Botswana cycling tours

In a region that has historically provided traditional vehicle safaris, we offer an alternative land use with a lower impact on the local environment. We’ve designed our trips to further minimize the impact on the environment by minimizing vehicle travel and maximizing bicycle travel. We operate low impact temporary wilderness camps which are rotated to allow localized recovery. We practice sustainable practices such as water and wood conservation and waste re-cycling. We have installed solar energy lighting into our staff housing.

We employ local guides and provide training and skills development related to guiding, first aid, bike maintenance, food preparation and hospitality. We currently employ 6 permanent staff, 4 of which are from impoverished backgrounds in rural Botswana. In addition we employ 3 part-time mountain bike guides.

Our Trees4Bikes project is aimed towards raising funds to provide local school kids with bikes, alleviating the need for extended walks or bus transport to schools. Young trees are germinated, cared for and ultimately planted by junior school children, in our neighbouring Botswana villages. Monies raised through our guests will go towards providing children with bicycles.

All riding takes place on natural game paths on both our trips. We do not drive off-road. We encounter plentiful wildlife on our trips. Safety is our priority and we maintain safe distances of at least 50m. We remain very sensitive to creating disturbance, which is inevitable, and allow wildlife to move away freely.

In the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, we are very concerned at the amount of wood collected and used for fires, for cooking, lighting and camp fires by various land-uses. We limit our wood consumption to the absolute minimum, that is for cooking and keeping a small fire going in camp at night for security. We constantly inform guests of the scarcity of wood and explain the need to use as little as possible. We also make guests aware of the need to conserve water which is particularly pertinent in a semi-arid area.

Our trips are designed to minimize vehicle travel and maximise bicycle travel. Our Botswana camps are low-impact and entirely temporary. Camps are set up each day prior to the arrival of the group. We provide 3 waste bins for glass, plastics and tins. These items are removed to a central waste area after each trip where they are sorted and sent for recycling in Selebi-Pikwe.

The only energy requirements are lighting by means of gas and cooking by means of a fire. Water is brought with us, collected from a local borehole, and used for cooking, cleaning and showers. We have managed to ration water to 20l per person without impacting on comfort. We use a waterless pit latrine.