Green Safaris, which operates top lodges in Zambia and Malawi, has calculated that guests travelling to their properties generate about 400 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. To offset these emissions, the company started ‘Wings and Wheels’ in 2023 through its non-profit partner, the Green Safaris Conservation Foundation (GSCF).

As part of Wings and Wheels, the GSCF tracks and measures every kilometre travelled by guests using complimentary road or air transfers to move between Green Safaris’ lodges and camps. This figure is then offset by distributing locally built, fuel-efficient cookstoves to families in the Mponda Seniority of the Mulendema Chiefdom, bordering Kafue National Park. According to the GSCF, ‘Each stove reduces wood consumption by two-thirds, improves indoor air quality and cuts household emissions by 2.28 metric tons of CO? per year; that’s enough to offset every ton produced by the Wings and Wheels programme.’

Guests on a game-drive vehicle at Ila in Kafue

According to Lauren Summers, marketing director at Green Safaris, ‘The result is a seamless experience for the guest and a meaningful impact for the communities that live alongside the ecosystems that [we] help protect.

‘Wings and Wheels represents what we believe travel should be: a force for good. [Since founding Green Safaris in 2016], the measure of that belief is what’s been built on the ground: communities more resilient, ecosystems more protected, and a programme that has now been recognised at the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Awards two years running. It’s not just about offsetting emissions; it’s about rethinking the role tourism plays in the places we love.’

To date, Wings and Wheels has:

  • Delivered 175 clean cookstoves
  • Offset over 400 tons of CO? annually
  • Improved air quality for over a thousand people
  • Saved 405 tons of wood every year
  • Improved health and reduced time spent collecting firewood, particularly for women and children

The stoves are built using materials sourced locally and designed in collaboration with the communities who use them. They are easy to maintain and built to last, ensuring long-term benefits without ongoing dependency.

Wings and Wheels helps protect habitats bordering Kafue

The GSCF’s other carbon-combatting initiatives include:

  • ‘Silent Safaris’ using Africa’s first electric game-drive vehicles
  • 80% solar-powered lodges
  • More than 22 000 indigenous trees planted annually through reforestation efforts

Wings and Wheels has been recognised at the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Awards two years running: in 2025 in the Climate Change category, and in 2026 as One to Watch.

Green Safaris runs the following highly regarded camps in Zambia:

Chisa Busanga is home to Nests, some of the most unusual guest rooms in the country