South Africa cycling holiday, Western Cape

As a part of our continued commitment to responsible tourism, we operate this trip in a way that aims to reduce impacts and to give as much back as possible to the local communities. We visit local communities and interact with them in a socially responsible manner.

We cycle through Table Mountain National Park, internationally recognised for its extraordinarily rich, diverse and unique fauna and flora - with rugged cliffs, steep slopes and sandy flats. The park fees here help with maintenance of this beautiful area. After riding through some stunning Cape peninsular scenery and some historic coastal villages, we visit the penguin colony at Boulders beach. The levy taken on entry to Boulders beach is fed directly back in to nature conservation here and maintaining the penguins’ natural habitat at Boulders beach. We ride down to the Langeberge mountains, backdrop to Bontebok national park. Part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, this World Heritage Site always offers something in bloom. It is also home to the rare bontebok antelope. The park fees feed directly in to the maintenance of the Park and the conservation of the huge array of Cape flora and fauna.

We use a locally owned operator on this trip. We have had a long-term relationship with the operator thereby stabilising the income generation and creating a more sustainable future. We have worked with our operator to help train staff in all aspects of their jobs, thereby helping to invest in the people to help improve their knowledge and future prospects and this includes Responsible Tourism training.

We use local leaders who are already committed to Responsible Tourism and who have received training and get additional refresher training on a regular basis. The leaders give an RT briefing on issues such as how to help understand local communities and how to help reduce the impact and maximise the benefits to the local communities from the visit. For example they advise on where to shop, what to buy (and not to buy), how to behave and a responsible litter policy. We use locally trained grooms in each of the areas visited, and this directly benefits the local communities. We use all locally owned and run accommodation on this trip. This contributes directly to the local communities as local staff are employed and locally produced and sourced goods are bought for the accommodation benefiting the wider community.

The group size is deliberately kept small to a maximum of 14 people to keep the environmental impact to a minimum. The leaders are trained to implement environmental procedures such as no littering, to bring all refuse out of the remote area, and to strictly stay on paths as to minimize erosion.

We have at our offices worked to reduce our carbon footprint through a reduction of energy use and energy conservation measures. We also actively reduce the waste produced by having active reduction and recycling policies in place. We run annual staff workshops on Responsible Tourism.

Global warming is a reality and to help you make a difference by reducing the carbon dioxide that is produced when you travel we offer a chance to carbon balance your flights. We encourage all our clients to do this and do so for all our staff travel. Go on do your bit!