Music festival on the Niger River, Mali
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
In Mali, key tourist destinations are spread far throughout the country, and we plan tours carefully so as to maximise ride sharing. Mineral water is safest for tourists and we always offer empty bottles to children and adults along our journeys who will continue a long cycle of re-use for the bottles. Mali currently is working to reduce large amounts of plastic bags that are not properly disposed of throughout the land, and travellers are quickly made aware of this and encouraged to individually do their part to dispose of any waste in designated facilities.
Community
We work hard to ensure positive impacts to the local communities and surroundings that we encounter, and encourage travellers to contribute items that are inexpensive and easy to pack, such as pens for schoolchildren and recycled clothing. Our group sizes typically range from 5 to 9 people, which we believe minimizes impact to the environment and allows our travellers to gain more insight into their surroundings through more individual attention from our guides. We derive ultimate satisfaction from teaching our guests about Malian culture and keeping our traditions and heritage alive through carefully-planned, sustainable, developing tourism.
We employ 100% local guides, drivers and cooks. With a visit to the local market in Bamako and eating in local restaurants, this trip helps to stimulate the local economy. Guides are selected who already have special knowledge about the areas they will introduce to tourists, have numerous local contacts, and constantly seek to increase their knowledge and have a passion for teaching tourists about their environments. Travellers have a unique opportunity to interact with the local Dogon community - meeting the villagers and ancient dwellings of Tellems and discovering the Dogon traditions of weaving cotton to make bogolan (mud cloth) as well as carving wooden masks and fertility statues.
1of6
