Kenya wildlife camping safari

Planet

How your holiday helps:
Selenkay Conservancy near Amboseli is Maasai land. In 1997 the Maasai decided to protect this habitat and its wildlife by entering into a partnership with a private tourism company who now pay to use the land. This is a good and practical way to encourage conservation, giving commercial value to preserving the ecology and providing a vital income stream for the traditional tribal owners of the area. The Ol Kinyei Conservancy in the Masai Mara is also run in the same way. This style of mobile camping leaves no long term footprint on the lands used so is kind to the environment and the local staff employed are all from nearby tribal villages, benefiting from employment through tourism and conservation.

For every person that travels with the company, it plants trees through The Travel Forest initiative. Depending on where they plant and the requirement of the specific area, they plant either indigenous trees or a mix of indigenous and non-native species. Planting non-native seedlings may seem counter-intuitive but doing this can often help any remaining indigenous forest from being cut down (e.g. for fuel) as some non-native trees grow much more quickly than indigenous types. They particularly aim to save ancient or older indigenous forest, through offering an alternative option for fuel requirements of local communities. In addition to this benefit, their Travel Forest initiative helps with such things as planting for water-course retention, soil erosion, shade and even food – all depending on what is planted and where. They have planted almost 100,000 trees to date in various degraded locations including the Andean mountains in Peru, northern Tanzania and Malawi. This has always been done in conjunction with the local communities who plant and then tend the seedlings. Trees are far more important to the health of this planet (and us) than many people imagine. This global Travel Forest initiative can and does make a big difference.

As part of our commitment to the environment we have a programme to plant trees in Tanzania, Malawi, Peru etc. through the company’s foundation. This was set up to help alleviate poverty, conserve endangered wildlife, and protect earth’s environmental diversity for the benefit of us all. All the projects have a link with tourism in some way, and many benefit the wider world as well as local people, through conserving areas of natural beauty. We don’t just look overseas when considering the environment, even at the office the team planted tress in the fields surrounding the buildings to celebrate the company’s 21st birthday in 2019.

As a company we think about our partners overseas carefully. The company ethos is to use properties around the globe that have a similar ethical stance to ourselves. If they can use local suppliers for their provisions, be it food or furnishings then they do, and all offer a variety of menus including vegetarian and vegan/plant-based options. Our partners support the use of solar/renewable energies, and many are looking at ways of switching their current supplies to more eco-friendly options in order to be more efficient. The use of solar, water and air are options in use or being explored, as well as grey water run offs. Energy efficient appliances and practices, card operated in room lighting, low energy bulbs, and a change in laundry practices, are all in operation, and show just a few of the initiatives used. Our partners also use local staff within their properties. Many live on-site in seasonal properties for example reducing the travel emissions of the company, many come from the local villages and communities surrounding the properties. This includes everyone from house keeping to management and the guides that are from the locale.

Due to the nature of the holidays provided by the company, it is impossible to eliminate all flights but where possible we use the minimum flight hours an itinerary can operate with. The packages we have on offer include rail portions in some areas, which keep emissions low, many walking options and shared transportation.

People

Our holidays provide authentic experiences allowing for a positive relationship between you and the local culture and environment. We know these destinations very well, and choose the activities, services, people we work with and accommodation very carefully. So we can give you a genuinely good experience. Where possible accommodation is locally-owned or run, and we prefer to use places with good social / environmental credentials (yes, we check, though this is an ongoing process).

Our partners within the country are people we know and whose ethics we trust. Many are leaders in their country in terms of sustainable tourism. They care about their country.

The experiences we include or recommend fall into two camps:
1) Simply wonderful things to do or see.
2) Experiences which get you closer to local culture, such as learning cooking in an African township, which not only fosters friendships and respect, but brings money directly to local people.

Giving to grassroots projects:
Our registered charity is currently raising funds for a project in Kenya. The kindness of strangers can make a big difference, so if you’re a travel philanthropist considering donating to a worthwhile charity, please consider backing this excellent project.

We are raising funds for the St Lazarus School in Kibera, Nairobi. This is a rather remarkable school in one of Africa's largest slums, Kibera, in Nairobi. The school provides both nutrition and education for disadvantaged children in the Kibera slum. For most of these children the food they get at school is all the food they get. There are currently 120 children at the school, with a headmistress and four teachers. Just £10 will feed a child here for a month!