How to Plan a Luxury African Safari That Supports Conservation: Go2Africa's B-Corp Approach
- Mind Hous
- Sep 27
- 7 min read
Planning a Luxury African safari doesn't have to mean choosing between your dream adventure and making a positive impact.
What if the question "how to plan an African Safari" could lead you to experiences that are both the adventure of a lifetime and a catalyst for meaningful conservation and community impact? This isn't just wishful thinking—it's the reality that sustainable hospitality and tourism leaders like Go2Africa are creating across the African continent.
In our latest episode of The Conscious Check-In, I sat down with Liesel van Zyl, Head of Positive Impact at Go2Africa, to explore how this B certified travel company is transforming what it means to take a luxury safari. From collaring rhinos and wild dogs to funding scholarships for Africa's youth, Go2Africa proves that when you know how to plan a Luxury African safari with the right partners, your most extraordinary adventures can also be your greatest contribution to the planet—a perfect example of leaving a legacy through travel.
Whether you're a traveler seeking authentic experiences or a hospitality professional wondering how to balance luxury experiences with genuine environmental and social impact, this conversation offers insights into sustainable hospitality that goes far beyond token gestures. As we approach World Tourism Day 2025, it's clear that both modern travelers and industry professionals are seeking experiences and business models that align with their values.
The Elephant in the Room: Moving Beyond the "Big Five" Checklist
When most travelers think of African safari experiences, they picture the traditional Big 5 experience—a checklist approach that reduces the continent's incredible diversity to a handful of animal sightings. But as Liesel explains, this outdated model misses the deeper connection that modern travelers are craving in their bucket list travel experiences.
"I think in some ways it is hard to get away from that hook, especially in certain contexts,"
Liesel acknowledges.
"But I think what we can continue to do and do more of is to take stories from travelers, stories from people, stories on the ground and just continue to inform and inspire and really show that Africa is a lot more than just ticking off the Big 5."
This shift represents a fundamental change in eco luxury travel philosophy. Instead of treating Africa as a single destination where guests can "see everything" in one trip, Go2Africa helps sustainable travelers understand that each country offers unique habitats, cultures, languages, and wildlife experiences—creating authentic nature based travel opportunities.
Your Adventure, Your Contribution: A New Model for Impact
Go2Africa operates on a revolutionary principle:
"Your greatest adventure can also be your greatest contribution."
This isn't marketing speak—it's a genuine business model where every guest stay directly supports wildlife conservation efforts and local communities, exemplifying luxury without guilt.
Liesel shares a powerful example:
"Recently, about two weeks ago, one of our clients reached out and they had met a young youth in Botswana... this particular person had inspired them and had shared that he would like to become a guide one day... And the guests smelt over this and they got home and they emailed us and said, gosh, is there a way that we can responsibly support making this happen?"
Through their network of vetted partners, Go2Africa connected the guests with local organizations and enabled them to fund the young man's guiding course. This type of meaningful, sustained impact demonstrates how sustainable guest experience can create lasting change and shows how luxury travel can be a force for good.
The B-Corp Advantage: Building Trust Through Accountability
One of the most significant differentiators in today's travel market is certification through recognized sustainability standards. Go2Africa's B certified travel status provides travelers with confidence that their tourism dollars are making a genuine difference in wildlife conservation and community development.
"What those certifications do is they enable an audit, so they enable a set of questions and they range from sustainability questions, reusing, recycling to people, employee satisfaction questions to impact questions. They're quite diverse... But then what I love is what they do thereafter is they then give you, and in B Corp's case, three years to say, okay, well, the next time we come to revisit this, we want to see those, we want to see what has grown and what has moved."
Liesel explains.
For hotel sustainability consultants and sustainable hospitality professionals, this approach offers valuable lessons:
Continuous improvement over perfection: B-Corp certification focuses on progress and growth, not just current performance
Holistic evaluation: The assessment covers environmental impact, employee satisfaction, and community benefit
Transparent accountability: Regular re-certification ensures ongoing commitment to improvement
The Trust Factor: Simplifying Guest Decision-Making
From a guest perspective, working with certified companies eliminates much of the research burden for sustainable travelers. As Liesel notes,
"It allows you to trust and know that there really is accountability and trust and a commitment to ongoing growth."
This principle applies directly to sustainable hotel certification strategies. Hotels that invest in recognized certifications like Audubon, Green Globe, Green Key, LEED, or others make it easier for conscious travelers to choose them with confidence, creating luxury without guilt experiences.
Vetting Partners: The 100% Standard
Go2Africa has audited 100% of their partner properties—a standard that sets them apart in an industry where sustainability claims often lack substance. Their vetting process examines:
Environmental practices: Sustainability, reuse, recycling initiatives
Community impact: How many employees are local, how business benefits local communities
Conservation efforts: Active projects that increase biodiversity and protect species
Regenerative practices: Moving beyond sustainability to make positive environmental impact
"We're interested in more than sustainability, which is wonderful and has to be the start, but how are you regenerating? How are you tipping the scale to make a positive impact?"
Liesel emphasizes. This approach embodies regenerative travel principles that go beyond traditional sustainability.
This comprehensive approach demonstrates that eco-friendly hotels must think beyond basic environmental practices to create meaningful change and deliver the quiet luxury experience that discerning travelers seek.
The Power of Place: Understanding Africa's Broader Context
One of the most fascinating insights from our conversation was Liesel's perspective on understanding luxury safari experiences within their larger ecosystem context. Most parks and reserves in Africa are unfenced, meaning the majority of wildlife actually lives outside protected areas, moving through communal lands where people live and work.
"When you look at the kind of the map of Africa, then you look at the ecosystem and then the park, the majority of wildlife, many of the parks and reserves in Africa are not fenced. And the majority of wildlife is actually outside of the parks, which means that they're commuting through communal areas."
This reality creates both challenges and opportunities for wildlife conservation:
Human-Wildlife Conflict Solutions
Go2Africa partners with NGOs that address real-world conservation challenges, such as elephants raiding crops or lions attacking livestock. Their partners create "elephant aware economies" that help communities:
Mitigate wildlife conflicts through innovative solutions like bee fences
Develop wildlife-friendly honey and craft products
Generate income from conservation rather than despite it
This approach exemplifies nature based travel that creates win-win scenarios for wildlife, communities, and travelers, allowing visitors to experience luxury without guilt while contributing to meaningful conservation efforts.
Redefining Luxury: The Low-Volume, High-Impact Model
The luxury safari model that Go2Africa promotes focuses on "low volume, high impact"—fewer guests per property, creating more intimate experiences while generating greater positive impact per visitor. This embodies the quiet luxury philosophy that today's sustainable travelers appreciate.
This model offers multiple benefits:
Enhanced guest experience: More privacy, personal attention, fewer vehicles at wildlife sightings
Greater community benefit: More employment opportunities, stronger local relationships
Reduced environmental impact: Lower guest density reduces pressure on ecosystems
Authentic connections: Opportunities to interact with local communities and conservation projects
"What that ends up doing is it ends up giving the guests more privacy, more personal attention, less vehicles at sightings. Because of that, there's also more personal attention. Often they're quite remote. So that means you're employing, you're generating more employment,"
creating experiences that truly represent regenerative travel.
Practical Takeaways for Hospitality Professionals
Key Insights for Implementation
1. Early Communication is Essential Go2Africa's experience shows that guests who communicate their interests and values early in the planning process get significantly better experiences. Hotels should encourage sustainable travelers to share their sustainability interests and values during booking.
2. Partner Vetting Creates Competitive Advantage "Just ask the question. Ask whoever you're dealing with, how does my dollar benefit where I'm going? You'll very quickly either get an answer and it'll be an answer that makes sense or you'll just not get an answer."
3. Storytelling Drives Connection The most powerful marketing tool is authentic stories from guests whose trips created meaningful impact. Document and share these transformation stories that show how luxury travel can be about leaving a legacy.
4. Staff as Ambassadors Many of Go2Africa's guides and staff come from local communities, creating authentic connections between guests and places. Hotels should prioritize local hiring and staff development to enhance nature based travel experiences.
5. Balance All Stakeholders "It's not all people and no profits. It's not all profits and no people. It's not all conservation and no communities. It's not all communities and no conservation. It's balancing or at least it's working together."
Conclusion: The Future of Sustainable Luxury Travel
Go2Africa's approach proves that luxury travel and meaningful impact aren't just compatible—they're synergistic. When done right, sustainable luxury hotels create experiences that are more memorable, more authentic, and more transformative than traditional luxury offerings, delivering true quiet luxury with purpose.
As World Tourism Day 2025 approaches, it's clear that the future belongs to companies that understand what modern travelers want: bucket list travel experiences that don't compromise their values. The sustainable traveler of today wants luxury without guilt—experiences that are both extraordinary and ethical.
As Liesel beautifully summarizes: "Sustainable hospitality and tourism matters because if you're not traveling sustainably and responsibly, you're actually causing damage. You're actually going backwards. If you're not stepping positively and forwards and sustainably, you're actually causing harm."
For hospitality professionals, this conversation offers a roadmap for creating luxury safari and other premium experiences that guests will treasure while building a business model that regenerates the destinations we all depend on. This is the essence of regenerative travel—leaving a legacy that benefits everyone involved.
Ready to transform your approach to sustainable hospitality? Listen to the full conversation with Liesel van Zyl for deeper insights into building impact-driven travel experiences.
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