Our mission and hope at A World Different is quite simple. To showcase any person or business in the travel industry – hotel, lodge, airline, you name it – that makes a difference to their little piece of the world. You might not even notice it while lying next to their pool, going on their safari drive, or enjoying their cocktail at sunset, but your good time is doing something ‘good’ for the world.

Kafue River

Certain countries and hotels are repeatedly brought to our attention for the way they train locals, pay for schools, invest in local artists, buy medicine, fund anti-poaching – if it’s not Costa Rica, it’s any number of lodges in Kenya or a resort in Indonesia. But one rather unusual candidate has started popping up in recent months – Zambia.

The Bushcamp Company's Chindeni Camp, South Luangwa

Until a decade ago, Zambia was relatively unknown to travelers looking at Africa as a first-time destination. Its economy small, it didn’t have the resources to fund the kind of international tourism campaigns of South Africa or Tanzania. So it has always come across as an also-ran, second or third choice. Its best national parks, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, have also never had the cachet of the Serengeti or the Masai Mara.

Sausage Tree Camp, Lower Zambezi

In a way, though, this off-the-radarness might have contributed to Zambia’s charm today. There are 19 national parks, none of them nearly as crammed with lodges as Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, with the competition good and yet friendly. The philosophy among operators seems to be less about being cut-throat than about working together towards a common goal. And the goal is to take care of the country without and within.

The SLCS on Patrol

First in a notable series of initiatives is Zambian Horizons, a group of lodges that, despite being competitors, pool their resources to publicize the country. At this year’s Indaba, the huge annual African travel-trade powwow in Durban, South Africa, these camps walked away with most Best Of awards. Working together has worked for them individually.

Inside the country the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) keeps tabs on conservation at every level. More than a dozen camps and lodges participate, including Flatdogs, Robin Pope Safaris, and Norman Carr Safaris. (See more). Each camp often does its own work too, generating small offshoot projects, and offering trips to local communities or craftspeople. Robin Pope Safaris is a case in point.

The Victoria Falls, Zambia

As in any country with parkland and a burgeoning population nearby clamoring for land, there is a knock-on effect. Animals get poached for commercial reasons, for sustenance, or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some get shot for damaging farmers’ crops.

The School Gets New Chairs

By the early ’90’s, the Zambian Wildlife Authority was struggling to tackle the problem of increased poaching. Local tour operators and lodges offered to help ZAWA by providing scouts, whose salaries needed to be paid and who required uniforms, vehicles, and training. For this they carried out fundraising drives. And so was born the Rapid Action Team – better known as Ratz.

Planting New Trees

Over time the lodge operators and the Ratz team realized there was a lot more they could do, especially in terms of the conflict between humans and wildlife, education, and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. Ratz became the SLCS, and its programs have expanded and flourished. In 2009, it even started a mini-marathon, which drew scouts, police, farmers, schoolchildren, teachers, and members of the Zambian Air Force. At the last event there were more than 300 runners. This year, it launched an Eco Awards program that is focused solely on local works.

Project Luangwa, meanwhile, is a charitable organization supported by five safari operators in South Luangwa – besides Flatdogs and Robin Pope, there is Kafunta River Lodge, Shenton Safaris, and Crocodile Valley Camp. It aims to help local communities improve their long-term economic prospects while also avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. By developing and improving schools, creating a vocational training center, and supporting the micro-financing of small businesses, it tries to give families the chance of a lasting and sustainable income.

Working with Chilies

Among Project Luangwa’s innovative projects is one to keep elephants and other wildlife away from crops by using chilies. Yes, chilies. The peppers are used to make fences and are also added to bricks made of elephant dung that are burned at nighttime to keep animals away. Locals are offered chili seedlings to grow themselves. Project Luangwa also builds schools (check out its website to get an idea of its range of activities).

On the Zambezi River

In the Lower Zambezi national park, SLCS’s equivalent is Conservation Lower Zambezi. Members include Sausage Tree Camp and Chiawa. For the past 8 years it has been funded largely by the Danish Embassy, which has allowed it to buy a plane and establish a base camp outside the park boundaries. From its environmental education center, it runs a mobile education unit, media promotion, and safari guide training.

That many travelers to Zambia don’t know about these projects says a lot about the lodges and operators that fund and run them. They could shout their achievements from the rooftops, but they rather focus on giving their guests a great safari, a great time, and a great lodge. Doing good things for the locals they do behind the scenes. For them it’s all in a day’s work.

- Caren Banks