Namibia highlights tour

Planet

Our guides will brief travelers on appropriate behaviour, both cultural and environmental, and when visiting areas of natural beauty such as the Fish River Canyon, Aus Mountains and Etosha National Park, we make a point of ensuring that we leave no permanent traces of our stay behind, taking all rubbish with us to protect these valuable tourist attractions. This is also important when visiting local towns and villages as we want to encourage tourism and work with the local people, instead of leaving a negative impact.

There is a focus on wildlife in this itinerary. When we visit Etosha National Park, we stick to the marked trails as to not to disturb the wildlife or destroy habitats. This is the same if we come across wildlife in other parts of Namibia; we brief clients on the appropriate behaviour as to not disturb the animals.

We visit the Petrified Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. By visiting sites such as these, we are contributing to the conservation and protection of these vulnerable sites.

People

We meet the Damara ethnic people and learn about their very traditional way of life, which they have kept for centuries, who teach us about the environment and their local customs, both providing income for a remote community and helping to ensure that traditions that have been passed down through generations are maintained, as the younger generation is able to see the value in this.

We only employ local staff and unlike many operators we believe that to send a foreign Tour Leader along to accompany your trip is an unnecessary burden on your wallet and our carbon footprint. We believe that locals know best. Our local operators only use locally owned accommodation, using lodges and inns rather than big hotels. This means your money stays in the area to benefit the local community. When possible we use local transport, (i.e. rail or bus) and we always use local restaurants, markets and shops and encourage our clients to interact both financially and socially with the communities that they are passing through. In doing this your travels are supporting and encouraging the development of local services.

Our groups average only six clients, and many tours operate on a private basis with just two travelers. This has much less impact when traveling through rural areas, reducing our environmental and social affects. Finally to emphasis our commitment to Responsible Tourism all clients will receive a copy of our Travelers Code of Conduct with their travel documents.

We believe that tourism is a double edged sword that needs to be wielded very carefully. Our philosophy is to have a limited amount of departures - usually between one and three a year - for each of our itineraries. By limiting our presence in areas where local culture can be quite fragile, we hope to avoid as much as possible the phenomenon whereby an area changes in character due to repeated and prolonged exposure to tourism. We want to visit an area as friends, not intruders and to ensure that what we see will also be there for others to enjoy for many years to come.