Skift Take
A run of bad press and falling demand has forced segments of southern Africa's safari industry to take a long, hard look at their offering. The result? A more hands-off approach that's been a long-time coming.
Editor's Note: Skift launched a new series, Gateway, to broaden our news coverage geographically with first-hand, original stories from correspondents embedded in cities around the world.
We are featuring regular reports several times per week from Beijing, Singapore and Cape Town, and look for us to add other cities soon. Gateway Cape Town, for example, signifies that the reporter is writing from that city although his coverage of the business of travel will meander to other locales in the region. Read about the series here, and check out all the stories in the series here.
Want to ride on the back of an elephant through the African Bushveld? Or perhaps walk alongside adolescent lions within earshot of Victoria Falls, viewing the momentous ‘smoke that thunders’ as the Zambezi surges down into the Batoka Gorge?
Best you book your ticket quickly, for the days of activities offering hands-on interactions with Africa’s megafauna are numbered.
Across southern Africa, tourism operators offering elephant-back rides and "walking with l