Post-Covid, Safari Companies Rethink Who Should Stay at Their Lodges
Some operators are turning the classic business model on its head in hopes of increasing margins and better funding their conservation work. But doing so is a risky move all its own.
Source: Borana Lodge
“We don’t have a lot of time,” says Beks Ndlovu, founder of African Bush Camps, of the scramble to preserve Africa’s wilderness areas, which are increasingly threatened by environmental factors such as climate change, human-wildlife conflict, and a lack of funding. With 15 lodges across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, Ndlovu is on the front lines of a battle that he says “is closing in on us.”
Nvodlu is among the safari operators that has realized in the past year that the current tourism model needs a rethink, despite decades of insistence that visitor revenues would sustain wilderness areas, surrounding villages, and the animals. That’s in part because of Covid-19, which halted visitor revenues entirely and left tourism-funded reserves across Africa unable to pay their rangers and anti-poaching units. And it’s partially because of long-accepted industry norms, which include hefty travel agent commissions that chip away at profits that can be directed toward conservation.