A responsible African Footprint Safari.
/“When you leave Africa, as the plane lifts, you feel that more than leaving a continent you’re leaving a state of mind. Whatever awaits you at the other end of your journey will be of a different order of existence.” Francesca Marciano.
Tourism to Africa provides jobs and improves the overall wealth of the area being traveled to and for this reason many African countries are keen to develop tourism in order to become wealthier and hopefully improve the quality of life for their people. Tourism to African however needs to be responsible, sustainable and carefully managed in order to provide these encouraging outcomes. As a conservation aware company, African Footprint Safaris are proud to support responsible travel to Africa.
In our effort to be a responsible travel outfit, African Footprint Safaris endorses the Wilderness Safaris philosophy of the 4 ‘c’ principle when designing our unique itineraries to Africa in order to contribute meaningfully to the wildlife and the people of Africa. These principles are commerce, conservation, community and culture.
Commerce deals with the ecotourism offering itself, and is by far one of the most important elements in this modern world – we can truly only make a difference in Africa if we, and the companies that we support, are financially viable.
Conservation involves the management and protection of the wildlife and ecosystems that we build our itineraries around. African Footprint Safaris only utilise responsible operators that actually achieve this as well as support camps that are built in the eco-friendliest manner - so to not impact harshly on the environments in which they are built.
Community is all about the people at the heart of the business, the staff themselves that work hard to give you that ‘once in a lifetime’ African experience. African Footprint Safaris again only create itineraries to properties in Africa that respect, cherish and nurture the African staff that will go 'above and beyond' to give you your personal African experience. Our itineraries need to also have a positive impact on the external community - the rural communities that own the actual land or live adjacent to these areas that you will be traveling to.
Culture is broadly everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts of a particular group of people. An African Footprint Safaris itinerary respects and embraces the culture of all the staff involved throughout our guest’s safari, as well as the remote rural communities surrounding the conservation areas traveled through. The camps used in our Safaris reflect a healthy social environment, area-appropriate camp design, décor, entertainment and meals. We respect the traditional rights within the camps and the surrounding conservation areas while educating and communicating the area's traditional culture to our guests too.
We also believe that our African Footprint Safaris guests to Africa are not simply on an African vacation but on an African expedition that engages you with Africa, its wildlife, its people, its cultures and custom. An African Footprint Safari is created to allow you to have an impact on the wildlife and people that you visit but also designed to change how you view the wild places of Africa and the world, on your return.