Uganda and Rwanda wildlife holiday

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION
1. The accommodations you will use on this trip use both solar and hydro power
2. Vegetarian and Vegan food is available in every hotel on this safari.
3. Food is locally sourced from the surrounding communities except what is not produced locally like Bacon, Cheese etc.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE
1. Ruzizi Tented lodge is owned by African Parks - the money raised from this lodge is used in conservation efforts.
2. African parks is managing Akagera national park. Money from visiting the park is used in conservation efforts of the park including giving to surrounding communities money for projects.
3. The money from gorilla trekking permits is used in running the park. Some of it has been used to buy land from the community to expand the park.
4. We encourage our clients to use water sparingly following the house keeping guidelines at the lodges. Often they are encouraged to reuse their towels for at least 2 days or more instead of washing them daily.
5. We include a visit to the communities adjacent to the parks to ensure they benefit directly. Bigodi village walk near Kibale national park was started by young people to protect their environment and also earn directly from tourism. And Gorilla guardians Village near Volcanoes national park.
6. We provide travellers with reusable water bottles which they get to refill hence ensuring minimum plastic trash on our tours. Whatever rubbish generated while on safari must be retained in the car and safely disposed of by the driver guide on arrival at the lodge.
7. We are members of Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF). UCF supports the Uganda Wildlife Authority to recover and manage protected areas, and reducing poaching and wildlife crime. They support wildlife populations through investing in key infrastructure, as ranger posts, marine ranger stations and veterinary labs. They enable ranger patrols and veterinary teams access hard-to-reach areas and treat wounded animals, wildlife populations stand the best chance of growth.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY
1. Some of the lodges on this is owned by locals - Rwandans and Ugandans. They employe locals all levels of the lodge.
2. The guides who take you on this trip are Locals - including the park rangers and community guides.
3. The porters are locals from the area where the park is located. They are passionate about conservation because they see the direct benefit of tourism to their local community.
3. You will visit the locally run Gorilla guardians village for an experience of Rwandan culture. Some of the members are former poachers from the Volcanoes national park.
4. We respect the local cultures of the communities we visit, we are not intrusive in our approach. We ask locals to let us know what is comfortable for them as far as bringing tourists into their villages, homes etc. We allow them to make a trail for an experience they are comfortable with. We encourage you to interact with the locals when on these safaris.


EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY
1. The guides and lodge staff are locals. This has been great contribution to conservation efforts because they are having opportunities they would otherwise not have if it was not for tourism.
2. This trip is LGBTQ friendly, all are welcome to book it.
3. We pay minimum wage to our staff. And the lodges we use on this trip equally pay minimum wages.
4. We encourage our clients to purchase locally made handcrafts and other products as a way of supporting the local communities directly. We prefer these are purchased while on a community walk and not in the hotel curio shops.