Why African Safaris are a Great Learning Experience for Kids
Why African Safari Trips are Great for Kids
Education is great for kids, however, education doesn’t always have to occur in a classroom. When kids are given the opportunity to experience wildlife, nature, and culture, that knowledge and excitement stay with them forever.
Instead of booking a flight with your family to Europe to walk around museums or zoo’s, you should book a flight to Africa to experience nature as it was meant to be.
There are many African safari trips that accept children and taking them will be a great educational adventure for the entire family.
We have multiple reasons for why you should bring your children to African safari trips and what they will get out of it.
They Will Learn to Respect Wildlife
African safari trips are great if you want your children to appreciate and respect wildlife. When children see animals at a zoo, they get excited and they can sometimes end up tapping on the glass and bother the animal.
A child will learn to become too comfortable with animals because they see the animal can’t harm them. This occurs because the animals are enclosed and separate from them. This prevents the child from learning to respect and fear the animal.
This is a dangerous habit to form since animals are unpredictable and a child can end up getting hurt if they are in a situation where an animal is present.
Yet, African safari trips can help prevent situations like that because they teach you and your family to be cautious around animals. They may even teach you how to deal with animals properly.
For instance, if a child sees an elephant at the zoo or at a theme park, they may get the notion that they are calm and gentle animals.
However, in reality, elephants are unpredictable and can become aggressive if they feel threatened. Elephants are known as the most dangerous animal in the world and you wouldn’t expect that if you just saw them at a zoo.
The Amboseli National Park is located in southern Kenya and is well known for its large elephant herds. By bringing your children to experience them in their natural habitat, they would learn the dangers of elephants. But they will also get to experience their beauty all while feeling safe.
What better story will your kids have during the summer than saying that were able to see real live animals in their natural habitats.
Experience Nature
African safari trips are amazing for anyone who wants to explore nature, which children love to do.
When you think of a safari you may envision open grasslands and desert plains. This vision is correct, but that is not the only landscape Africa has to offer.
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in all of Africa. This mountain is a composite volcano (meaning it is no longer active) and is also a source of water for most of Kenya.
The scenery on Mount Kenya is beautiful and contains the Nairobi animal orphanage. Guests can stop and interact with monkeys at this orphanage.
But if you would like 10 other reasons why you should climb Mount Kenya, you can read more about it here.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a mountain located in Tanzania which offers migration tours and hiking. This is the highest mountain in Africa with three dormant volcanoes and a beautiful view.
By taking your children to experience nature and all it has to offer, your children learn to be adventurous. They will also learn to care about the environment.
Most kids stay cooped up in their homes playing video games and watching television. But, by bringing them along on your vacation to Africa, you will get them to enjoy being outside.
Being outside has a calming effect on us and it teaches us to slow down and appreciate life for what it is.
Understand Cultural Differences
Africa safari trips don’t only entail animal encounters and nature, Africa is also well known for its unlimited culture.
Kenya contains around 42 tribes that all have their own culture and heritage. Most Kenyan communities have adopted some form of western culture into their tribes, but overall, the communities stay with their original traditions.
It’s very beneficial for your children to understand how and why African tribes have a mixture of western ideology (such as Christian and Islamic religions intertwined with original African practices).
Tanzania contains hundreds of tribes, languages, and culture. The people of Hadzabe are even one of the worlds last hunter-gatherer tribe.
By bringing your child to Tanzania, you will get them to become interested in other languages, foods, and traditions. You can also visit the world’s largest history museum to give your kids some insight on where humans came from.
Being able to show children the way other cultures live will give them an awareness of different cultures. This will also teach them to respect those differences.
Showing children how other communities interact and what they do for survival will make them appreciative of others. This will also teach them to admire what their own culture doesn’t have to offer.
Having your children experience the crafting of beads, traditional attire, and even agricultural work (such as sweet potato farmers and coffee makers) will have them excited about learning.
It is easy to make a child read a book about other cultures and ways of life. But, having them experience it for themselves will make them remember it for the rest of their lives.
Overview of African Safari Trips
At first thought, you may think that bringing your kids on a safari can be dangerous and it might just be easier to leave your children at home.
However, by doing that, you strip your children of educational opportunities and excitement. It may be scary for children to experience new things at first, but by bringing them along with you, you teach them that traveling is fun.
It may be easier to buy your child an educational book for them to read. Yet, it will also make it easier for that child to forget that information if they don’t have real world or hands-on experience.
Now that you know African safari trips are indeed safe and educational for your children, if you need more information on where to stay or what to do, you can find more information here.