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The owners of Hot Springs hotel in Bahariya have encouraged a Japanese NGO to set up ‘The Women's Workhouse’. Here orphaned Bedouin girls are encouraged to learn professions to be able to survive also without husbands or fathers. They also learn the old handicrafts of Bahariya Oasis and prepare them as gifts to be sold to tourists.
The German manager of the hotel, Peter Wirth, has lived and worked in Bahariya Oasis since 1995, and was instrumental in the creation of the, NGO “El Hayat”, which has the preservation of the environment of the White Desert Protected Area as its main goal. Every year volunteer clean-up trips in the desert are executed. On the initiative of Mr. Wirth a Bedouin Driver training programme has been executed to allow the local to safely transport tourists and help manage the Western Desert environment.
For all of our tours we provide customers with an itinerary specific responsible travel guide aprox 4 weeks before they depart. This includes a generic travellers code of conduct which emphasises basic responsible travel advice – e.g. reduction of waste and consumption of natural resources, purchase local produce where possible etc. Our holidays are specifically designed to bring guests into direct contact with locals from a range of different tribes and cultures across Africa. We also therefore provide destination specific guidance including advice on local customs and some key phrases in certain languages (e.g. Swahili). We also offer guidance on how to barter responsibly for local curios and what curios should be avoided (e.g. certain wildlife artefacts such as coral, turtle shells etc.). As all of our guides and groundhandlers are local we also give guidance on what a fair and reasonable level of tipping would be at the end of the holiday.
We support the work of Tourism Concern both in distributing their advice to customers and as an active participant in the Ethical Tour Operators Group. Our managing director sits on this group and is a regular attendee of meetings contributing to work towards developing industry wide fair trade standards. We also distribute materials to customers and make periodic donations for the following charities: Tree Aid; International Fund for Wildlife and Survival International Trust. In Southern Africa we support the Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative and forward their guidance to all customers on which seafood is sustainable when offered a choice at restaurants.
Whilst volunteering on a coral reef in Tanzania, the founder of this company fell in love with Africa. Using her academic background in environmental science, she decided to do something practical and help the continent develop a sustainable tourism portfolio. She developed holidays which combine the obvious itinerary highlights with more unusual experiences such as home stays and township visits. She believes that there are great benefits to travel: it is a chance to widen your horizons, learn about other people and see a bit more of the world than just that little place you call home.
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We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
