1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The goodbye parties/ceremonies... We did two separate one-week village stays and at each location we were speechless by the end of the night. The communities which hosted us were so welcoming to us, they made us feel like we had come home. We will never forget traditional song and dance in the moonlight of Kabimoi or being given Kikamba names at Mulanii. Priceless.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Be aware that the itinerary is packed, so you need to be prepared for lots of activity. The villages are in remote locations and though you're taken care of you are living how the locals do, so it can be a shock if you aren't accustomed to sometimes primitive conditions. Be sure that you inform the organizers of any health issues, food limitations, or special needs ahead of time. Make sure you bring at least one warm set of clothes for the evenings you are outside and also a towel and washcloth for bathing. Remember that you are guests in someone's home and community. This is much more than a vacation, it's a cultural learning experience.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes, we hope that our holiday did benefit the local people with minimal impacts on the environment. Our impact on the local communities was something that we were thinking of often. Any time that outsiders come into a community there will be some impact, but we felt that our presence was generally a positive one. One of the things that we noticed several times was that our presence was encouraging the host community to think more about their cultures and practices than they might otherwise. In several of our cultural learning sessions village elders taught us traditional crafts- decorating calabashes to hold the traditional soured milk drink, making arrows, weaving baskets, etc. During these sessions we were often able to invite local children in to observe and participate in traditional cultural practices that they'd never done before. Our presence provided an opportunity for them to break away from the typical day to day activities and learn things that are obviously receiving less attention by the younger generation because of increasing westernization.

As far as environmental impact goes, we were generally living alongside the host communities in a simple lifestyle. When possible we were walking from home to home and activity to activity instead of using a vehicle. Our main impact was probably an increase in how much water was used, which is a big deal when an area is experiencing drought. However, even that increase was negligible as we were taking bucket showers and using pit toilets. One of the excellent aspects of the home stays was that at each location our first community ceremony was a tree planting. The trees we helped plant will provide shade, fuel, and a reminder to the community of our time with them.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

8 out of 10. The overall experience was fantastic, we learned so much and met such great people. We would definitely do it again given the chance. However; there's always room for improvement. Here are a few recommendations we'd suggest:

Communication: Though the itinerary was well put together and packed, we didn't receive it until the day of departure during each week. It would have been nice to have it ahead of time and ideally to have been able to provide some input such as which activities might be our highest or lowest priorities. Though we had a lot of experiences, there wasn't much time or focus on processing what we'd done or learned. There was clearly a lot of thought put into the activities presented but the intent wasn't often communicated to us. If we were viewing two different schools or health care facilities, clearly there was an unspoken agenda behind that. Having some questions, prompts, or conversations planned into the schedule to reflect on what we were seeing and doing could have greatly increased the educational aspects of the trip.

Flexibility: Our time was so tightly scheduled that at times we felt very out of control. There were times when we felt exhausted but obligated to do every planned activity- even if it was the end of the day and we were running hours behind. The down time for us to catch our breath was always the first thing to get cut if schedules went over, so some days turned into 12 hour marathons. Keeping in mind that we were experiencing culture shock the entire time, always being "on" was a bit much at times. The activities were all worthwhile, but at times it was hard to enjoy them because of the pressure to keep going.