West Africa wildlife, culture and traditions tour

Planet

We are one of only a few operators currently offering tours to Ghana, Togo and Benin, and we wholly recognise the importance of sustainability in this destination.

CARBON REDUCTION

As a small group tour transfers are on a shared basis to reduce the overall carbon footprint. In addition we use rowing boats instead of diesel powered, where available in Togo and Benin.

Vegetarian and Vegan food is available on all days of this tour.

Food provided on the trip is locally sourced whenever viable to support the local economy and reduce the environmental impact, and as a result meals are seasonal.

If we book flights for our clients for this tour we will automatically include carbon offsets. We also encourage clients who book their own flights to consider the carbon impact, and to offset where possible.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

All lodges on this trip are committed to reducing water consumption and plastic consumption. We are also working with lodges to develop their sustainability practices, to see active improvement year on year.

We pay conservation levies and fees into all parks and nature reserves visited to ensure funds are available for the protection of the area for future generations.

The main operator we work with for this tour is committed to ethical travel. A financial contribution from all our tours goes to developing schools and community initiatives in the areas visited. They have also spearheaded changes locally including training in environmentally friendly farming practices, decreasing logging in forested areas and providing sustainable power solutions to local communities.

This tour includes a visit to a traditional market catering to local people, offering animal parts for spells and medicines. While we discourage purchasing these items, the visit provides a valuable opportunity to gain a distinctive understanding of the local culture.

All of our clients receive a welcome pack prior to travel that includes items that emphasise to importance of making a difference during travel.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

We only work with locally owned Ghana, Togo and Benin companies, and all our guides are from the local regions. We firmly believe that those that are impacted by tourism are the ones that should benefit from tourism, and continue support the development of tourism roles.

This is one of our more comprehensive tours where we pack in a lot of activities into the 2 week schedule. However, throughout this tour we have a clear focus on responsible travel. We visit a number of local markets to allow guests to interact with locals in traditional settings, and support and promote local owned shops and restaurants.

A large part of this tour involves meeting with locals and learning more about the beautiful handmade crafts, and history and cultures of the region. Buying local crafts is a great way to support the local community, and we visit multiple destinations on this trip offering the opportunity to purchase locally created crafts and souvenirs. Bartering is common practice but we advise to do so in a respectful and friendly manner, ensuring the price paid is still fair as this is often the only source of income for the sellers.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

We are a female owned and operated small company and have a workplace diversity strategy in place to ensure that if recruiting we champion equal employment opportunities across race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and nationality.

We only work with local operators on our tours who employ local workers with salaries that are above average and also ensure fair working schedules.