Learn to scuba dive in the Red Sea, Dahab

There are a great many dive centres in the Red Sea. This has created enormous pressure on the reef system and the need for constant management and awareness of the marine environment. When selecting the dive centre to be used in this itinerary we specifically requested that a written environmental policy was in place. We are satisfied that the Dive Centre is very environmentally aware and actively works to reduce the damage to the coral reefs in the Red Sea through e.g. have dive groups of no more than 6 divers, take part in clean-up dives, training all staff in environmental awareness, ensure their divers exhibit good buoyancy before taken to pristine dive sites, enforce refresher dives for people who have not dived in 6 months, train and employ local Bedouin and Egyptian dive professionals up to instructor level and donate to local projects.

Divers are given a Reef Awareness briefing prior to diving, introducing them to the fragile environment which is the Red Sea. We follow strict guidelines outlines by the National Parks of Egypt and SSDM on marine conservation and diver conduct. The dive centre has developed a Reef Watch programme on our local reef where continuous research is recorded and monitored by divers. Guests have the opportunity to work on the programme as a normal guided dive, with data collected fed into our database. If you would like to participate in this activity during your holiday please advise us at the time of booking and we will alert the dive centre in advance.

The hotel used in this itinerary is locally owned by a prestigious Bedouin Sheikh and his family, built on lands belonging to their ancestors. Lease fees are introduced directly into the local community and distributed between family members. By avoiding foreign owned hotel chains whose profits disappear out of the country, choosing this hotel and dive centre for your holiday ensures that the money you pay stays within the country and benefits the local economy.

We are proud to state that all hotel and dive centre staff are local, originating from the mainland Egypt or the Sinai Peninsula. In-house training is provided to all new members of staff, encouraging inexperienced locals by offering an opportunity to start a career in the hospitality or dive industry. Our local drivers are all fully licenced and work under strict guidelines.

All fresh produce used in hotel meals is dispatched to Sinai from the Delta in mainland Egypt, although the hotel also supports and encourages a local Bedouin family who have cultivated arid desert land to produce various fruits and vegetables. Although stock is not ample enough yet to sustain the hotel, the crops are purely organic and grown from seed using natural spring water.

For all of our tours we provide customers with an itinerary specific responsible travel guide aprox 4 weeks before they depart. This includes a generic travellers code of conduct which emphasises basic responsible travel advice – e.g. reduction of waste and consumption of natural resources, purchase local produce where possible etc. Our holidays are specifically designed to bring guests into direct contact with locals from a range of different tribes and cultures across Africa. We also therefore provide destination specific guidance including advice on local customs and some key phrases in certain languages (e.g. Swahili). We also offer guidance on how to barter responsibly for local curios and what curios should be avoided (e.g. certain wildlife artefacts such as coral, turtle shells etc.). As all of our guides and groundhandlers are local we also give guidance on what a fair and reasonable level of tipping would be at the end of the holiday.

We support the work of Tourism Concern both in distributing their advice to customers and as an active participant in the Ethical Tour Operators Group. Our managing director sits on this group and is a regular attendee of meetings contributing to work towards developing industry wide fair trade standards. We also distribute materials to customers and make periodic donations for the following charities: Tree Aid; International Fund for Wildlife and Survival International Trust. In Southern Africa we support the Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative and forward their guidance to all customers on which seafood is sustainable when offered a choice at restaurants.