Responsibility
We have to protect that which sustains us
The experiences we offer are inextricably linked with the future of the wild places we operate in but doing the right thing has never just been about business for us. Since the 1970s, weβve felt part of the East African landscape. We not only have a responsibility here but we have a privileged opportunity to contribute to the development of conservation. We consciously look for ways to increase our positive impact within the communities whose livelihoods are reliant on the Parks as well as making significant contributions to well run conservation initiatives.
Storytelling Internships
For a few years now, we've partnered with the African School of Storytelling, providing fully-paid-for internships for aspiring Tanzanian storytellers, either in photography or videography. We're proud to say that all of our interns have full-time jobs in their chosen field now, some of them even working for us! We are delighted to be founder supporters of this excellent NGO, more information can be found below:
How much?
Over the last decade, our passengers have contributed $5.7 million in concession fees towards the management of Tanzania's National Parks. In addition, we as a company pledge $30,000 a year to carefully selected community and conservation projects. We report all of this transparently in our accounts.
Conservation
We directly invest in the Serengeti de-snaring project run by the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Poaching continues to be a huge threat to wildlife however this project helps by consistently removing snares, employing ex-poachers from local communities, offering an alternative livelihood and generating conservation awareness.
Community commerce
We source all our fruit and veg and some of our staff food from communities around the park and our free-range eggs come from a village cooperative in Arusha. We employ over 70 of our staff from communities adjacent to the Parks.
Education for conservation
We support the good work of Focus on Tanzanian Communities (FoTZC) and over the years have entirely built and equipped a classroom at Robanda Technical School and built a house for the headmaster and a lavatory block for the girls at the Robanda Primary and Secondary Schools. Before these schools were built, girls had a 45km journey with only hostel accommodation and many dropped out or fell pregnant. These schools have dramatically improved the lives of these villagers.
Responsible operators
Throughout our operation we try and minimise our environmental impact wherever we can. We have recently invested US $250,000 in a huge solar array to run our base and heat our fuel, instead of diesel generators. We recycle our waste wherever possible, and that which can't be recycled, we remove from the park and dispose of properly. We have offset all of our Scope 1 and 2 carbon consumption from 2019, making us a net-zero company.
Our sustainability policy
We have identified the most important and measurable elements that we believe we should and can influence positively in order to achieve an improving sustainability record. We will measure, publish and judge ourselves on these elements and will show our reports on an annual basis.