Responsible Travel - Policy into Practice; is just about marketing? How responsible are we when we travel?   by Deborah Thiele

Everyone is talking about Responsible Travel; the old "Leave Nothing But Your Footprints" has been a popular slogan for many Travel Agents and Tour Operators for years. But is there a gap between Policy and Practice? If Responsible Tourism is really being practiced than why do Big Cats in some of Africans most popular game parks have to adapt habits, like hunting, to the most treacherous part of the day - midday.

Responsible Tourism has become one the most important marketing tools for Travel Agents and Tour Operators globally. In every brochure there is undoubtedly a section on how companies employ Responsible Tourism strategies into their tours. When push comes to shove; how many of these Travel Agents and Tour Operators actually enforce and support these strategies on the ground? Or has competition for the tourism dollar resulted in a blind eye.

A clear indication that Responsible Travel Policy is not translating into practice is in Game Parks like the Masai Mara in Kenya. Big Cats like lions and cheetahs having to change their routine. Instead of hunting in the evening or very early morning they are starting to hunt at midday. This is not a natural wonder nor an adaptation from Mother Nature but simply a matter of survival.

Safari vehicles stalk wildlife. There is nothing more exciting than seeing a lion or cheetah stalking gazelles or zebra in the early morning light. It is not uncommon for one safari vehicle to spot this and drive as close to the action as possible, unfortunately every other vehicle that sees this knows there is something good nearby. Before long there are tens of vehicles crowded around the poor unsuspecting hungry Cat - the prey is alerted and the Cat wanders off; hungry.

The saving grace for Big Cats is that tourists get hungry too; at around midday all the safari vehicles head back to their lodges for a feast while the hungry Cat stays hungry unless she to decides to hunt in the middle of the day.

Hunting during the hottest part of the day is particularly risky for Big Cats. They exert far too much energy, become dehydrated and if they miss this kill may be too weak to try another. Further, with the hit sun beating down on them they do not have shadows not shade to disguise themselves. There ability to sprint in hot exposed conditions is halved from hunting in cooler conditions. The chances of Cats being successful in their hunt are less than 50% from hunting early morning or evening.

The Cheetah is the fastest mammal on earth. It carries very little reserves and therefore must hunt regularly to keep energy levels high. A cheetah has a 1:2 hunt success rate. If the cheetah has a lesser rate than 1:5 hunt success rate it doesn't have enough energy for another chase and will starve to death.

Why is this happening in this day in age? Surely humankind has learnt something over the past 100 years about protecting precious species.

A simple answer would be to blame the local operator. Obviously, if you book your safari through a Travel Agent the contract is passed to a local African operator. It is far too easy to blame the little guy - the African driver/guide who only wants a great tip at the end of the safari for getting you close to a lion kill. However, it is far more complicated than that.

The tourism industry is very competitive and each Agent and Operator is looking for a way to outdo his competitor. The magic words Responsible Tourism plays straight into the hand of the consumer. Everyone wants to feel the product they have purchased will do some good or at very least no harm to the environment, people or culture. Marketing and advertising are directed to play on the consumer's inner emotions and feelings over and above conscious thought processes.

Even with responsible travellers intentions being nothing but honourable at time of booking their African safari there seems to be a monster that unleashes itself when face to face with the perfect photo opportunity. Often this is a subconscious reaction to the environment. Try to remember since childhood how many wildlife documentaries you have seen. Impossible. But what you can recall is that in every documentary there was the animal kill - the lion taking down wildebeest in the Serengeti; Leopard taking the jugular of a gazelle in South Luangwa and Cheetah sprinting at incredible speed to outrun the springbok in Chobe. As a society we have been conditioned that Africa means Kill and no safari is complete unless we have seen one.

This pressure is placed on the driver/guide of the safari. If you ask anyone fresh off the plane in Nairobi about what their number 1 desire to see in Africa - a kill is invariably the response.

Local operators are constantly placed under massive stress to deliver the product and ensure clients have a once in a lifetime experience. Contracts are too easily won and lost over such trivia as one client complaint to the Agent that the safari did not deliver the goods. Excellent service, food, facilities and organisation do not count for much if the clients do not see the Big 5.

Agents and Foreign Tour Operators place enormous pressure on local operators to deliver above expectations. Resulting in local operators breaking fundamental rules like following Cats while hunting, driving off designated paths and driving far too close to wildlife - all in the pursuit of the perfect photo and all in breach of Responsible Tourism policy. This dilemma local operators face is simple. Break the rules and keep the contract or stick to the rules and lose it.

Booking tours through Agents has been the norm for many years and smaller operators selling their product through Agents has become more and more popular for maximum exposure and ultimately bums on seats. However, when a tour is booked through an Agent the consumer rarely knows who the actual Operator at the other end is. The Agent is there to make sales and often, sadly, will give miss-information to the potential client in order to sell that safari. Empty promises are made about the animals that the client would see and of course may even promise a lion kill in the Masai Mara. The client is nothing but disappointed at the end of the day.

Finally, in many African countries there is a severe lack of resources within the Parks and Wildlife sectors of the Government. This lack of resources often results in Parks not being regularly patrolled and a lack-lustre approach to enforcing park rules.

Way Forward

The simplest solution to ensure Responsible Tourism Policy translates into Practice is not to expect to see the Big Cats in full flight. If you see one stalking potential prey ...... drive away.

About the Author

Deborah Thiele is the Director of Africa Expedition Support. A safari company based in East Africa. Deborah, originally from Adelaide, Australia ended up in Africa after many years of travelling around the World. She has been in Africa since beginning of 2003. More Information available info@AfricaExpeditionSupport.com or www.AfricaExpeditionSupport.com