On African Safari? Make Your Stay According to the Rules

by Shiv Sehgal with Debra Mamorsky

Over the past few decades, many more people have made a quest to Africa, wanting to go on safari. Open land rover safari is the very best way to see Africa, appreciate the African wilderness, see wildlife in their natural habitat, and feel perfectly safe because you are with a knowledgeable guide. Trust is an important thing on safari. If you don't listen to the guide, you probably could get hurt.

Yet, the African wilderness is being threatened as more people are able to travel to Africa to see its beauty and capture memories of elephants, cheetahs, lions, rhinos, and more, to last a lifetime. Many people are worried about the affect this will have on the African environment. While tourism helps the African economy, and gives lots of people jobs, it also necessitates the building of hotels (luxury and modestly priced) to enable more people to visit. People fear that ultimately tourism will alter Africa's natural setting and severely disturb the balance of nature. The more lodges that are built, the more the need for garbage cans; the more land rovers, the more pollution; the more off road driving, the more likely natural grasses will get flattened down, paving the way for flooding when it rains; the more that hunting is allowed as a sport for visitors, the greater the likelihood species will be threatened with extinction.

Connecticut resident, Michael Devlin is concerned about the possibility of open land rover tourism having a negative affect on the environment. The son of a New York Times reporter, John Devlin (who covered news on nature) Michael grew up hunting and fishing, and surrounded by horses. "Growing up in New Canaan was the beginning of my conservation career." Currently the U.S. Regional Director for the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Mr. Devlin became concerned about preserving biodiversity in Africa ever since he made his first trip to Africa 27 years ago. Believe it or not, "Sometimes," he told me, "animals need to be weeded out because the land can only sustain a certain number of elephants, for example."