RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL & TOURISM
Living in a small village outside of Arusha in Northern Tanzania and investing in tourism within these kinds of the destinations, we realised that we have to be responsible in different ways. We are surrounded by communities with so many daily needs. When we started Long Way Expeditions as a company, we started to look for different ideas or actions that we could take as a local tour company to support our people for the well-being of our communities.
Long Way Expeditions Projects
Women Empowerment
In our communities many women are single parents due to various reasons, mainly the death of their husbands, leaving them to raise their children on their own with little or no income. Many live in extreme poverty. As locals, the Long way Expeditions team donates high milk yielding cows to these families. The widow is responsible for taking care of the cow and manage it under zero grazing. This project has the general objective of improving the quality of life for women in our community and their children. We have already helped many families.
Environmental Conservation
We are currently supporting a tree planting project at Usambara Mountain which involves school children from 7 to 14 years of age. The project aims to raise awareness of taking care of their environment and cutting down trees, which will have a negative impact on the wildlife and future generations.
Clients can participate by helping to plant trees together with the school children. They can also buy trees from the village nursery and donate to the project.
Long Way is a strong supporter of the nationwide campaign to get rid of plastic bags. We also avoid printing our bookings and other paperwork. We do as much as we can online in order to save our trees!
In Tanzania the major source of power is hydroelectricity, which needs a lot of water, but we are in a tropical country where the sun shines throughout the year. In our office we mostly use solar energy to avoid the much wasted water from hydroelectricity.
Economic Empowerment
Long Way Expeditions are working with a local training organisation called Action Training Institute, where girls who are rejected by their parents or guardians after they get pregnant, are supported in their studies at the institute with their children. We offer them opportunities of internship in our company. We also help them to get jobs in lodges and hotels which are our business partners.
Most lodges and hotels we offer our clients buy their food, fruit, and vegetables from the local markets owned by small business entrepreneurs. This helps to raise the individual economy and community in general.
Every year team Long Way Expeditions donates sanitary pads to school girls in remote areas. This has been a big problem which causes school girls to miss their studies for a week in every month, affecting the girls’ academic performance in general. This is because many families can not afford to buy the pads for their daughters. We aim to do as much as we can to ensure that women and girls are not held back in this way.
Social and Culture
With regard to your own social behavior, it is important to be aware of the local community’s culture and traditions, and to respect local etiquette. We would hope that all our clients welcome the opportunity for cultural exchange during their visit, to learn more about the host community.
- Ask before you take a photograph of an individual except when you’re on the game drives.
- Greetings with a hand shake is much appreciated but it is not compulsory.
- People are sometimes very shy and may avoid eye contact. This is normal for the locals here.
Team Long Way Expeditions support the local soccer team for both boys and girls under 14. Knowing that sport can generate employment, we support these teams with sport kits and coaching expenses. These young talents, if they are well nurtured, will become great players for their clubs and our national team as well in the near future.