Aardvark Safaris & Carbon Offsetting

All our everyday activities and actions consume energy and produce carbon dioxide emissions, but an African safari, involving flights and game-drives, consumes more than most. At Aardvark, we are fully aware of our responsibility to this region, and we aim to offset the carbon emitted by our own flights - and those of our clients - through our own carbon offsetting scheme.

Offsetting is one way of compensating for emissions produced by air travel by making an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. We acknowledge that carbon offsetting is far from a complete cure for climate change, but it will go a long way to reducing the impact of our international flights, and the projects we are invested in will balance these emissions so the overall effect is zero. Tourism is vital to the preservation of Africa's great wilderness regions, so we don't believe the answer to the world's environmental problems is for all flights to stop, but we do wish to play our part to make sure the effects of our operation are balanced by further investments on the ground.

When we invoice for our safaris there is a "carbon offset addition," a wholly voluntary $35 donation that will be added to each individual's travel costs. There's no requirement for you to pay this. If you are already set up with a carbon offsetting program or you'd prefer not to include this amount, just deduct the amount from your final balance. It is simply an easy way for you to offset the carbon generated by your journey through our carbon offsetting scheme.

There is currently no internationally recognized certification for our carbon offsetting program. Scientific data is still being collected and analyzed and various organizations are competing for influence in the carbon offsetting industry. Our $35 donations go directly to a program we know to be run efficiently and we believe it to be the most effective of the ones we have encountered. Aardvark will pay each $35 contribution directly to the Reforest Nsefu Project being run by Robin Pope Safaris in Zambia.

Reforest Nsefu aids in carbon offsetting by replanting trees in the Mjuwe region in Zambia. This project effectively and accountably saves carbon dioxide but also fulfils a number of developmental goals. The project creates new sources of employment in tree planting itself, generates a harvest from fruit-bearing trees planted, and the indigenous community are closely involved at every level. All in all we feel this is an admirable project in every way, while providing clear and identifiable carbon offsetting advantages. To find out more please see http://www.kawaza.org/.

Perhaps the strongest advantage of supporting this project is that all the money goes into planting trees, rather than being soaked up in paper chases in search of some arbitrary carbon offsetting certificate. Leave the $35 on your invoice and directly help this very worthwhile initiative.