December 2020, a survey was done of the population of Makurian, the neighbouring group ranch to Lolldaiga Hills (on our northern border), to find out which issues were causing the community the most anguish. The answers were wide-ranging; lack of employment, deforestation, overgrazing, irregular rains causing drought, lack of education opportunities…. But one answer stood out again and again; Opuntia.

During the last couple of months, we have been focusing a lot on training with the staff in order to maintain and improve our skills and staff presence around the camp. Our most recent training was on sustainability and climate change.

The Safari Series has signed up to Tourism Declares, an initiative that supports tourism businesses, organisations and individuals in declaring a climate emergency and taking purposeful action to reduce their carbon emissions as per the advice from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030.

With sustainable travel becoming an ever more ‘hot topic’ for those who love to see the world, it is highly surprising that carbon offset is still such a technical and highly complicated subject. Reducing your carbon footprint is something that most people know, at least something, about: your carbon footprint is ‘the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community’ and it can be reduced by changes to your lifestyle to increase your impact on slowing climate change.

Since we are a completely tented camp, our water from showers and handwashing basins runs straight into the ground. This means that any soaps, shampoo or conditioners used by our guests goes in there too. Chemicals in these products seep into the ground and can affect local waterways, animals and plants. Instead, we encourage guests to use the soaps we provide for them - namely products from Cinnabar Green and Grounded Africa.