Cottar’s Safaris pays to lease the land it uses from the Maasai-owned conservancy. The land is held in a community-owned trust. Annual lease payments are paid to the trust, which distributes the money to 6,500 members, whose title deeds have been paid for by the safari firm. The trust consults households about whether they would prefer social projects or money—and nearly all prefer the latter. Louise Cottar, the CEO, argues that local people cannot be “peripheral beneficiaries”. Unless they get more from helping to conserve the environment than from using it in other ways, tourism and nature will suffer in the long-term. Elsewhere in Kenya many of the locally owned community conservancies organised in the Northern Rangelands Trust have deals with tourism operators. In South Africa &BEYOND, a luxury travel outfit, has returned 9,000 hectares to their ancestral owners as part of the post-apartheid process of land restitution. In Namibia’s Damaraland Wilderness, another safari operator, established a joint venture with a conservancy that involved the transfer of ownership as part of a ten-year agreement. Kenya and Zimbabwe are changing conservation laws to encourage more such arrangements. The big question is whether there is enough money to go round to resolve the trilemma. In sparsely populated conservancies with expensive facilities, there may well be, especially if combined with other sources of income like

regulated grazing or farming. But elsewhere the dividends may be too meagre. Hence the push by conservation NGOs like African Parks to explore “biodiversity credits”, where philanthropists or donors pay communities to preserve ecological hotspots. These will be hard to measure and verify, however. For some critics safaris are colonial cosplay, where tourists are part of a long-running, extractive business model—like mining, but with more gin and tonics at the end of the day. That is unfair. Most visitors simply want to experience the wonder that these trips can stir. But without the right policies and business models, there will soon be little left for them to look at. ■ Sign up to the Analysing Africa, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop about the world’s youngest—and least understood—continent. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//middle-east-and-africa/2026/05/03/how-to-save-the-safari

Middle East & Africa | Israel’s next election Is Binyamin Netanyahu facing his last stand? The legacy of October 7th and the wars that followed will loom over the campaign May 21st 2026 Observers have repeatedly predicted the collapse of Israel’s government over the past two and a half years. Indeed, many have wished for it. In the end, two ultra-Orthodox parties in the ruling coalition have prompted the moment of its own demise. On May 20th the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, voted to dissolve itself. It was a preliminary vote and Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, is still playing for time. But at best he can buy his government a few more weeks. This Knesset’s term is about to expire: parliamentary elections must be held by October 27th. The immediate trigger is a demand by the ultra-Orthodox parties for a law exempting religious seminary students from compulsory military service. Mr

Netanyahu is willing to pass it but failed to muster the necessary votes for a measure that is deeply unpopular with most Israelis. Many of them believe the government’s subservience to religious interests has come at their own expense. The issue will be among the most prominent in the coming campaign. It is remarkable that the government has lasted this long, nearly completing its four-year term—a rare feat in Israel. After Hamas’s assault launched from Gaza in October 2023, and Israel’s failure to anticipate it, many thought Mr Netanyahu’s coalition would fall. But the prime minister brazened it out. He blamed the armed forces and intelligence services and promised Israelis “total victory” in the wars that followed. Not only did he keep his coalition of hard-right and religious parties together; he persuaded others to join his government as Israel mobilised for war. But victory has proved elusive. Israel controls a wasteland in just over half of Gaza; Hamas still rules the rest. Israel’s other campaigns over the past two years have also failed to bring decisive results. The Iranian regime, which Israel has attacked twice alongside America, is battered but defiant. In Lebanon Hizbullah, Iran’s proxy militia, continues to fight Israeli troops on the ground, despite losing most of its leadership to air strikes. Mr Netanyahu is still hoping Donald Trump will renew attacks on Iran. But few in Israel’s intelligence community believe the regime is about to collapse. “It could still happen,” concedes one Israeli Iran-watcher. “But it is unlikely to be in time for the election.” The shadow of October 7th and Israel’s many wars since then will loom over the election. Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister who is leading a list of right-wing and centrist candidates, has promised that, should he form the next government, its first cabinet meeting would be dedicated to appointing a commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the massacre. That does not, however, mean that this election campaign will be a national reckoning for the brutal conduct of the Gaza war. Over 70,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed; Gazans were forced to the brink of starvation. Yet most Israelis still believe the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran were justified and necessary responses to existential threats to the Jewish state. “We’re likely to lose the election because the wars took so long and

failed to yield decisive results,” says a parliamentarian from Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party. For the government’s opponents, this election is about much more than the wars. They have not forgotten that before October 7th, Mr Netanyahu’s coalition was trying to pass a controversial series of legal reforms that would sorely weaken the Supreme Court. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis repeatedly took to the streets to protest against what they saw as the erosion of Israel’s democratic foundations. They have watched the government lavish public money on ultra-Orthodox voters, despite their refusal to serve in the army and their limited economic participation. While the election is unlikely to focus on Israel’s economy, which is in surprising health, many Israelis worry that government spending is poorly controlled. Others warn that Israel’s democracy is dysfunctional. In a recent survey, most centrist and left-wing voters said that losing this election to the Netanyahu camp would be “intolerable”. More Israelis may choose to leave. In 2024 nearly 83,000 emigrated, a record, and in 2025 almost 70,000 followed suit. That could be an early sign of a brain drain. Israel’s economy, buoyed by its tech sector, and especially by the strength of defence-tech companies, has proved remarkably resilient. Still, most polls conducted over the past three years suggest that the parties in Mr Netanyahu’s current coalition will fail to win a majority. But even if the opposition does, they will struggle to forge an effective government. Mr Netanyahu’s opponents include right-wing and centrist parties who refuse to join a coalition with Arab-Israeli parties. The opposition lacks a clear leader. Mr Bennett has joined forces with Yair Lapid, a centrist former prime minister. But, despite much talk of emulating democratic parties that united in Hungary to topple Viktor Orban, the other opposition parties have yet to recognise Mr Bennett as their candidate for prime minister. The lack of unity probably helps explain why polls still rate Likud the largest party. Some are wondering whether, at 76, Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, might at last call it a day. As well as struggling to keep his bloc together, he has been dealing with heart problems and prostate cancer. Retirement would not only avoid the potential of a humiliating electoral

defeat, but would let him accept a plea bargain and end his long-running trial for bribery and fraud (charges he strenuously denies). But many believe he is incapable of giving up the fight. This is set to be his 12th election as leader of Likud. Over four decades in politics he has confounded the polls time and again. Another race may prove irresistible. And for all the grave questions facing Israelis in this election, it will almost certainly become yet another referendum on Mr Netanyahu. ■ Sign up to the Middle East Dispatch, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop on a fascinating, complex and consequential part of the world. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//middle-east-and-africa/2026/05/17/is-binyamin-netanyahu- facing-his-last-stand

Middle East & Africa | Guns and unicorns Israel’s economy is booming Its endless wars help explain why May 21st 2026 Israel’s elections are rarely focused on its economy. Questions of security and identity almost always dominate. The election expected in September or October will be no different. In a survey in Israel in February, only 11% of respondents said reducing the cost of living was the main issue that would determine their vote. That is partly because, despite two and a half years of inconclusive wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, Israel’s economy is booming. The fighting has taken a toll. gdp shrank by 3.3% in the first quarter at an annualised rate after the country largely shut down in March during the conflict with Iran. But the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the shekel are both buoyant. Inflation and unemployment are low, partly because so many young Israelis have