Judging by the number of results you get when you tap “ecolodge africa” into a search engine you would think so. The reality, however, is that there is no single pan-continental certification system. Some countries have their own ecotourism associations, such as the Ecotourism Society of Kenya (ecotourismkenya.org), which currently awards its gold rating to just two lodges: Basecamp Masai Mara (pictured above) and Campi ya Kanzi. Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa assesses travel businesses on criteria such as wages and working conditions. Elsewhere, it can be hard to separate the green from the greenwash…
Leading tour operators, such as Rainbow Tours, Expert Africa, Tribes and Discovery Initiatives carry out their own vetting procedure. Tribes now publishes an “eco-review” of 25 lodges based on their environmental performance and social responsibility. So far, the best performing lodges are Chole Mjini and Chumbe Island Lodge (in Tanzania) and Kenya’s Amboseli Porini (tribes.co.uk).
This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian.
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Trouble in Paradise
Many of us dream of going on safari to Kenya. We travel content in the knowledge that our holidays protect endangered species, and our tourism helps to boost the local economy.
But we rarely wonder who lived on the land before we arrived there, where they have disappeared to, or at what cost…
MRG believes that we all have a responsibility to practice not just eco-tourism, but ethical tourism – so that minorities and indigenous people are not displaced to make way for holiday-makers on game reserves or pristine beaches.
Join our Trouble in Paradise campaign and sign the online petition in support of the Endorois, a pastoralist community from Kenya, evicted from their ancestral lands to make way for a game reserve in the 1970s.
Check out our online petition and campaign: www.minorityrights.org/troubleinparadise