Family culture & adventure holiday to Egypt

Family culture & adventure holiday to Egypt

How this holiday makes a difference

This family vacation in Egypt introduces both children and adults alike to the most important Pharaonic sites and Egyptian history, as well as to the people, culture and country of Egypt without cocooning them from it. This is helped by keeping our group sizes small (max 16, normally 3 or 4 families) and also running the tour privately if required.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:
- We started our operations in Egypt jointly with a new local supplier and have been working and growing with them ever since, creating many new jobs in the process.
- We use fully-trained local Egyptians as our Egyptologist guides, reps and tour leaders, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate.
- We use locally owned and operated hotels wherever possible, and one of the highlights of the tour is finding and enjoying a wide range of small local restaurants and snack shops.
- We visit a small school and Nubian village near Aswan, which allows our travelers to interact with and support local communities.
- The camel ride we feature in Aswan provides a vital source of income for families in the nearby villages.
- The felucca sailing boats that we use on this tour are owned and crewed by local Nubian people, not large companies, and their use is an essential support to this community, as well as reducing pollution and energy use.
- We give information and advice to our travelers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:
- The long journey between Cairo and Aswan is done on the overnight sleeper train, which is an adventurous but comfortable experience that reduces the extra pollution and energy caused by flying. Speed limiters are fitted to the vehicles we use for safety and reduced fuel consumption.
- Using felucca sailboats instead of Nile cruise boats also reduces pollution and energy use and damage to the river banks. While on board, we explain the importance of keeping the river environment clean to all our travelers and ensure any waste produced while we are on the river is either buried (if suitable) or taken away with us.
- Explanations are given in Hurghada of how to protect the fragile coral reef environment while snorkelling or scuba-diving.
- We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
- We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travelers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:
- We donate £2 (US $3) for every person traveling on this tour towards local projects – one supporting a small orphanage in Cairo, and another in which we arrange desert clean up trips and promote responsible use of fragile desert environments, particularly in Wadi Rayan and the Valley of the Whales, an important protected area and World Heritage site.
- Our travelers are welcome to visit either of these projects and support them personally if they wish.
- The company also supports further projects and charities internationally. Responsible tourism: We send all our travelers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their vacation, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

Family culture & adventure holiday to Egypt