Solar-powered safari vehicles for a clean game drive : The modern traveler wants a sustainable safari, not just productive game drives and cosy accommodations, from their African safari. What constitutes a sustainable safari? A sustainable safari takes socioeconomic, cultural, and/or environmental aspects into account. It could include things like ethically compensated, trained guides, tour operators that support their communities, and safari lodges that aim to be carbon neutral or negative. And now, companies that use electric safari vehicles.
Electric vehicles and the safari experience.
The classic method of experiencing an African safari is through a game drive. You can travel a long way while on a game drive. Large is the Land Cruiser. Perched almost a meter above the earth, you have an excellent vantage point for surveying the surroundings and keeping an eye out for potential predators. With a vehicle, you can get up close and personal with potentially dangerous wildlife without endangering yourself or them. The main activities on safari are game drives in the early morning and late afternoon.
Fuel-based safari vehicles.
Game drives in typical safari vehicles use a fair amount of fuel; on average, a vehicle gets less than 18 miles per gallon, or roughly 8 kilometres per litre. Safari cars that run on fuel, especially diesel ones, make noise. If you’re lucky enough to see a lion cub from a moving safari vehicle, its cries won’t be audible until the engine of the vehicle is switched off. Animals that are timid or skittish frequently run away when they hear a car approaching. It can be difficult to hear what your guide is saying if you’re seated in the back rows.
Safari vehicles powered by electricity are cost, you’ll need to consider a luxury or high-end safari if you want solar-powered vehicles on your safari. Compared to combustion engine vehicles, clean energy vehicles are notably quieter.
Every company is based in a different nation and has dedicated itself to using photovoltaic safari cars to generate clean energy.
Campi ya Kanzi.
Situated between the Tsavo and Amboseli National Parks, Campi ya Kanzi is ideally situated in the Chyulu Hills region. It was founded by Luca Belpietro, who first visited the 283,000 acres Maasai reservation in 1975 when he was only 11 years old. Twenty years later, Luca came back and joined forces with Maasai landowners to build the boutique ecolodge, which is owned by the community.
When Campi ya Kanzi officially opened its doors in 1998, it was Africa’s first lodge powered exclusively by solar energy. However, they didn’t end there. By converting a conventional fuel vehicle into an electric one, Campi ya Kanzi became the first safari company in Kenya to operate an electric vehicle. Luca Belpietro, the founder and visionary, was interviewed by Your African Safari to learn more about their e-vehicles and the implications for their safari guests.
This is the first lodge in Africa to have zero carbon emissions and to be carbon negative. All kitchens are induction; there is only photovoltaic electricity. Eight cars can be charged at once by the camp’s 320 kW photovoltaic system. Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, or MWCT, is the owner of both Chyulu Club and Campi ya Kanzi. All tourism-related revenue goes towards the trust.
