Nairobi To Victoria Falls overland tour, 53 days

Planet

Wildlife: During this trip there are several opportunities to visit projects that support both wildlife conservation and local communities. Perhaps the most iconic animal in East Africa when it comes to conservation is the Mountain Gorilla. Our travellers have the opportunity to trek to see these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat in Uganda or Rwanda and a large part of the trekking permits cost goes towards conserving and protecting Mountain Gorillas and their rainforest environment.

Other projects our clients can visit include the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda which cares for rescued or orphaned chimpanzees and Elsamere, the home of the Elsa Conservation Trust in Kenya which has donated millions to wildlife and conservation projects and has an on-site conservation centre.

Waste: We advise our clients to remove packaging from items they are taking with them before they travel, so that this can be disposed of responsibly at home. We also recommend bringing a re-usable water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles of water whilst on trip. These suggestions and further advice on travelling responsibly are included in our detailed pre-departure information which is provided to our travellers before they head out on their adventure.

People

Friends & neighbours: On this trip we support the communities we are travelling amongst by staying at small, locally owned or run campsites and where possible we buy our food in local markets and shops. This not only provides business and therefore financial support to local communities but offers more opportunities for interaction between local people and our travellers.

We also use local operators to run all our excursions. We got to know our Gorilla trekking co-ordinator many years ago when he was a child selling us cakes and drinks before our travellers headed off on their gorilla trek. He has now been arranging our treks for many years and also offers our travellers other activities that involve the local community such as banana beer making. This provides extra income to the community and great opportunities for immersion in the local culture.

Volunteering & charity: We directly support three charities on this trip.
In Nairobi, we sponsor an elephant, Kamboyo, through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

In Uganda, we make a regular, monthly, financial contribution to Soft Power Education, an organisation that provides education to Ugandan children. We visit this project on our trip and some of our clients have returned to Uganda at the end of their trip to undertake voluntary work here.

In Harare we provide financial support and donate materials to the Hupenyu Hutsva Children’s Home. The home receives virtually no other outside support. We have donated educational materials, bedding, clothing, sports equipment and computers to the Home. Additionally, in 2008 we also funded the installation of a borehole, enabling the Home to be far more self-sufficient in food production and enabling the children to learn valuable horticultural skills after our generous travellers donated seeds and gardening tools. Since 2007, we have run an annual 'Kids Week' event, using our trucks and crew to take all the children and staff out on a series of day trips, finishing the week with a big party. Many of the children rarely leave the compound they live on so it is always a big adventure! We're never sure who it enjoys it most though, our crew or the children!