WHO’S THE KING OF WILDLIFE TOURISM?
The US outperforms SA by miles on a global ranking of animal spots, writes Elizabeth Sleith
South Africa has just landed in 25th place on a list of “best countries in the world for wildlife tourism” — with the US taking the top spot. The ranking was the work of a UK-based tour company, True Luxury Travel, which looked at factors including wildlife biodiversity, conservation efforts, and the prevalence of national parks for its findings. The US ranks first thanks to its impressive system of national parks (60 in total) as well as the number of natural history museums (more than 750) and its high score on several other indexes indicating a commitment to conservation.
Since a country’s pioneering role in establishing national parks was also a factor, the results point out that the US is also home to one of the oldest national parks in the world, Yellowstone, which was founded in 1872.
It goes on to say, however, that it “is a common misconception that this is the oldest national park in the world.
“In fact, that honour lies with Mongolia, where Bogdkhan Uul was founded in 1783.”
Venezuela, in second place due to its high prevalence of national parks and protected natural areas, actually has the greatest proportion of natural protected areas in the world, accounting for 54.14% of the total land.
Africa’s top destination, Tanzania, came in fifth place overall.
The report said the country was “a strong contender across a variety of factors but is particularly notable in its conservation efforts, for which it is third in the world according to the Megafauna Conservation Index, behind Botswana and Namibia.”
The MCI, a separate index that factored in the results, was compiled by a group of biologists, led by Peter Lindsey of the University of Pretoria in SA.
It ranks countries according to how much opportunity they provide for megafauna (large animals) to live and thrive in the existing landscape, and how much they are investing in conservation.
SA’s performance in that survey is disappointing. Listed as “below average”, it does not feature in the top 25. Botswana and Namibia take the No 1 and 2 spots.
In True Luxury Travel’s Global Wildlife Index, South Africa comes in fourth place on the African continent, behind Zambia and Kenya.
The rest of the global top 10, in order, is Brazil in third, Thailand in fourth, and Tanzania in fifth, followed by Colombia, Croatia, Mexico, Australia, and Canada.
The travel company said the list had been inspired by the fact that “there are so many amazing destinations to choose from that it can be difficult to know where to start”.
● See trueluxury.travel/travel/ wildlife-travel-index.