Nairobi to Cape Town overland tour

Planet

Waste: at the point of booking a tour with us, all our travellers receive detailed pre-departure information which contains a large section on travelling responsibly. This includes advice on minimising the amount of waste they create on the trip. This informs travellers on what they can do before they go, for example removing toiletries from unnecessary packaging and taking a reusable water bottle and gives advice on what they should do whilst on the tour, for example, disposing of litter appropriately.

All of this information on waste reduction is re-iterated at the pre-departure meeting at the start of the tour, with specific advice for the areas we visit on the tour. As a company we have a big commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling in our UK office. We are very aware of the environmental impact of our office in the UK, so we recycle and compost as much of our waste as possible. We try to reduce paper usage ,but when necessary we use recycled paper and stationery. Our brochure is available to view or download online and the paper version is printed on stock produced from sustainable sources and vegetable based inks.

Accommodation: The majority of nights on this trip are spent, sleeping in tents-sometimes in camp sites, sometimes out in the bush. This obviously involves minimal use of electricity and if we're out in the bush we can only use the water that we carry-no chance to leave taps running, the air conditioning or heating or lights on! Filling up and carrying jerry cans of water helps concentrate the mind on how much water you consume!

People

On this trip we stay at small, locally run campsites and where possible buy our food in local markets, thereby directly supporting local communities. We use local companies to run all our excursions; for example our trips to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater are run by a company based in Arusha, Tanzania. They employ local drivers and guides.

We try to stay at campsites that also have a commitment to the communities they inhabit and we do what we can to further support their initiatives; for example the Meserani Snake Park in Tanzania started as a campsite but has become an integral and important part of the local Masai community.

The campsite organises guided walks to local Masai villages-the Masai villagers themselves are the guides and all the profits go to the villages. The campsite has also established a medical centre for the local Masai community and this is partly funded by the profits from an on-site shop selling local Masai crafts. We have donated basic medical supplies to the medical centre.

In Namibia we stay at the Otjitongwe Cheetah Preservation Park which seeks to preserve the local cheetah population.

Before commencing the tour all our clients are provided with detailed pre-departure info which includes information on Responsible Travel. This information is re-emphasised by our Tour Leader at the start of the trip-clients are, for example, advised about respecting local customs particularly in terms of dress and behaviour; water conservation; respecting and conserving wildlife and their habitats; purchasing of endangered species products and so on.

Charities supported on this trip:
We sponsor two charities in this region of Africa. In Nairobi, we sponsor a baby elephant, Kamboyo, through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. We visit this impressive education and conservation project on our trip.

In Zimbabwe, we have become involved with the Hupenyu Hutsva Children’s Home in Harare, assisting this locally funded children’s home with regular donations of food. We came upon this Home by accident-during a visit to Zimbabwe 7 years ago. One of our Directors was taking some supplies to a nearby childrens home and got a bit lost! He ended up at Hupenyu Hutsva by mistake and was impressed by what he saw, in terms of the staffs dedication and commitment.

The Home receives virtually no outside support as the children are older and not as cute and attention grabbing as the babies and toddlers of the Home nearby. We are very proud of our involvement with this Home as we can see the small differences we have made and we know that it has been important to the Home to just know that someone outside even cares about what is happening there. We have donated educational materials, bedding, clothing, sports equipment and computers to the Home.

In 2008 we also funded the installation of a borehole at the Home-enabling them to be far more self sufficient in food production and enabling the children to learn valuable horticultural skills (our generous travellers donated seeds and gardening tools.) Since 2007, we have run an annual 'Kids Week' event, using one of our trucks and 2 or 3 of our 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 enjoys it most though, our crew or the children! )Whenever possible our trips visit the Home. The children enjoy challenging our groups to a game of cricket and then winning, convincingly!