Aaaaah, It Was Wonderful To Go Back To The Bush! June 12, 2008
Posted by Julia in : Animals, Safari, ecotourism , 1 comment so far
Upon entering Klaserie Game Reserve we were delighted with the welcoming committee of a solitary Brown Snake Eagle perched high on a dead Leadwood as we zooted off to our unfenced camp. It was an amazing setting on the banks of the Klaserie under a canopy of Jackalberry trees. With an armed ranger and tracker, we explored the treasures of their concession. On our final evening of the 3 nights we spent there, we came across a mating pair of lion on the game drive. After our supper their calls continued echoing across our camp and to our surprise we were later surrounded by calls from 2 other lionesses. There’s nothing like those decibels to get your adrenalin going!
Does Eco Building Decrease Energy Consumption? May 30, 2008
Posted by Lizanne in : Community, Energy , 5comments
The global environmental crisis is forcing us to take a long, hard look at our use of energy. Most of us have been guilty of firing away, using and abusing electricity and water without a second thought about it. But this kind of behaviour is simply impossible in a new era where environmental awareness and sustainability ranks among the top issues of our time.
In examining my own life, I realized that energy saving bulbs and solar powered water heating is certainly contributing to the international effort to get our act together. Still, with our terribly hot summers and icy cold winters in the Ceres Valley in South Africa, our use of energy to cool or heat our homes, simply transcends my minor efforts to act eco-conscious. And I suspect this is also felt in many places around the world. So at the beginning of a building process for a new eco mountain cottage on our farm, what can I do to lessen the need to cool or heat that home? Will the benefits to the people that will live there, add up to the benefits for the environment? With these questions on my mind, I set out on my eco search. You will see that my answers are not exclusive to any one area or climate.
Kruger National Park Google Earth layer May 25, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Conservation, News, Safari, Tourism, ecotourism , 5comments
ecoAfrica has launched a Google Earth layer for the Kruger National Park (2MB .kmz file; requires Google Earth), in the context of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Our layer includes:
- Lodges, camps, restcamps and trails camps (book online)
- Transport: roads, distances, routes, gates, airstrips (plan a trip)
- Ecology: rainfall, biomes, wildlife census - all graphically represented
- History: how Kruger evolved and its borders expanded since 1884
- National park, transfrontier park and game reserve boundaries
So there’s something there for the traveller and visitor, as well as the scholar. (more…)
Eco-travel in Africa makes a difference May 13, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Community, Sustainability, Tourism, ecotourism , 1 comment so far
The title of this post is also ecoAfrica’s slogan, and one of the questions it immediately raises is: what sort of a difference? Another would be: what is “eco-travel”? These questions - and their answers - go to the heart of what ecotourism really is.
Let’s take the second question first: what is eco-travel? Without entering into a debate about eco-travel - or ecotourism - definitions, it is worth pointing out that ecotourism represents a travel ethic rather than a market segment or type of tourism. It is purposeful travel, where the salient purpose, besides experiencing Nature, is the preservation of Nature.
Two generally accepted definitions of ecotourism are:
Ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas that fosters environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation.
Ecotourism Association of Australia
Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.
The International Ecotourism Society (TIES)
Elephant options in Africa May 2, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Animals, Conservation, Safari, Tourism, ecotourism , 1 comment so far
No doubt you have heard by now that South Africa has decided that culling will once again be an optional intervention in the management of elephant populations, albeit an intervention of last resort, to address what is known as “the elephant problem”. Elephant conservation has been enormously successful in southern Africa (58% of the population), to the extent that some conservationists now argue that there are “too many” elephants. Personally, I think that the problem could be restated as “too little elephant habitat”. (more…)
Lesotho and Tutu: What do they have in common? April 8, 2008
Posted by Clarissa Hughes in : African Peoples, Tourism , add a comment
Apart from the cute rhyme there are a number of traits that are common to the Archbishop emeritus and the small southern Africa Kingdom.
Contained in the fortress of the Drakensberg and Maluti mountains Lesotho lies 1000m above sea level - close to God.
Like Desmond Tutu, the Basotho people under their founder, King Moshoeshoe, fought hard for independence and self-governance. And, after conquering his foes, King Moshoeshoe remained generous and gracious in his exalted position.
Mother of All Crocodiles April 2, 2008
Posted by Clarissa Hughes in : Animals, Community, Conservation, ecotourism , add a comment
Madikwe, short for Madikwena, meaning Mother of All Crocodiles is a shining example of ecotourism success in Africa. This 76,000 hectare reserve was created in 1994 and was the subject of the largest game reintroduction exercise on the planet. Operation Phoenix saw the translocation of 8000 animals over a period of 8 years. The fully fenced reserve offers an almost unique location to view both desert adapted species, and the more regular bushveld animals. Gemsbok, brown hyena and eland occur; as do buffalo, elephant and spotted hyena.
Is it only about “the Big 5″? February 17, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Conservation, Tourism, ecotourism , 1 comment so far
Every once in a while I trawl through the research output of academia, specifically in the fields of ecotourism, sustainable tourism and ecotourism certification. The other day I came across the following article in the Journal of Ecotourism (vol 6, no. 1, 2007) entitled “Wildlife viewing preferences of visitors to protected areas in South Africa: Implications for the role of ecotourism in conservation“.
The article’s conclusions are particularly interesting, given the prevailing wisdom in the tourism industry that tourists to Africa are only interested in seeing the “Big 5″ - leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Just recently we have been debating this issue in ecoAfrica, so the research is timeous and topical for us. I for one have always been loathe to accept that only the Big 5 holds any attraction to travellers to our continent. (more…)
Power down in South Africa continued… February 2, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Climate Change, Conservation, Sustainability , add a comment
Here’s an excellent post from my favourite blog about energy and the crisis that faces us, The Oil Drum: Understanding the current energy crisis in South Africa, in which the authors point out that the underlying problem is exponential growth. To quote:
Yes, at this rate of growth we will double our economy. What is it we will be doubling? We will double our GDP. This means we will double what we produce. In order to double what we produce we will need to double what goes into what we produce. This includes raw materials and crucially, energy. Yes. Roughly speaking, on this growth path, in the next 11 years we are going to need to double the amount of energy we are currently consuming.
As Albert Bartlett, Professor Emeritus, Physics Department, University of Colorado, once wrote: “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function”.
Powerdown and travel January 24, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Climate Change, Conservation, News, Sustainability, Tourism , 1 comment so far
The CEO of the Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA), Michael Tatalias, attracted the ire of both Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, and FIFA, world football’s governing body, when he stated that Eskom’s rolling blackouts are threats to both tourism and the 2010 World Cup.
Predictably, the local media latched on to these statements, which I agree are rather sensationalist, and trumpeted them loudly, but failed to even mention the other half of his statement which asks what we as citizens and businesses are doing to curtail our consumption of energy. (Also see my post on this subject recently)
