This is what the future of safari looks like

BSix years ago on my first safari, I imagined hostels reminiscent of outside Africa—Think of leather steam trunks, dark wood, felt helmets, and lots of khakis. I’ve now experienced nearly a dozen safaris across the continent, from Zimbabwe to Tanzania, and I believe the colonial effects of the safari industry must remain constant in the past. Fortunately, change is coming – albeit slowly. Here are some things visitors to Africa’s wild places can expect in the coming years.

Beyond the Big Five

Tourists usually go on safari to glimpse the “Big Five,” a group that refers to some of the continent’s most attractive species. Travelers may not realize that the term itself is an old fishing phrase that contributes to overcrowding in areas like Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. Most first-time safari travelers still want to see lions, tigers, black rhinos, African savannah elephants, and Cape buffalo in the wild, says Dennis Pinto, managing director of Micato Safaris, based in Nairobi, Kenya. But the company also serves a growing number of repeat hikers — myself included — who want to get out of the car, dive deep into distant landscapes, and explore the landscape with a new lens.

Industry is answering the call. In Kenya, visitors can see the ecosystem of the Grand Mara at two feet with walking safaris that focus on the culture of Asilia Africa. Or they can barter the Great Migration, when dozens of vehicles congregate around herds of wildebeest and their dramatic river crossings, for the humpback whale migration off the Kenyan port city of Watamu.

Then there are the emerging destinations. African Parks, a South African-based NGO, works with governments across the continent to manage nature reserves that have been generating little or no revenue. If the park has tourist potential, the NGO is setting up a safari lodge to help fund operations. I imagine wildlife encounters in these rarely visited places, including Pendjari National Park in Benin, where a new lodge run by Banyan Tree will take place. About 90 percent of the world’s West African lions roam the region, and herds of elephants are a rare mixture of savannah and woodland species.

Camp management with a focus on the future

Sustainability practices are far from standard in Africa’s wilderness, but more parks, lodges and campgrounds are shifting toward operations that contribute to the longevity of the surrounding ecosystems, according to Jamie Sweeting, vice president at G Adventures, a Toronto-based travel company. A growing number of camps in eastern and southern Africa run mostly on solar energy, use greywater treatment systems, and are built with recycled materials. Some government policies encourage better behaviour: In 2020, Kenya banned all single-use plastics in its protected natural areas.

Many campers are looking for electric cars, but the process of converting the technology is often very slow and expensive. The Cheetah Plains camp in South Africa, which is entirely on solar energy, has a fleet of solar-powered Toyota Land Cruisers with Tesla batteries that eliminate the need to ferry fuel to the remote Sabi Sands Game Reserve. For guests, quiet machines ensure less intrusive wildlife scenes.

Diversification of clients and ownership

Images of black employees waiting for white visitors perpetuate disturbing power dynamics, while alienating those travelers who don’t fit into this guest profile. Black travel to Africa has increased in recent years, but the safari crowd has remained mostly white, according to Naledi K. Khabo, CEO of the African Tourism Association. She says business ownership matters, too — particularly when courting groups like the $130 billion US leisure travel black market. “Representation is important, and there are a limited number of black owners across the continent,” she says.

This is slowly changing. In 2020 the South African-based Black-owned Motsamayi Tourism Group launched the Kruger Shalati, inside a former luxury train on a bridge in Kruger National Park with an interior design that references regional culture. Bex Ndlovu, founder of Black Zimbabwe and CEO of Bush Camps Africa, owns 17 high-profile camps in South Africa. Kenya is home to a growing number of community-owned wildlife reserves.

Dave Wilson, head of commercial development at African Parks, believes the often-overlooked domestic traveller also plays an important role. A diverse demographic model operates in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park, a once deserted area that African Parks, along with the Rwanda Development Board, rehabilitated into a thriving wildlife preserve with housing for both the informal market, the self-driving market, and luxury clients. In 2019, more than half of Akagera’s 45,000 visitors were Rwandans on vacation.

“When you talk about creating a constituency for conservation, it’s not coming from Mr. and Mrs. Smith from New York,” Wilson says. “It will come from the communities around that protected area, and [locals] who enjoy that national wealth.”

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