Eco- Friendly Travel Tips for African Travelers
As much as I love to travel I love our planet. And as we all know our home needs help. Flying is not a “green” activity and other aspects of travel also create a lot of pollution. For example, when we travel we tend to use more single use items, such as bottles, utensils, bags, little bottles of shampoo and such. We often drive more just to explore, do not reuse towels, and enjoy very comfortable room temperatures. By room temperature I mean that in our homes we would set 67 to conserve energy and save money, then in hotel we’ll do comfortable 74 (or whatever one prefers).
Over years I tried to find ways to minimize my footprint to our planet without giving up my passion for travel. Here is the ways I think being green and staying comfortable are intersect:
- Ditch plastic cosmetics: a lot can be done here and this is the most obvious way. Toothpaste tablet, shampoo bars (I personally love this South African brand), deodorants in cardboard tubes, glass containers for cosmetics and there are even solid lotion bars. Or here is another option for the lotion, in aluminum jars. I also use body soap bars in a cotton bag. As an added benefit you’ll have no liquids in your carry on.
- Ditch plastic water bottles: I recently bought water purifier bottle Grayl. After doing a lot of research, I chose it as I thought it will be the best solution for traveling. Now I can get water in any bathroom sink or even river in case of emergency. Despite the cost (80$+) it can filter about 150–250 liters of water and replacing filters are not too expensive, bringing cost per liter to just cents. And we all know how expensive airport water is. Also being other reusable bottles, where you can refill the water from different sources and have it last thru the day.
- Stay longer: this is the best way to save energy in many ways: less towels and bedsheets washed, less miles traveled. It makes more sense environmentally to visit 2 places and stay 4 days each then visit 4 places and stay 2 days. You can do day trips, but most of the time you can’t get it all.
- Choose green airline or opt in for airline offset program: many airline offer carbon offset programs and many set to develop greener fuel options, such as biofuels. Many budget airlines are actually doing good by removing some options, including screens, lighten the seat, removing magazine and such. If airline doesn’t offer any programs you can find one yourself, like the one that restores mangrove, so I try to make donations to offset my flights.
- Choose public transportation: no secret that one bus can carry 50 passengers, take space as 2 cars and have way less emission than cars. There also electric trains, rickshaws and electric cars.
- Choose eco friendly hotels and lodges: many hotel chains try to make their policy (hang to reuse), as well bed change reduction. Besides that many hotel move away from small toiletries bottles to big refillable ones or bars. City lodge in South Africa offers bar everything – shampoo, soap, etc. Some lodges also going further by becoming net zero – solar power, composting, local ingredients sourcing and natural materials. Look for those if you want to make a difference.
- Shop local: this is the best part, this is like a souvenir hunting. Buying local is a great way to support local communities, avoid transportation effects (extra cost + pollution) and find one of a kind gift and foods.
As you can see there are a lot of little things one can do to minimize the effect of the travel. While it may not be enough to fully become sustainable, it will definitely bring down pollution as much as one can. I believe that corporations and governments are the one able to change the tide, but as much as one can we all should try to minimize our impact.
Besides, when you see the world, when you travel and see the beauty of it, you can’t help but want to keep it as beautiful and make it even better place for all.
P.S. nothing is sponsored in this post, all of the above just my opinion.