Benson Siyawareva is one of Africa’s top-rated professional safari guides. He is licensed as a Full Professional Guide in Botswana with the Botswana Department of Wildlife and in Zimbabwe with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. His worldwide reputation in the industry led him to be named as one of "The Best 15 Safari Guides" in the Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
Benson’s trained at a safari lodge in Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, and in 1992 qualified as a Fully Licensed Professional Guide. This is Zimbabwe's (and probably Africa's) highest and most respected guiding qualification.
At the beginning of 1997, Benson was approached by Wilderness Safaris. He was to spend the next 8 years with them, initially assisting with the construction of the 16-bedded Makalolo Plains Camp at Hwange National Park. Once the camp opened he helped guide for a few months, setting up the routes and the standards, before starting construction of the 10 bedded Little Makalolo Camp in July 1997. Once both camps were completed, Benson alternated in managing each of them, whilst continuing to establish an ever-growing reputation among the visitors as top class guide.
During this time, Benson also helped train guides in other regions. After one of these many coaching sessions he decided it was time to gain additional experience outside Zimbabwe and he joined Okavango Wilderness Safaris in Botswana in 2001 as a Guide trainer and coordinator. He soon realised that he missed the interaction with guests, and he took over management of the small, luxury Savuti Bush Camp in the Linyanti, home to the famous Elephants of the Savuti. Here he added his own professional touches to the camp. It was Benson who created the now famous walk-in hide called the "Woodpile" at the waterhole, giving guests the breathtaking experience of being close to the elephants as they drink.
Benson now runs Ngoko Safaris jointly with Fiona Thompson, and can be found for most of the year in the bush, guiding.
Ngoko Safaris website can be found here: www.ngoko.com
What are some of your memories from growing up in Zimbabwe? What were your thoughts on conservation of wildlife back then? Did you see instances of poaching and was it a generally accepted way of providing food in your village? Was there much education at the time to youngsters from outside agencies or NGOs about wildlife conservation, or did your appreciation for the bush stem from your own experiences?
I have bad memories of my youth, in the then Southern Rhodesia, as it was the days of the war of liberation. We are talking 35 years ago. Our village school closed because of the intensity of the war, our family was displaced out of the village and we had to move to town for the first time. It was a sad moment, everything changed, and we had great hardships as only one family member was working to support the crowds of extended family piling in as the war intensified. I look back now and realise this was a turning point in my life, most of my village friends never got the opportunity to proceed with education as I did. There were zero conservation ethics in village lifestyles, animals meant food, we felled trees indiscriminately, we started bushfires often and erosion was very pronounced because of poor agricultural practices. The park rangers were regarded as enemies in the village and so were agricultural extension officers as all rules were imposed on communities without proper conservation education. Poaching was rampant even with the little wildlife that was left in our community. It was a way of putting food on the table - subsistence poaching. There was no education on wildlife conservation at all. All I remember was poachers being thrown into custody by law enforcing agencies which caused major hostile rifts with communities. My appreciation of the bush stemmed from a poaching life, assisting my brother feed the extended family in town. We used to sneak out of the military base into neighbouring farms for game and fish poaching. Later joining the Boy Scout movement at school taught me about wildlife welfare and conservation ethics. Soon enough I embraced conservation and here I am today after well over 20 years as a professional safari guide. I am not regretting taking this route.
How has the safari industry in Botswana changed over the last decade?
I first visited Botswana in 1998 on an intra-company exchange programme. The tourism industry showed great potential, all that was missing then was staff training and development. The industry has since leapt sky high, offering a full range of facilities with varied activities. Some operators have had a vision and started investing in manpower development. This has been the major forward thrust in Botswana’s safari industry. Employees have high quality in house training in their different spheres of service in some companies. The concept of concession tendering has also transformed the industry, as the operators are made responsible for large areas of land for a stipulated amount of time, creating private game reserves and a sense of ownership. This is both good and bad as most areas are now tendered by large international corporations that meet the tendering pre-requisites at the expense of small local operators that need empowerment. Having a current President who is a realistic conservationist is an added bonus. How lucky can Botswana be?
What is your personal opinion of Botswana’s policy of low volume, high cost tourism?
Botswana’s tourism policy of low volume, high cost, is low impact tourism. The focus is on superior quality, exclusivity and eco-friendly or enviro- friendly safari experience. The target market is high end, with less damage to the environment. We have seen scenarios in East Africa where high impact tourism has been damaging to the environment and its reputation. Botswana has a vision to safeguard the wildlife destinations for generations to come. It should be seen as a pilot project for others to follow. Even with the Botswana policy there are still places to visit within the country that are still affordable to the intrepid traveller.
How do you see the future of Botswana’s safari tourism industry?
With hunting nose diving in Botswana’s safari tourism industry, all I can predict is a great future for generations to come. The army is fully engaged in conservation and protection of fauna and flora, almost cutting poaching to minimal proportions. The industry has a perfect footing to grow from. Botswana is fighting hard to combat the aids pandemic, the population is small (under 2 million) in a large area the size of France and enough land has been allocated for fauna and flora protection, way over 35%. In a bid to diversify the economy that has been very reliant on diamond mining, the tourism industry offers a great option for a successful Botswana business venture. There must be more drive towards indigenisation and local empowerment though, for all this to be a success story. The genuine involvement of the locals in tourism investment projects will be key to achieving a long term solution to lasting progress in the industry.
How will safari tourism change if self driving is severely limited, and how do you see such restrictions impacting on local businesses, especially in places such as Maun?
The reason why self driving would be limited is because the public camping sites normally run by the Wildlife Department will soon be run as private entities. Self driving is going to be hard to limit as Botswana is a transit route for self drive tourists coming from South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. If self driving gets limited at all, this will adversely affect the small emerging indigenous entrepreneurs who own camping sites, bed and breakfast places, shops, filling stations and curio vendors. Besides the locals the low budget traveller will be negatively affected as competition for limited camping sites will push up rates. The freelance guides would also suffer as they at times accompany self drivers about the country’s remotes areas. Self drives are responsible for a large chunk of the retail business in Maun, whereas the big established corporations order goods in bulk directly from South Africa, giving little or no support to local enterprises. Car hire business would also suffer as most big operators have their international guests fly directly from Maun or Kasane into their private concessions. This move would negatively impact on empowerment of the locals as investors to share the tourism cake but would support the established international operators who would benefit even more. If the big operators have private concessions let them stick to that and leave the small mobile camping safaris and self driving to local investors. Uneven distribution of limited resources encourages restlessness in a country.
Everyone thinks of Botswana as the high dollar safari destination. What options are there for the more budget orientated traveller, and how do lower cost trips compare, at least in terms of wildlife viewing and destinations?
So far Botswana offers the full range of options from low budget to high end safaris. The best option for budget oriented travellers is small emerging local enterprises that offer game drives from Maun and Kasane, day trips and mobile camping safaris at budget rates. The next level up is a self drive with the assistance of a local guide, a few freelance guides do offer this service. As long as the trips are inside the designated wildlife areas and National Parks on average the game sightings are bound to be good. End of the day it’s your guide that will make or break a safari trip. Always invest in a reputable guide, it will make all the difference.
How has the economic decline affected the safari industry in the countries in which you guide, and in turn – how does this affect local communities who rely on the income safaris generate?
We operate in Southern Africa, and the economic melt down has seen the numbers of tourists fall drastically. In the African lifestyle one guy with a job looks after an extended family unit. So the shortage of tourists has a spiralling effect on communities. Some service providers have been forced to shut down or operate at half capacity making life miserable in the communities that are directly dependant on tourism income. It has also resulted in school kids being pulled out of school because some parents cannot afford school fees anymore neither are they able to provide healthcare. Some people have had to abandon town life completely and move to the countryside because they cannot afford rentals let alone put food on the table. Put simply workers in the tourism industry are suffering because of shortages of disposable income.
How do your operations benefit local communities? What employment do you offer for local people in the areas you operate, including professional and non professional positions? Do you offer your clients any cultural interaction in the course of a safari, and if so, what does it involve?
When trips are booked with safari operators on behalf of our guests, the operator receives income to run their operations which include skilled and non skilled labour from local communities. We endeavour to support and promote locally owned camps and lodges wherever possible. We offer cultural tours, be it visiting a school, a craft centre, a health centre or somebody’s home. We also hire local experts in countries of operation where required.
How does the safari industry, at least in the areas you work, encourage young poor black children to become involved in conservation, and what prospects do they have in the safari industry if the majority of players are foreign corporations?
The safari industry is slowly encouraging young poor black children to become involved in conservation, most help is coming in the form of skills training within safari operations e.g. camp managers, mechanics, drivers, guides, chefs, waiters. Most will maintain their jobs as service staff in the camps, lodges and hotels. Very few foreign corporations are willing to promote locals to greater positions of authority for example directorship. If one gets to a position of senior management then they are very lucky. As Ngoko Safaris we are proud to have taken 3 young trainee guides under our wing, under my tutorship they have passed the Zimbabwe Hunters and Guides theory exams written this February 2010. Our dream is to make them qualify as specialist private pro-guides, then have a pool of guides that can be shareholders in our organisation, that way we will have empowered someone. Our vision is to make this an ongoing programme.
The 2010 World Cup will obviously focus a lot of attention on the Southern African countries. However, in your opinion, what will be the long terms affects of the competition for these countries, outside of South Africa itself?
So far the 2010 World Cup will put Southern Africa on the world map. Southern Africa is all excited but realistically the World Cup will not have much overflow out of the South African border. It perhaps isn’t in the nature of soccer lovers to want to travel extensively. Once their team has been relegated they immediately head home. This event has been over marketed and caused rates in the travel industry to increase all round unnecessarily. If Southern Africa benefits out of this event it’s going to be minimal, nothing to write home about.
What is the major cause of poaching in the areas where you work - how can it best be prevented? Have you seen instances of poaching or the results of, whilst guiding clients, and if so, what were your, and their reactions to it?
Poaching is a result of poverty and lack of conservation education. Just like in my youth wild animals meant food, it is still the same for a lot of people to this day in poor rural communities. In the cities the bush meat industry is another major cause of poaching, where poachers supply the meat market with cheap game meat illegally harvested. Educating and empowering communities will help them realise the benefits of having fauna and flora in their area. In Africa people believe in tangible results, they have to see the benefits of conservation in eco-tourism projects ploughed back to the communities to accept any new proposals brought in by outsiders. Communities have been promised heaven on earth too many times and have lost trust and confidence in outsiders that make promises and fail in the end. The solution to poaching is to involve communities in eco-tourism for real and let them develop their areas for a better tomorrow. The poachers should be employed as game rangers, it is the concept of ‘send a thief to catch a thief’ as they know what is goes on in the bush. I was involved in anti-poaching programmes in the early 90s in Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe at the peak of black rhino poaching. We used to assist the Parks department with reporting any poaching activities that we saw on safari excursions. Recently I was on safari in South Luangwa Zambia when we came across a poachers’ meat rack on a walking safari. It was both disheartening and scary as we worried about and felt sorry for the plight of the wildlife but at the same time worried about the safety of our guests. We reported the incident to the wildlife department who promised further investigations. To this day my guests write to me wanting to know the poaching situation, it obviously touched all of us.
“Trophy hunting is a tool for conservation.” What is your response to this statement?
This is a very controversial subject, I will tread carefully. Yes trophy hunting can be a great tool for conservation as long as good hunting ethics remain part of the hunting culture. The resources from hunts should also be channelled towards wildlife protection and conservation. Humans have hunted animals using primitive hunting methods from the beginning for survival and that has helped in checking game populations. The situation changed with the development of guns which increased chances of getting the quarry, now the animals do not have a chance against the hunter. The hunting methods being used to hunt cats of late make hunting lose its reputation, the animal is baited months before the hunt starts and a hide with a shooting stand is erected. In short the animal is habituated to human presence so that it can be destroyed. I personally do not see how this is any different to canned hunting. In some countries hunters shoot from vehicles without having the tracking experience; it is just human ego with zero ethics. I have seen some hunters that can not even walk, hoist themselves out of a car, shuffle their feet a couple of times and shoot an animal. Basically the animal does not stand a chance at all. Let us remember these small populations of game have limited space now and create human–animal conflicts because of space competition, if we do not control the animal population through trophy hunting then we need to limit developments which are taking all the space. I live in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where we witness these conflicts between animals and poor subsistence farmers in neighbouring communities. If we do not control animal populations then we have to create space for them through creating peace parks and financial resources yielded from such sustainable projects compensate communities for losses hence empowered community development.
How would you define the phrase “responsible tourism”? What do you do to minimize impact upon the environment on safari?
The kind of eco-tourism where the eco-tourist and eco-tour operator are conscious of their impact on the environment, wildlife and local communities they visit and operate in respectively, taking positive action to ensure an equilibrium between economic development and maintenance of biodiversity. It is a low impact high income tourism model where the main focus is conservation of natural resources: land, wildlife and care of the resident communities who are the direct beneficiaries of resultant incomes of such ecotourism and conservation. The best way to minimize environmental impact on safari is by regulation of numbers entering the safari park. This can be achieved in two ways: a) hiking the park fees or b ) regulating numbers of visitors. Other important steps are the use of recyclable materials in safari camps e.g. solar energy and recyclable water bottles. We need to embrace the concern of ‘green travel’ - leave tracks only and shoot with a camera. Focus should be on no pollution and damage to environment, wild fauna and flora.
From your own experience, what are the negative impacts of safari tourism, and how should responsible safari outfitters prevent such things occurring in future?
- Animals habituated to people that end up causing accidents because of excessive safari tourism and people approaching wildlife too closely. The neglect of ‘safe’ distance
- Restlessness, uneasiness and stressing of wildlife due to noise pollution and general disturbance
- Disturbance of sensitive habitats, fauna and flora through reckless off road driving
- Stopping of breeding and abandonment of young
- Polluted wilderness areas due to carelessness and large tourist volumes
- Disturbed and overreacting communities due to abuse by unruly tourists
- Undeveloped communities neighbouring conservation areas due to lack of environmental and social commitment
- Excessive poaching due to lack of development and shortage of jobs in communities
- Introduction of hard drugs from foreign markets brought in by tourists
- Risks of HIV spread through tourist/community irresponsible interactions
- Big international corporate companies go land grabbing displacing local communities due to strong financial base
- In the hunting fraternity, horrible hunting ethics where hunting guides ‘push the envelope’.
Responsible outfitters can work to improve guiding ethics by training guides and hunters, to be sensitive to proximity to wildlife, delicate and fragile habitats. The responsible safari outfitter can also improve guest-community relations through physical demonstrations of commitment to conservation and community development outreach programmes. This way communities see with their own eyes, the value of tourism and embrace the tourist as a positive visitor. This ensures the communities initiate protection of wildlife and environment as an income generator. The communities become self policing and custodians of land and wildlife resources for future generation, that way start self caring and avoid dependence on foreign aid and hand outs. Good safari operators educate the communities on conservation, provide community rangers and scouts, educate workers and local communities on HIV and prevention as well as good farming methods and encouraging joint ventures with locals. They also plough back by educating local guides and hunters on best ethical and guest care. The game scouts, hunters and guides become natural conservationists who teach future generations.
When guiding, what is your personal preference - private or group safaris? Why? What does one offer over the other, from a guides point of view, and how different are the people that go on each?
- My personal preference is the privately guided safari, as it offers a more exclusive, intimate and personalised guest experience.
- In privately guided safaris the tourist is your guest not just a customer/client.
- The experience is personal and far reaching where guide and guests end up as friends and often lifelong partners.
- Group safaris can be as good depending on the size of the group. A family or group of 6 friends is a great number, any number with a double digit then personal service is difficult to maintain.
- As a guide you can attend to the needs of a limited number of people, the smaller the group the richer the content and guest satisfaction.
- Small is always better! Small parties tend to get extra bits like private lectures, close walking encounters, treats like bush dinners, private sleep outs and little surprises, which would be a mission in large groups as you need more hands.
From all the safaris you have guided, what was your most memorable experience and why?
Twice coming across a honey badger fighting and killing an African rock python. The main interest was understanding the true meaning of the word ‘badgering’. The second reason for being memorable was that these were natural personal experiences with no other vehicles and thirdly they were great photo opportunities of world class.
What is your favourite time of day on safari and why? And at the end of the day, what sort of conversations do you initiate round the camp fire, a time when most guests will be relaxed and in the mood to talk?
The best time of day on safari is first thing in the morning before sunrise. It gives me a reason to leave my bed and wait for the light to come to earth, sunrise. Nocturnal animals are still active. Also the best time to take pictures as the light is rich and at the best angle. At the end of the day I like to go through everybody’s highlights of the day, this way we relive the day and remind each other of the day’s great experience. I normally encourage each guest to pick a different highlight as we sit around the fireplace and the more people you have the more difficult it becomes as you get to the end of the group. A good laugh makes a good end of day.
In order of preference, pick your the 3 animals which you personally enjoy observing the most, and tell us why.
Wild dogs, baboons and elephants. They are very photogenic. They are group animals and they like to have fun. The female members run the show big time.
“Make a plan”. Have there been instances when you have had to radically change your day’s activities, and how do those with you react to such changes. Have you ever had instances which have threatened your or your clients safety, and how do you react on such occasions?
Living in Zimbabwe you ‘make a plan’ daily. When planning a drive for the following day plans change many times especially early hours of the morning prior to waking up. I always keep my rifle in the car in case something comes up and we end up walking, the unpredictable bits help make the safari more exciting, adventurous and guests love it when they cannot tell what’s gonna happen, after all we are not in a zoo. Even in a zoo the unpredictable happens. In nature nothing is impossible. On one occasion we got ambushed by lions while out of the vehicle enjoying sundowners. It so happened one of the elderly ladies had gone away to find a bush toilet when the lions pulled in. I quickly recovered my rifle from the vehicle, loaded it in anticipation of danger, asked my guests to abandon the drinks table and slowly walk back to the car, instantaneously recalling the lady at the bush toilet. I had to place myself between the lions and the toilet lady. As the lady scrambled up the vehicle, the 3 lionesses walked by the vehicle and the lion cubs took over our bush bar lapping the amarula away. The main highlight was a young male that took a bottle of red wine in its jaw and walked about amused as if asking for a wine opener from the audience. Other cubs wrestled with the cooler box and ice bucket leaving pools of saliva and sabre tooth marks. We were also astonished to see the cubs shred the table cloth to pieces as we took pictures. It is moments like this that as a guide you let nature take its course. They held us hostage and entertained for a good two hours. Nothing I could do but to enjoy the scene and clear the pollution when they joined the senior hunters. An experience of a lifetime.
www.safaritalk.net has a diverse readership, consisting of both experienced and novice travellers: what are your most important tips for those considering their first safari? And what are the most important rules they should adhere to on a guided safari?
Book way in advance so that your first choices are available and you don’t have to compromise. This may mean planning up to two years in advance to get availability at the hot spots. Do not book less than 3 nights at one safari destination, the more time you have the better chance of great sightings. Do not rush around, spend time at sightings and water points, play the waiting game. Focus on wildlife behaviour and not check list ticking. The time spent watching small things may give you the opportunity for that elusive leopard to reveal itself. Make sure your host or hostess knows your preferences and expectations, otherwise they will make assumptions. Raise any grievances on safari, and let someone do something about it, rather than wait and have a bad holiday then write a 100 page complaint. Tell your agent about any medical issues and dietary requirements when you make your booking. Trust your guide’s judgement and have confidence in him/her and be thankful when you have a good sighting. Be part of the safari not an outside observer. During travel keep an emergency change of clothes on you in case your luggage gets delayed or goes astray. Always carry a good camera and a pair of binoculars. Give your agent constructive genuine feedback after travel.
Rules of the road:
- appreciate what you see
- work hard and nature will reward
- build confidence in your guide
- listen to your guide
- remember to enjoy yourself it’s your holiday
- Stick to camp and safari rules
- Be good to yourself and other travellers you come across
- Make the best out of your holiday
- Respect the animals
The views expressed therein are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Safaritalk.