Trans Nile 5 week overland tour, Addis Ababa to Cairo

Planet

Waste: at the point of booking a tour with us, all our travelers receive detailed pre-departure information which contains a large section on traveling responsibly. This includes advice on minimising the amount of waste they create on the trip. This informs travelers on what they can do before they go, for example removing toiletries from unnecessary packaging and taking a reusable water bottle and gives advice on what they should do whilst on the tour, for example, disposing of litter appropriately. All of this information on waste reduction is re-iterated at the pre-departure meeting at the start of the tour, with specific advice for the areas we visit on the tour.

Traveling overland in shared transport is one of the best ways for reducing impact on the environment. This trip is 5 weeks long and falls into the slow travel category, as you are spending longer in country and exploring lesser visited areas (that you'd miss out if you were flying).

The majority of nights on this trip are spent, sleeping in tents-sometimes in camp sites, sometimes out in the bush. This obviously involves minimal use of electricity and if we're out in the bush we can only use the water that we carry-no chance to leave taps running, the air conditioning or heating or lights on! Filling up and carrying jerry cans of water helps concentrate the mind on how much water you consume!

As responsible travelers, we recognize the need to reduce our plastic consumption and provide sustainable alternatives to our customers. That's why we've partnered with Water to Go to offer a fantastic solution.

Water to Go is a company on a mission to tackle the issue of plastic pollution by providing travelers with reusable filter bottles. These bottles are not your average water containers. They are designed with advanced filtration technology that allows you to safely refill your bottle from natural water sources, taps, and even in places where tap water is not typically considered safe to drink.

People

Volunteering and Charity: We support two charities in Egypt. In Cairo we have donated computers, teaching materials and provide regular financial assistance to the Sudanese Community Development Program-a school for Sudanese refugee children. We have also helped the school set up a Sponsor-a-Child scheme, and arranged a letter exchange between the Sudanese children and a school local to our UK office. This promotes opportunities for inter-cultural understanding and provides the Sudanese children with great encouragement. We can arrange pre tour visits to the school, and many of our clients regularly donate old clothes and shoes to the Sudanese Refugees via our collection system at our Cairo Hotel.

In Luxor we sponsor the Sunshine Project International, a home for abandoned and orphaned children. Apart from a regular financial commitment we have also donated bedding and play equipment to the school and even delivered a sandpit from the UK. Luckily there was no need to deliver any sand! Clients on the Egypt trip are given the opportunity to visit the home in Luxor and regularly donate baby toiletries and toys directly there themselves.

Friends and Neighbours: Our aim on this trip is to put as much of the trip costs directly back into the local communities and economy as possible. We use local guides, reps. and operators at all the places of interest we visit and recommend local restaurants and street sellers to help spread the benefits of our tourist dollar more widely. In Luxor, for example, our local rep Tayeb, sources the donkeys for our village trip from his own family and neighbours and has been doing so for the past five years. This allows village families to gain extra income beyond their subsistence farming.
The felucca trip also helps to support local families directly. We use a local crew and the income they derive from our travel with them helps to support their families.