The Scene

Crouched in red dust behind a scrim of mopane woodland, Bekezela “Beks” Ndlovu raises a hand for silence as a great bull elephant pads past. “It’s Boswell,” he whispers. The massive animal suddenly rears onto his hind quarters, stretches his trunk into an acacia, and snaps off a spray of branches. Ndlovu chuckles softly. “Good old Boswell.”

Such is the practical magic of safari in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park, where familiarity never dulls the thrill. Fifty-year-old Ndlovu has been tracking elephants since boyhood, when a wandering herd trampled into his family’s garden in his home village in western Zimbabwe. Today, Ndlovu channels that same rush into his work as a guide and as the founder of African Bush Camps (ABC), which operates camps in 17 locations across Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.

The Backstory

Beneath that dreamy vision of safari, the industry reckons with a past founded on colonial and sectarian principles that often deter and inhibit local advancement. When Ndlovu opened his first camp in 2006, he set out to shift that model. Under his leadership, ABC has emphasized cultural immersion alongside wildlife viewing.

He remains one of only a handful of black safari owners whose presence and guidance offers critical support to what he calls the decolonization of the safari: all of ABC’s 700 employees are from nearby communities in which they work, camp designs reflect local heritage, and cultural nights provide traditional insight into each camp’s unique connection to its surroundings.