Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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This trip helps to support the primate conservation project of the Limbe Wildlife Centre and education in the community of Esu.
The Limbe Wildlife Centre is at the forefront of the conservation of Cameroon’s indigenous but threatened primate populations. Gorillas, chimpanzees and the highly endangered drill monkey which only exists on the Nigeria/Cameroon border regions, are among the many primates at the centre. The centre’s main remit is to rescue primates caught up in the bush meat trade, which, along with illegal logging, is the main reason for the destruction of primate populations. Adult primates are killed for bushmeat and their infants are sold as pets. The LWC steps in at this stage and confiscates the infant. They are then re-socialised into groups at the centre with the long-term aim of rehabilitation in the wild. The LWC also works hard to educate local populations about the threat to their wonderful wildlife.
The community of Esu is in a remote region of the NorthWest province of Cameroon. This company has a special relationship with Esu. Each trip to Esu provides money to the families which host the trip and the company supports achieving children to stay in education with the longer term aim of providing scholarships for the most able children to be able to go on to further education outside Esu. The company believes that this is the most equitable and sustainable way of recompensing the community as a whole for their hospitality. It also supports this company’s belief in “African solutions for African” problems and that Africans are the best placed to know how to support their own communities. It is a fact in African culture as a whole that people who succeed in education and employment end up supporting large numbers of people in their communities. For example, remittance to Africa (money sent back by Africans who move to the West) is greater than international Aid – an amazing statistic when you think about it.
Company Ethos:
This company aims to dispel a few culturally inherited myths about Africa and to show you a modern, vibrant, open, safe and progressing west Africa. We ensure that your trip only has a positive impact on the communities that host you.
Too often tourism in Africa centers around the amazing wildlife and stunning scenery whilst the most vibrant, colourful and fascinating aspect of Africa - its people - pass by the window of the 4x4.
I try to reverse the focus by taking you out into some of the amazing communities I have befriended over my 20 years of traveling this vast and extraordinary continent. The landscape is merely the background to the colour, music, vibrancy and hospitality of the people of west Africa.
Throughout the trip food and water is bought en route and as locally as possible. Before your trip you will be sent my Responsible Travel guidelines, and en route you will be advised about changing cultural sensitivities. This trip minimizes waste by advising clients to follow the African example and recycle everything. You will see how a system that provides no waste disposal produces very little waste. I encourage you not to bring anything that we in the west count as disposable such as razors or wet wipes etc because in Africa they are not disposable.
My company aims to minimize its environmental impact by:
- Only flying one way for my season of tours in west Africa. For my outward journey I drive to Timbuktu – and you may too!
- I do not have an office and my only paper based marketing product is a flyer. I have no brochures and do most of my mailing by email. I support two remote communities in west Africa, Aguelhoc in the Tuareg region of northern Mali and Esu in the Northwest province of Cameroon where I will put 10% of my company profits into educational projects. I am in the process of establishing sustainable scholarships for achieving children to remain in education. As an alternative to carbon offsetting I offer you the opportunity to support these projects and thereby support communities which will be most affected by climate change.
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!
