South Africa arts & crafts tours

Our belief is that each step we take matters, and that door opening journeys are about travelling with a curious mind, an open heart, and light steps. Our aim is to share South Africa’s cultural richness, diversity and natural beauty in such a way as to beneficiate all involved.

Environment
We uphold the philosophy of giving back, making a voluntary donation to Food and Trees for Africa, calculated on the carbon footprint accumulated by each visitor's journey to, from and within South Africa.

We are linked to Friends of Conservation for alternative ways to participate in projects that either extract CO2 from the atmosphere, reduce harmful emissions, or protect wildlife and bring benefit to communities.

We endorse the South Africa Sustainability Seafood Initiative (SASSI), abiding by their approved seafood guidelines when making selections on clients’ behalf.

We support The Biodiversity and Wine Initiative, which applies diversity guidelines to the wine industry by choosing its members when selecting wine estates to showcase. We believe in leaving only our footprints and provide all visitors with Golden rules which in the natural environment include not picking flowers or removing any items, feeding the animals, littering, or deviating from paths – and in the built environment not wasting water, being ostentatious with possessions, handing out randomly or behaving respectfully among other cultures.

We undertake to lighten our impact wherever possible, such as using the internet as our primary communication medium, limiting the size of groups, consciously selecting low impact options, biodegradable materials, recycling paper, and implementing turn it off policies with equipment. To mitigate the impact of the long haul travel, we offer several add-on options to our fixed tours.

Community
We are a member of the Open Africa network of Afrikatourism, a collaborative movement linking the splendours of Africa in a network of tourism routes from Cape to Cairo, with the aim of creating jobs in synergy with conservation, under the patronage of Nelson Mandela.

We support Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa (FTTSA) which is based on fair share, democracy, respect, reliability, transparency and sustainability, and its members wherever possible.

We seek out initiatives such as !Khwa ttu San Cultural and Educational Centre that highlights issues facing minority cultures, Solms Delta museum for its oral history focus, Grootbos private nature reserve for its dedication to the Cape Floral Kingdom and eco tourism benchmarking, and Bushmans Kloof wilderness retreat for highlighting San culture.

We support only local initiatives: family run hotels chosen for their warmth of welcome and charm, and owner managed restaurants that offer seasonal produce and regional wines. We select preferred service providers that are local and owner managed, such as for our transport and in our links we seek similarly-minded associates who share our vision such as Mogalakwena Artist’s Retreat.

Believing in the principles of abundance and co-operation, we offer our web based hub for the beneficiation of all involved with us, while supporting others who subscribe to our principles.

We provide our clients with a comprehensive pre trip information briefing including suggested reading, safety hints, etc. as well as a customised information pack on arrival, made of recycled paper sourced locally, containing a 3D map and a locally crafted gift (with the opportunity on several of the tours to meet the makers in person). As a principle, we contextualise the historical, geographic and social background regardless of the specific focus of a tour, and we select useful additional nuggets to inform free time choices.

Operationally, we subscribe to an ethical code of conduct. We practise fair trade policies. We uphold high delivery standards and train wherever required, since our undertaking to our clients is seamless service and attention to detail. We passionately advocate raising the tourism industry bar and take responsibility for the upliftment and awareness this challenge requires.

Economically the tourism industry is the biggest generator of jobs in the Western Cape, and unemployment is the biggest threat to social stability in the land. Taking the opportunity to showcase what is unique to the Cape, telling our stories informatively - and having them ’witnessed’ - substantiates our sense of self, our pride of place and our purpose of being.