A safari is, for many, the dream of a lifetime. The thrill of watching an elephant herd at a watering hole, the profound silence of the savanna, and the connection to ancient, wild landscapes, it’s a journey that can change your life.

But behind that dream lies a complex reality. Not all safaris are created equal.

Unknowingly, a traveler’s hard-earned money can “leak” out of the local economy, ending up with foreign-owned mass-market companies. This high-impact, low-benefit tourism can place a strain on ecosystems without contributing to the conservation projects or community initiatives that protect them.

The great news? You, as a traveler, hold the power to flip this entire model. You can choose to be a force for good.

By choosing a positive-impact safari, you ensure that your journey directly funds wildlife protection, creates sustainable local careers, and preserves the very magic you’ve come to experience.

It all starts with asking the right questions.

How to Know Your Safari’s True Impact?

As you begin planning your adventure, here are the critical questions to ask—both of yourself and any tour operator you’re considering. These choices will determine whether your trip is extractive or regenerative.

• How will you travel to Africa? (Consider the number of flights and potential carbon emissions.)
• Where will you stay? (Is it on a community conservancy or a private reserve? Who owns the lodge?)
• How will you safari? (Will you be in a vehicle, or will you engage in low-impact activities like walking, horseback, or boat safaris?)
• How will you transfer, and how often? (Are you taking many small flights, or using ground transport and staying longer in one place?)
• What activities will you participate in? (Are they ethical, conservation-focused activities, or just entertainment?)
• How will you interact with wildlife, local people, and culture? (Are the interactions respectful, authentic, and ethical?)

These questions can be overwhelming to navigate alone. To help you visualize these choices, we’ve created two guides: one showing how your booking decisions flow from the agency all the way down to the ground. And finally comparing the “Positive Impact” vs. “Negative Impact” safari, and another