Project & holiday in Zambia & Botswana

country:	Botswana, Zambia
trip type:	A small group adventure
departures:	2008: 13 Sep, 11 Oct, 8 Nov, 13 Dec 2009: 10 Jan, 7 Feb, 7 Mar, 11 Apr, 9 May
price:	From £1040 (16 days) excluding flights. Local payment US $300.

Zambia holidays

Botswana holidays

A taste of volunteering holidays

the amazing things you'll be doing

Livingstone Volunteer Project, Makgadikgadi Pans, Nxai Pans, Chobe game viewing and river cruise, Moremi game viewing, Okavango Delta excursion, Savuti, Chobe, Victoria Falls.

Make a difference while travelling on this trip, highlighted by a 5 day hands-on volunteer project. Round out this great African adventure with some amazing game-viewing by boat in Chobe National Park, stunning views of Victoria Falls, and a journey into the stunning Okavango Delta wilderness by dugout canoe.

Volunteer activities may include painting walls and murals, carrying water and bricks, building walls, clearing the garden, helping make cement, laying bricks and plastering walls.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive Livingstone. Arrive in Livingstone at any time.
Day 2-6:	Livingstone volunteer project. Spend five days volunteering in Livingstone alongside the local community by helping to build and/or refurbish schools and/or orphanages. Duties may include carrying water and bricks, helping to make cement, laying bricks, fixing roofs, painting walls and murals, clearing gardens or virtually anything else to help improve facilities. Time can also be spent interacting with the children in the community. No previous experience necessary.
Day 7-8:	Chobe National Park. Chobe National Park is one of Africa’s greatest elephant sanctuaries. En route, we cross the mighty Zambezi River at the unique meeting point of four countries (Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana). Activities include a Chobe Game Drive and River Cruise.
Day 9:	Nata. We continue South to Nata home to the unusual salt pans which are known to attract a huge variety of exotic birds. Optional activities include quad biking on the moonscape-like environment.
Day 10-13:	Maun - Okavango Delta. Travel to Maun, gateway to the world famous Okavango Delta where we enjoy a two-night Okavango Delta Safari. Boarding dugout canoes, we make our way deep into the delta on the lookout for wildlife while navigating the many channels and sand bars of this wilderness water wonderland. At night we will camp on one of the many islands, sleeping under the stars.
Day 14:	Palapye. Today we travel overland to Palapye. This camp in Palapye is a popular overnight stop where we can sit around the fire and exchange stories of Africa deep into the night.
Day 15:	Johannesburg. Making an early start, we cross into South Africa to Johannesburg for our farewell dinner.
Day 16:	Depart Johannesburg.

a taste of volunteering trip - what's it all about?

This type of trip is ideal for people who are unable to take very long periods off work but who are interested in volunteering to work with communities in need, or in wildlife conservation. These shorter trips combine volunteering with an opportunity to see the main sights in destinations. Find out more about 'taste of volunteering'

how this holiday makes a difference

We have partnered with African Impact, an African based facilitator of volunteer projects as a way to provide travellers with an opportunity to volunteer, and have a true cultural experience by helping out the local community in Livingstone. During the volunteer portion of this tour we are able to make a real and sustainable contribution to the development and refurbishment of local schools and orphanages. We will also have free time to entertain and interact with children by playing sports with them. Volunteers will be guided and supported by professional builders, an African Impact representative and accompanied by a tour leader. No building experience is required, just the desire to help.

On the volunteer portion of the Project Zambia and Botswana tour, we will be assisting with one of the following projects, and activities will depend on the stage of the project when we arrive.

Building a School
Schools in Livingstone deal with a great lack of facilities. Having too many children to accommodate and not enough classrooms, they usually run two or even three school sessions a day. To help provide children with the full days of classes they desire and deserve, our aim is to assist with the refurbishment and building of new classrooms for as many primary schools as possible in Livingstone.

Refurbishing an Orphanage
As a result of HIV/AIDS and other circumstances, there are many orphaned children in Livingstone. To keep the children off the streets, LISCA (Livingstone Street-kids Community Association) has founded a boys’ orphanage that is home to 18 boys and a school base for over 100 orphaned children. The organization has located a building for a girls’ orphanage as well, but has not had the funds to refurbish it. In association with LISCA and African Impact, we aim to fix up the run-down building and turn it into both a home for orphaned girls and a community centre for poor children in the neighborhood.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.