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	● Sustainability 4 april 2008 ● Sustainability 4 april 2008 ● Sustainability 4 april 2008 ●

	Local Safari Operator shows that Corporate junkets can have a positive spin-off
	John Doolan - 4 April 2008

	One can only take so many elephant rides or hot air balloon experiences; Peter Hayward of Hayward’s Safaris maintains that South African can reward their star performers and at the same time contribute to the economic and social development of the country. Could you explain the concept of sustainable safaris? The most attractive aspect of a sustainable safari is that it does not cost an organization any more than would have already been budgeted in any event. The sustainable safari is part of a pre-planned event; part of the corporate getaway budgeted for in the incentive programmes. What the sustainable safari does is it redirects funds from pastimes such as hot-air baloon charters and elephant rides. Whereas these are quite spectacular and have an initial impact, the senior corporate employees eventually find these activities meaningless. The sustainable safari uses this allocation to fund a safari in wilderness area surrounded by a depressed rural community. The objective is to use the combined expertise to recharge the economy of the rural community; to set up micro businesses based on advice from a scientific team on what sort of a sustainable legacy could be left behind once the safari was complete. Most corporates tend to salve their CSR conscience by donating a cheque – often a very substantial cheque – but this is a donation rather than collaboration. A donation is not sustainable. The concept of the sustainable safari allows the corporate to partner with community for at least 3 to 5 years to ensure proper management and development of the new sustainable business projects set up during the safari. *What has made Haywards Safaris decide that Sustainable Safaris would complement its current business model?* Haywards, has always had an inherent passion for Africa, for its people and its future. But it is one thing to be passionate; it is quite another to provide meaningful help. At the moment we are seeing 2 500 Zimbabweans a day streaming across our borders and witnessing rural destruction, as people flock to the cities often for a life of poverty and misery, worse than that experienced in the countryside. But these people would not leave the country of their birth or the area where they had lived all their lives if there was a sustainable economy to keep them there. The fact of the matter is that there has been an orchestrated collapse of rural systems – orchestrated by past governments and we are now dealing with the aftermath. At a point in time all of these little communities were very powerful trading partners. Sustainability is not new we are simply re-introducing the technology that was the reason for the community to feside in the area in the first place. This is not only good from the point of view that the participants can legitimately feel that they are making a difference, but it is exciting as well. The projects stretch the imaginations and the practical abilities of the participants as they re-discover the economy of a particular area.



	Where are you running the first few of these, and what other areas have you earmarked for future safaris? We have identified several areas. In some of these, such as Ledig near the Pilansberg, we have already run tentative “clean up projects” where we have tidied up the schools and other community facilities. But there are a great number of other areas where we are negotiating with the local communities and the interested corporates – areas like the old Transkei in the Eastern Cape, Punto d’Oro in Mozambique; the Botplaas region (where we are negotiating with Arab corporates and where we hope to have a huge impact), Dinokeng, north of Pretoria where the four provinces meet. A very interesting areas is Onverwacht near Cullinan– village of coloured people from the Cape who were given land by Paul Kruger when they were emancipated from slavery and where they have been farming for well over a hundred years. There is no shortage of rural communities in need of help. The sad thing about corporate South Africa is that the majority of board-room folk have a clearer idea of life in Switzerland or London than they do of their own back yards. In fact they are totally disconnected from own back yard. Strangely enough, the “deprivations” we are currently suffering as a result of Eskom’s load-shedding have ut us in the forefront of coping with energy crises – imagine London with a black-out during working hours. We have learned to manage the situation so that it no longer results in chaos. What would you regard as being the criteria that would identify a community as one which would benefit from sustainable safaris - could they apply to you for help? And what are the major obstacles that you have encountered so far in getting buy-in and acceptance from the communities where you intend to operate? We have just organized a safari for Oprah Winfrey. She had organized a group of very influential people, including the likes of Tina Turner, who were keen to help constructively. Our biggest problem is to get ourselves in front of the people who want to help but who don’t know how to do so. In addition most of them have been accosted so often by a variety of people looking for help, that they feel that signing one cheque is a way of helping and hopefully not being bothered by anyone else. We want to show them how to spend their CSI money in a way that both assists the communities whom they “adopt” and also allows their delegates to have a good time. Rather than signing 10 to 50 million rand cheques and not knowing how they are being used (if indeed they are being used for the right reason) they can do what the communities need and want them to do. The only time resistance is encountered from the locals is when we try to tell the local community what to do rather than partnering with them in reaching a plan of action. So we avoid that and collaborate rather than dictate. John Doolan
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