the whole continent

This is the ultimate African adventure traversing the continent over a period of about nine months. This trip will take you to places well off the main tourist trail as well as the popular highlights. By not always sticking to the popular routes we bring tourist money into a wider range of local economies. En route we stay at small, locally run campsites (or bush camp) and we buy our food in local markets, thereby directly supporting local communities.

We will often stop to buy vegetables from local roadside sellers-freshly picked from their own ‘plots.’ When eating out we use local restaurants-not international chains (even if they are available) and we encourage our clients to try food from ‘street food’ sellers and to try the local beer!

We use local companies to run all our excursions and local guides at relevant points. For example, in Mauritania we use a local guide to ease our desert crossing! In Mali we use local guides to visit the Dogon villages. We spend two days living in a village, sharing their homes and meals. This gives our clients an opportunity to learn more about their hosts traditional lifestyles and also provides the families with an additional source of income.

We try to stay at campsites that also have a commitment to the communities they inhabit and we do what we can to further support their initiatives; for example the Meserani Snake Park in Tanzania started as a campsite but has become an integral and important part of the local Masai community.

The campsite organises guided walks to local Masai villages - the Masai villagers themselves are the guides and all the profits go to the villages. The campsite has also established a medical centre for the local Masai community and this is partly funded by the profits from an on-site shop selling local Masai crafts. We have donated basic medical supplies to the medical centre.

In Namibia we stay at the Otjitongwe Cheetah Preservation Park which seeks to preserve the local cheetah population. We also visit a number of conservation /community projects en route-that support local communities and conservation initiatives directly. In Nigeria, for example, clients can visit the Calabar Drill Monkey (and chimpanzee) Ranch which rehabilitates and breeds drill monkeys (short-tailed rainforest monkeys unique to Cross River State, Nigeria) and provides a home to orphaned chimps.

In Uganda our clients have the opportunity to visit the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary which cares for rescued or orphaned chimpanzees. Clients are also of course given the opportunity to visit the mountain gorillas in Uganda, or Rwanda-a large part of the fees for this go towards conserving and protecting these magnificent animals and their habitats. In Kenya clients can visit Elsamere - the home of the Elsa Conservation Trust which has donated millions to wildlife and conservation projects and has an on-site conservation centre.

Before commencing the tour all our clients are provided with detailed pre-departure info which includes information on Responsible Travel. This information is re-emphasised by our Tour Leader at the start of the trip - clients are, for example, advised about respecting local customs particularly in terms of dress and behaviour; water conservation; respecting and conserving wildlife and their habitats; purchasing of endangered species products and so on.

Charities supported on this trip
We sponsor several charities on this trip. In Nairobi, we sponsor a baby elephant, Kamboyo, through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Clients have the opportunity to visit this impressive education and conservation project.

In Uganda, we make a regular, monthly, financial contribution to Soft Power Education - an organisation that provides education to Ugandan children. Again we visit this project on our trips and some of our clients have returned to Uganda at the end of their trips to undertake voluntary work here.

In Zimbabwe, we have become involved with the Hupenyu Hutsva Children’s Home in Harare, assisting this locally funded children’s home with regular donations of food. We came upon this home by accident-during a visit to Zimbabwe 7 years ago. One of our directors was taking some supplies to a nearby childrens home and got a bit lost! He ended up at Hupenyu Hutsva by mistake and was impressed by what he saw, in terms of the staffs dedication and commitment. The home receives virtually no outside support as the children are older and not as cute and attention grabbing as the babies and toddlers of the home nearby. We are very proud of our involvement with this home as we can see the small differences we have made and we know that it has been important to the home to just know that someone outside even cares about what is happening there. We have donated educational materials, bedding, clothing, sports equipment and computers to the home and are involved in ongoing projects. Whenever possible our trips visit the home. We also donate one pound to Tourism Concern for every booking made with us.