Newsletter Articles

An African plea for Visitors, not Aid


Former guide and lodge manager Peter Dunning (PJ to his friends) has spent his life in the African bush. Here he argues that tourism, not aid, is what will help Africa develop without sacrificing its wildlife.

In late 2005 my good friend and travel companion John Spence asked me to contribute to the Aardvark Safaris Newsletter.

Let me introduce myself. I was born in Zimbabwe and have worked in African tourism for fifteen years. For the past ten years I have been managing small lodges and camps in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Namibia. Despite the standard constraints of time and money, I have travelled to and explored much of this incredible continent.

Whether you are a repeat visitor or planning your first safari, please believe that as a tourist you are making more of a difference to the well-being of Africa, its peoples and its wildlife than any amount of charity. I am currently running a small lodge in the Namib Desert in Namibia and we measured under 2" of rain in 2005. Farming is just not viable any more and there are quite simply no other opportunities in our area for employment except tourism.

In a typical African country between 40% and 60% of the total population is under 14 years old. The Namibian government education system is relatively well run and funded compared to others, and there must be thousands of school leavers entering the job market every year. One of the reasons that I love what I do and believe that we are making a difference is that tourism creates good jobs. Our philosophy is to hire for attitude, and then train for skills. I could bore you for hours with stories of young men and women who began their tourism careers on the bottom rung, and have taken giant steps in a short time.

I employed a twenty year old girl last year to work in our laundry. She had been unemployed for three years since leaving school in Swakopmund. Her father recently lost his job, and she now sends half her salary home every month. Unlike too many Western children she does this happily, acknowledging that she has a debt to him for putting her through school. She speaks excellent English but had no skills or qualification whatsoever. Her peers trained her here at the lodge to operate the washing machines and various detergents. Next year we will move her to housekeeping for a spell, and I believe she has the makings of a wonderful waitress within three years. There is no real impediment to her managing a lodge one day, provided she maintains her attitude and thirst for betterment. If she achieves this goal she will have the advantage of intimate working knowledge of three important departments under her charge.

Kitchen porters can, and do, end up as chefs. Maintenance assistants become mechanics. These skills are as much in demand in Africa as anywhere else. In Tanzania I had a ranger who had graduated from being a housekeeper, and another who had been initially hired as a driver. They were both trained internally at no cost to themselves. Today they make enough money to have built proper houses for their families, and they send their kids to better schools than they went to. Regardless of nationality, none of us can aspire to more than that.

Tourism work has a dignity and a promise that farm labourers, fishermen and miners can only dream about. Our staff are given uniforms, three nutritious meals a day, free transport to the nearest town on days off, and can join a medical scheme for which the company pays half. They get treated with respect, and know that they are among the lucky few who have jobs at all. They take pride in delivering a hospitality that may not be what you would get at an expensive restaurant in London, but is infinitely more warm and heartfelt.

When it's time for our guests leave the lodge, I always ask them if they're going to return to Africa on holiday again. It doesn't have to be back to the country I'm working in, or to the lodge I happen to be running at the time. Just to Africa, because we need them and their money to continue making a difference.

No disrespect to Bob Geldof or Bono but tourism, not charity, is what we need here.



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