Pick of the Week: Saadani Safari Lodge

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

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If you are looking for an African adventure, Whole Travel would like to suggest the Saadani Safari Lodge.  The Saadani Safari Lodge is located in the Saadani National Park.  The Saadani National Park is an extraordinary mix of ecosystems that combines beach, bush, and river.

Saadani Safari Lodge is small and intimate, with just nine individual tented cottages set along the beach, cooled by soft ocean breezes and shaded by casherina trees.  Come to Saadani Safari Lodge for a chance to see elephants, hippos, or just to get away from it all.

photo from www.saadanilodge.com


Eco-tourism as a Way to Protect and Save Wildlife

October 1, 2008

Many travelers equate eco-tourism and green travel with preserving local cultures, customs, and the environment. However, there’s another aspect to eco-tourism to think about, which is not as obvious a part of the environment: preservation of wildlife.

This is especially true in such war-torn countries as Senegal, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo where wildlife can be sacrificed in the middle of conflicts but where eco-tourism can work to counteract this destruction.

For example, ivory has for centuries been a treasured commodity, used for both ornamental as well as practical and medical purposes; this has been especially popular in Asian markets.

A recent article in Ethical Traveler (2008) highlighted the rise of elephant poaching due to  “China’s insatiable appetite for ivory” and cited shocking statistics including the demise of the Senegalese elephant population from 20,000 tusked pachyderms in the late 90s to only two today. Reuters also investigated the obliteration of elephants by poaching, citing that the 2-million acre Virunga National Park of Rwanda, once the home of 5,000 Savannah elephants in the 1970s, now only has 300 - seven elephants having been killed as recently as August 2008.

It has been suggested that eco-tourism, however, can help turn these numbers around. Travel to elephant sanctuaries and game reserves brings not only much needed money for elephant protection and conservation, but also attracts attention and heightens awareness of the continued illegal poaching.

Whole Travel offers a number of different African safari adventures including Leopard Walk Lodge, Tsaro Elephant Lodge, and many more which contribute to helping this preservation effort.