Reply to Are safaris in Africa ethical?

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "Are safaris in Africa ethical?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is it unethical to travel anywhere?

As for safaris, like anything else, it depends. There are many different kinds, many different tour operators, many different accommodations. You can choose locally owned operations who try to abide by certain standards, particularly out of respect for the animals and their habitats, and stay at lodges that are community-owned and are indeed the center and support of a community. Do a lot of research.

If this isn’t a troll post (kind of seems designed for an argument)…his pronouncement that safaris are “unethical” is silly. I’m sure some are, some aren’t. Some travel to Europe is unethical. But it’s weird to think that safaris are particularly unethical, given that many local people, who run their own companies aimed at showing people the stunning wildlife in their communities, are not doing it in a way that is ethical and responsible. [/quote]

I agree with you (and said as much upthread -- OP just needs to look into ethical safari countries and companies and present that info to her DH who may not know that there are options).

But I also think the responses on this thread that try to equate all travel as equally ethically challenging are disingenous. While I don't think safaris are de facto unethical I actually think it's reasonable for a person to have more questions about certain kinds of travel. I get why OP's DH might have concerns about the ethics of safaris. When you visit countries with a lot of poverty and history of civil unrest it really ups the chances that the tourism industry could be really exploitative. And then add in the safari element and how easily tourism activity can become really bad for the environment and the potential exploitation of animals and it's actually pretty reasonable that OP's DH has reservations.

Plus African safaris used to be pretty horribly unethical and it's really only in the last 20 years that more ethical companies have cropped up and some countries have cracked down on the various very exploitative and damaging practices in an effort to protect their wildlife and in some cases to ensure people are treated better. At the same time safaris have also become much more popular with a rising global upper middle class and social media motivating people to have more "Instagram-worthy" experiences.

OP's DH doens't have some silly and totally unfounded concern.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics