Spreading Tangible Benefits
African Safari Lodges are surrounded by thousands
of hectares of pristine environment and very
often bordered on all sides by high voltage
electric fences. Outside these borders live
the local inhabitants, sometimes just a few
hundred and in other cases in excess of 100
000 people call the area home.
Evidence shows that regardless of the geographical
location or population demographics there are
distinct benefits spreading beyond the lodge
and park borders. Lodges can be a significant
source of job creation, regional economic growth
and concurrent poverty alleviation.
In the past two decades many Southern African
countries have initiated changes in rural land
ownership and use rights, making a vital and
sustainable contribution to local people’s
livelihoods. These reforms have transferred
to local citizens, if not outright land ownership,
then the right to use the land and wildlife
for economic gain. This in turn has prompted
lodge operators to investigate and stimulate
partnerships with the local people designed
to maximise the revenue flow to the community.
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Benefits to
the following groups:
- The residents of rural communities
in and around protected areas and game
reserves.
- Management and owners of game lodges,
rest camps and associated concessions.
- Public, private or community management
agencies or other custodians of the protected
areas or game reserves in or around which
the lodges are located.
- Marginal groups in rural society –
especially single women and their families
– through the provision of financial
and economic resources for freedom, empowerment
and improved livelihoods. These benefits
are gained not only via lodge partnerships
but also through promoting guest visits
to local communities.
- Lodge guests through an enhanced ‘real’
experience of the wider environment –
one that encompasses local culture and
people.
Benefits to the local economy
Studies show that the industry injects
tangible benefits into the local economy
in at least four primary ways:
- by providing full-time jobs in contexts
where subsistence farming on arid or marginal
lands is often the only other form of
sustaining livelihoods;
- by providing practical skills and confidence
to rural people in situations where formal
education systems are typically deficient;
- by outsourcing work and services to
local entrepreneurs and small businesses,
such as food supply, craft manufacture,
cultural performances, laundry work and
vehicle maintenance; and
- by paying leases and rentals to the
owners of the land and wildlife –
most often the state but also to local
communities.
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