Nairobi to Johannesburg overland tour in Africa

Planet

Wildlife: Our travelers have the chance to spot a wide range of wildlife in a number of National Parks on this trip, from the world famous plains of the Serengeti, to the lesser known Chobe National Park in Botswana. We ensure that all our travelers adhere to the rules and guidelines of the National Parks we visit with regards to game viewing responsibly. These include not encouraging guides to get too close to wildlife and not making loud noises to help keep any disturbance to the animals to an absolute minimum. Food and litter should be disposed of appropriately as it is not only unsightly but can cause harm to wildlife.

This guidance is also detailed in the pre-departure information provided to our travelers before they leave home, along with further advice on treating wildlife responsibly whilst traveling, such as never buying endangered species or endangered habitat products.

Part of the money paid for many of the wildlife viewing experiences on this trip contributes to the conservation and protection of the animals and their habitat. As well as visiting the National Parks, we travel through a variety of natural habitats and wilderness areas and we are very aware that we need to respect these in the same way as the National Parks.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust works to protect Kenya’s wildlife and habitats and is most well known for its successful orphan rescue and reintroduction project. Oasis sponsors an orphaned elephant and our travelers have the opportunity to visit the DSWT orphan unit in Nairobi.

Water: Before commencing one of our tours travelers are sent detailed pre-departure information which includes advice on using water sparingly. We recognise water to be one of the world's most precious commodities, particularly, in some of the areas this trip travels through. Due to the camping nature of this trip we carry a lot of our water for cooking, drinking and washing with us. Filling up heavy jerry cans, we find, helps focus the mind on the importance of water conservation!

We also encourage our travelers to bring reusable water bottles from home with them for the trip. These can be filled from the truck's water supplies. This helps to minimise the usage of plastic water bottles.

People

Friends & neighbours: On this trip we stay at small, locally run campsites and where possible buy our food in local shops and markets, thereby directly supporting local communities. We use local companies to run all our excursions; for example our trips to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are run by a company based in Arusha, Tanzania and they employ local drivers and guides.

We try to stay at campsites that also have a commitment to the communities they inhabit and we do what we can to further support their initiatives. For example the Meserani Snake Park in Tanzania started as a campsite but has become an integral and important part of the local Masai community.

The campsite organises guided walks to local Masai villages - the Masai villagers themselves are the guides and all the profits go to the villages. The campsite has also established a medical center for the local Masai community and this is partly funded by the profits from an on-site shop selling local Masai crafts. We have donated basic medical supplies to the medical center and have also made financial contribution to the project.

Local Crafts and Culture: We visit a number of local artisan and craft markets during this tour and encourage our travelers to support these. In our detailed pre-departure information we also provide information on bargaining responsibly and paying what you think the item is worth, rather than trying to bargain as low as possible. The difference of a pound or two to us is minimal but for a local artisan it could mean the difference between their family eating or not that night.