Best for Conservation of Wildlife Habitats - Great Plains

Safari expert Colin Bell has a new award to add to his impressive collection. Less than four years after his retirement from Wilderness Safaris, the much-lauded company he co-founded, his ambitious new conservation-through-tourism organisation, Great Plains, is already making waves.

In November, Great Plains scooped the top honour in the Conservation of Wildlife and Habitats category of the prestigious Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards. It’s compelling evidence that Africa’s role in promoting environmentally-sensitive approaches to tourism is as strong as ever – and that Bell is very much a force to be reckoned with.

Great Plains manages a handful of pristine wildlife reserves in Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania. In the years to come, it will also open imaginative new conservation areas in Rwanda and the Seychelles. It aims to preserve iconic wildlife species and expand natural habitats in a practical and sustainable manner, through low-impact, low-volume, high-quality tourism businesses that provide direct benefits to local communities. In a continent where eco-tourism is growing almost as fast as the telecommunications industry, this makes perfect sense.

Colin Bell dreamed up the concept some years ago with National Geographic documentary filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert. “We were on our annual canoeing safari along the Zambezi River,” Bell recalls, “when we concluded that the moment had come to roll up our sleeves, change our direction and create a new conservation business. Despite incorporating conservation into our respective professions and lives, and in spite of all the ongoing donor-driven conservation projects, the planet’s ecology was on a steady downward spiral. Something drastic needed to be done.”

Among the most remarkable of the Great Plains projects is Mara Plains, one of a group of camps situated in the Olare Orok Conservancy just north of Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve. Rejecting the old system of tourist levies based on visitor numbers, the camps instead pay their Maasai landowners a fixed monthly fee. This boosts the landowners’ financial confidence, so they don’t feel compelled to extend their farms to make ends meet. The wildlife benefits as farms no longer encroach on migration corridors. Visitors benefit too as the crowds are gone. Olare Orok boasts spectacular wildlife viewing and the lowest vehicle density in the entire Mara region.

Further east, in Chyulu Hills National Park, Great Plains is assisting Ol Donyo Wuas, Bonham Safaris’ elegant Big Five safari lodge, in a long-running collaboration with the local Maasai communities. In the past, Maasai tribesmen killed lions to protect their cattle. Now, they receive cash compensation if any corralled cow is taken by a predator. What’s more, an agreed proportion of Ol Donyo Wuas’ profits goes directly to the Maasai. The scheme has proved a great success for lions and locals alike.

One of the clichés that Great Plains blows away is the notion that environmentally responsible and culturally sensitive travel is all about roughing it. “All our projects have sensational luxury accommodation,” says Bell, “and each camp is unique.”

Naturally, such comfort comes with a scary price tag attached. But at least the planet doesn’t pay. For example, guests at Zarafa Camp can enjoy guilt-free electricity, 24 hours a day. Zarafa, one of three gorgeous Great Plains camps in Botswana’s Selinda Reserve, has an on-site solar farm of over 150 collectors, powering everything from walk-in cold stores to ice-cream-makers and hairdryers. By staying here, you help support an elephant sanctuary project.

Bell has gone out of his way to choose partners who are as passionate about the potential of conservation-through-tourism as he is. The late Anton Turner, who co-ran The Selous Project, Great Plains’ hunting-free zone in Tanzania, until his sudden death this November, was one who truly relished the challenge. “The golden rule is, if it pays, it stays. Wildlife conservation initiatives have to ensure that the people in the area around the wildlife also benefit,” he said. “When guests arrive, the first thing they appreciate is the size of the exclusive area they have access to. You have complete freedom to explore and touch the soul of Africa as people did a century ago. It’s your own playground.”

About the 2009 Awards

The annual Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards were created by UK-based travel company ResponsibleTravel.com. They aim to recognise individuals, companies and organisations in the travel industry that are making a significant commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and a positive contribution to biodiversity conservation. Candidates are nominated by the general public and judged by a panel of leading tourism and conservation experts, chaired by Harold Goodwin, Director of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism.

Since their inception, the Responsible Tourism Awards have worked wonders in raising public awareness of ethical and ecologically-sound tourism. “When we set up the Awards in 2004, responsible tourism was still a relatively new concept,” says Justin Francis, Managing Director of ResponsibleTravel.com. “The Awards presentation takes place at World Travel Market on World Responsible Tourism Day. Such a prominent backdrop means we are able to spread the word and inspire those on the inside. The Awards are now the most prestigious and competitive of their kind in the world.”

“The Awards got much tougher this year,” agrees Harold Goodwin. “The number of unique nominations has reached a record number and the standard of entries continues to rise too.”

“I was particularly impressed to see that despite this year’s recession, organisations continue to come up with innovative ideas,” says Justin Francis. “The money may have dried out a little but the passion, ingenuity and creativity certainly haven’t.”

A total of 580 individuals, businesses and organisations were nominated for an award in 2009. Of the 35 candidates that made the shortlist, almost a third are wholly or significantly focused on Africa. Some, such as Guludo Beach Lodge and Blue Ventures, have been shortlisted several times before. “To get recognised again, year after year, is not easy because you’ve got to demonstrate that you’ve done something significant since the last time,” says Harold Goodwin. “Those who achieve that have done stunningly well.”

Four of those singled out for top honours in the Responsible Tourism Awards are based in Africa. Harold Goodwin, chairman of the judges, explains why.

Best for Poverty Reduction

Guludo Beach Lodge, Mozambique (www.guludo.com)
“Through their charitable foundation Nema, Guludo has had an unprecedented impact on the local community, with major improvements in children’s health care and education conditions – school attendance is up 350 per cent. Their portfolio of projects in the local area is exhaustive, providing access to safe drinking water for 15,000 people, supplying over 10,000 women and children with mosquito nets, and working closely with the community to ensure the sustainability of their programmes that provide water committee training, hygiene and sanitation workshops and more.”

Best for Conservation of Wildlife and Habitats
Great Plains Conservation (www.greatplainsconservation.com)
“Great Plains Conservation incorporates a range of innovative projects across five African countries. Their work in the Maasai Mara is particularly impressive, facilitating the creation of an 80,000 acre conservancy, and guaranteeing regular payment to the local communities for the use of their land for tourism purposes – regardless of the number of guests. On an unequivocal basis, they provide protected revenue for the indigenous peoples of the Mara, reducing the negative social and economic impacts of tourism.”

Best Destination

Cape Town, South Africa (www.capetown.gov.za)
“Cape Town has taken responsibility for identifying and prioritising local issues from a responsible tourism perspective. The city’s tourism department has worked in conjunction with its colleagues in the city administration and the industry to develop a responsible tourism charter that commits both the industry and the city government to address the local priorities and to report on progress. Signatories have committed to define measurable goals and to monitor and report publicly on progress.”

Best Personal Contribution

Gavin Bate (www.adventurealternative.com)
“Gavin has proven with a number of projects that it is possible to share the benefits of responsibly run adventure travel with local communities in developing countries. His dedicated ethos lead him to found and hand over the reigns of adventure travel projects in Kenya, Nepal and Tanzania to local individuals, providing them with a minimum of ten years full employment, and the training, guidance, and inspiration necessary for a new vanguard in responsible tourism. As a serial entrepreneur, Gavin has worked hard to put local individuals at the heart of local initiatives.”

African Nominees: Highly Commended

Of the shortlisted candidates that were highly commended, the following deserve special mention. All are either based in Africa, or run a significant number of African projects or trips.
• Blue Ventures (www.blueventures.org)
Marine conservation organisation offering volunteer opportunities including placements in Madagascar.
• Camel Dive Club & Hotel (www.cameldive.com)
Hotel and scuba diving centre in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, providing PADI training and Red Sea diving trips.
• Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust (www.ngambaisland.org)
Boat trips take visitors to this sanctuary on Lake Victoria, Uganda, to watch a feeding session or take a forest walk with juvenile chimps.
• People and Places (www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk)
Volunteer opportunities, specialising in community development and education in The Gambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland.
• Rekero (www.rekero.com)
Tented safari camp in the Masai Mara, Kenya, with a strong commitment to community welfare.
• Wilderness Journeys (www.wildernessjourneys.com)
Adventure travel and eco-tourism company, offering trips to Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Tanzania.

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