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If you book this trip you will give many local people a chance to support themselves and their family dependants. Our guides are locals and well trained in all disciplines and the scouts are hired from the parks. You will also be staying in locally owned accommodations which have a direct impact on the communities their respective environment. They will get most of their material and man-power needs from the local markets and resources. The income they will earn as a result of your booking will support many grass-root economies. As we also purchase most of the necessities for the trip like food, water, coffee, soft papers etc. from locally owned shops and restaurants; they will be benefited.
Accommodations have put in place policies of environmental conservation, water and energy usage. They also have economic policies to employ their staff from the local communities and to use the local resources and markets for the services they provide.
For you to have better knowledge of the trip we will provide you an accurate pre-trip information before the start of the tour. And in order for you to have a good understanding of the places, the environment, and the local community we will supply you with our Travelers' Code of Conduct which is also supplied to our staff and local suppliers.
As part of environmental conservation efforts, almost all of our destination suppliers are actively involved in initiatives like '2 trees for 2000'. It is a campaign against Ethiopia's environmental hazard caused by deforestation and is mainly sponsored by the Millennium Secretariat. Also as an effort to reduce pollution, accommodations help protect the environment by giving away some materials like plastic bags to recycling agencies. After completing the cultural tour and if time allows, we will arrange a short trip to visit an initiative in Yabello-Borena which works on improving the livelihood of the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities.
Much of the country was devastated by both man-made and natural disasters. An increased demand for fuel has resulted in the practice of reckless tree felling. Also at Borena, large areas are inhabited by nomadic pastoralists who move over large expanses of land with large herds of livestock. Environmental degradation in this area has caused serious hardship to these pastoralist groups. You may wish to exchange ideas with the community on issues like the use of natural resources, spring development, land rehabilitation, and irrigation works which would be of great importance.
I met Negash, a shoe-shine young man while I was organizing trekking in Northern Ethiopia and offered him a better job, dish-washer for our ten days trekking. Trip ended and the group was saying goodbye to the crew. Negash came-forth with a bright smile on his face thanked us for the opportunity. Told us that had it not for it, he could suspend his education. My company is small but dedicated to provide quality, eco-friendly, and value for money holidays to Ethiopia. And besides that, our trips are designed to impact at least one person behind those beautiful sites who is trying to have a better future.
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