The Safari Awards Guidelines
The Safari Awards, sponsored by the Safari Guild, TravelExpo 365 and Safari Invest, are more about excellence than just being 'very good' or 'better than most'. All lodges and operations nominated must adhere to the following criteria (please do not nominate if the safari lodge/camp does not fit these criteria):
- the property/operation must be located in a wildlife reserve (national or private), or within at most an hour's travel from extensive wildlife (game, bird or marine life), and must not be located in a city or a large town
- the property/operation must offer wildlife viewing excursions, whether big game or marine wildlife tourism viewing
- the property/operation must feasibly be part of the 'safari circuit'- somewhere visitors will stay as part of their safari holiday
- the property/operation can be anywhere in the world, not just Africa
- the property/operation must not offer guided hunting excursions
Every nomination is individually verified. If a lodge/operation is nominated which does not fit this criteria, it will be disregarded.
In addition, the Safari Awards the criteria for the riding safaris category is as follows:
- must offer riding as the principle safari activity (whether on horse, elephant, camel etc)
- must consider welfare of animals as its overriding concern.
Animal welfare can be loosely judged using the following:
- animals are well-fed, if horses then have well-rounded stomachs
- animals have ample rest-time; if horses then are ridden no more than once a day, five days a week
- animals seem healthy and relaxed, with sick animals taken out of circulation
