This trip creates an opportunity for an exchange of cultures between you and the local communities as there are various moments to discuss and interact. As you buy authentic souvenirs, arts and crafts you will support households and families to improve the quality of their life. The income they will earn as a result of your booking and further shopping will enable them to provide their children with their needs and learning materials.
As you visit the park you will stay in camping sites run by the park. All the guides except one throughout the trip are locals and the scouts are hired by the park. Also outside the park you will be staying in locally owned accommodations and will be served by staffs who are members of the community.
Accommodations have put in place policies of environmental conservation, water and energy usage and waste minimizations. They also have economic policies to employ their staff from the local communities and to use the local resources and markets for the services they provide. As part of an environmental responsibility, they participate in different initiatives like in '2 trees for 2000', a millennium initiative against the deforestation and land degradation in Ethiopia. Also to protect the environment, they give away some materials like plastic bags to recycling agencies.
For you to have better knowledge of the trip, we will provide you an accurate pre-trip information before the start of the tour. Also in order for you to have a good understanding of the places, the environment, and the local community; we will supply you with our Travelers' Code of Conduct which is also supplied to our staff and local suppliers.
As you tour the south we will also recommend a visit to a local based initiative in the Konso area which aims to protect Konso's biodiversity and preservation of its natural and cultural sites. In Ethiopia where technology has not kept pace with the demands for productivity, harmful environmental practices are common and people usually resort to exploiting land and other natural resources to meet their needs. As a consequence of this, climatic conditions are becoming erratic and soil quality is declining. We encourage initiatives like the 'Konso Parkas' through promoting their ideas and doing all we can. Perhaps you also might wish to share their concern for the environment and exchange ideas on how to protect and conserve the same. Such kind acts will motivate them to do more.
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
