Responsible Travel
What we actually do, what we do not yet do, and why we would rather say so than claim a badge we have not earned.
Starting with the honest part
Tourism marketing is full of unverifiable environmental claims. We are a young company and we are not going to tell you a safari is carbon neutral, or that a percentage of your payment goes to a project we cannot name.
What follows is what we genuinely do now. As specific commitments become real, such as a named partner or a measurable contribution, they will appear on this page with numbers attached, and this paragraph will get shorter.
Where your money actually goes
On a typical safari, a substantial share of what you pay is park entry, conservation area and concession fees paid directly to Tanzanian authorities. That money is what keeps these ecosystems protected rather than converted to farmland.
This is the single most honest environmental claim in the industry, and it is true: photographic tourism is the economic argument for keeping the Serengeti and Ngorongoro intact. Your presence, properly managed, is part of why they still exist.
How we run journeys in the field
- We stay on designated tracks. Off-road driving damages grassland and is prohibited in national parks.
- We keep a respectful distance from animals and never surround or crowd a sighting, even where other vehicles do.
- We never bait, call or use recorded sound to draw predators.
- We do not use spotlights on sensitive species during night drives where they are permitted.
- We carry our waste out, including from remote picnic stops.
- We refill water rather than issuing single-use plastic bottles, in a country where plastic bags are already banned.
- Our guides report injured animals, snares and suspicious activity to park authorities.
People
Our guides are employed rather than hired per trip, are paid through quiet seasons, hold current professional guiding certification and first-aid training, and we fund their continuing assessment. Underpaying guides is the most common hidden cost of a cheap safari.
We buy locally where we can: Tanzanian-owned camps, Tanzanian suppliers, Tanzanian staff at every level of the company.
Community visits, on the community’s terms
Cultural visits are easy to do badly. We arrange them only where a community has agreed to receive visitors, sets its own terms, and is paid directly and fairly.
We will tell you plainly when something is a staged performance rather than a genuine visit, and we would rather leave a cultural stop out of your itinerary than include a bad one to fill a morning.
What we ask of you
- Follow your guide on distance and behaviour around animals, even when another vehicle does not.
- Ask before photographing people, and accept no as an answer.
- Do not give sweets, pens or money to children. It creates dependency and keeps children out of school. Ask us how to give usefully instead.
- Do not buy wildlife products. Ever.
- Bring a refillable water bottle.
- Consider offsetting your flights through a reputable scheme. It is a partial answer, not a complete one, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Where we fall short
Safari involves driving diesel vehicles and, for most travellers, a long-haul flight. Those are real costs that no amount of careful language removes. Light aircraft between regions save hours but burn fuel.
We think the trade is defensible, because the alternative for these landscapes is not wilderness left alone. It is agriculture. But we would rather state the cost than hide it behind the word sustainable.
Questions about this policy
Write to us and a person will answer. We do not use a legal inbox that nobody reads. If something here is unclear or you think it is wrong, we would rather hear it than not.
