Our goal is to influence more travellers to travel in a responsible way and leave a positive footprint behind. Tourism should and can contribute to positive footprints, and as a traveler, you can contribute to this by traveling with us. Therefore, we offer our travellers the opportunity to choose destinations (camps, hotels, lodges) who work responsibly. The requirements for each destination is that they use locally recruited labor, offering good working conditions, that they operate in a small scale and environmental friendly way. That they actively work with the protection of nature, environment, animals and culture – and that they engage in programs regarding education and health. With joint forces, we can create better conditions for future travellers. We take our responsibility for the environment, local communities, travellers, partners and employees seriously. Based on this policy, we conduct our work today but we are constantly striving to further develop the same:
1. Selection of partners
We review and select our suppliers and partners through criteria set by several organisations, including the International Ecotourism Society (TIES) and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), which value hotels and special demands for social, economic and ecological sustainability. At ecospheresafrica.com, travellers can know in a concrete way how the respective hotels work responsibly. All destinations are also handpicked, visited and rated according to this valuation system.
2. At destination:
a) Positive impact on local communities
We want to contribute positively to the destinations our clients travel to. This means, for example, an increase in income locally, as staff are mainly employed locally. Several of the hotels we cooperate with offer further training to employees or sponsor education for children whose parents are unable to pay school fees. We emphasise the importance of traveling with respect and encourage our customers to read and find out as much about cultural values and social codes before departure. We respect and care about all our employees, guides and managers at all destinations and count them as our key partners.
b) Social Engagement
- We support multiple projects at our most visited destinations. We encourage our customers to read the info kits sent to them before departure on how the hotel / destination works responsibly.
- We support by marketing and distribution handmade jewellery for a total of 150 Maasai women in Kenya. The projects are operated according to fair trade principles. Our travellers are offered to visit these projects for increased understanding and given an opportunity to contribute on site.
- We work with developing responsible tourism on-site, at different destinations. We believe it is of utmost importance to be closely linked to the destination in order to ensure the quality we expect.
- We sponsor materials and equipment for schools.
- We specifically sponsor girls education because there is still a great need worldwide to support young women on equality and equal rights.
c) Environmental and Nature Impact
We want to contribute to a positive footprint at the destination. Our entire business concept is based on the fact that we only choose hotels, camps and lodges who work very consciously with nature and the environment. Many of our destinations are certified by a sustainable tourism organisation or awarded within responsible tourism. We also work with many smaller destinations that work very well but do not have the resources to handle the time and investment that a certification often includes. This could be destinations that work seriously and operate their hotels, camps or lodges using eco-technical solutions such as solar panels for power supply, solar panels for water heating, water conservation and waste management procedures according to the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle principle. Many of Ecospheres destinations are located in sensitive ecosystems, which increase the higher requirements on the camps, lodges and hotels we choose to work with. Many, therefore, work very actively with conservation projects focusing on ecological sustainability also in their immediate vicinity. One example are several of the safari camps we corporate with in Masai Mara, Kenya. These camps are part of a direct partnership with the local landowners and run nature conservation areas responsible for ecological, economic and social sustainability. Read more on our website about how each trip contributes specifically to our different destinations.
3. Reduced CO2 emissions
Responsible travel overseas helps maintain subsistence, support locals, and preserve many of the world’s natural and cultural areas. Responsible travel in many developing countries is an important factor in reducing poverty. Ecospheres welcomes all benefits of international travel, but also realises that air travel contributes to global warming. We encourage our travellers to generally reduce their carbon footprint. To compensate helps distracting from the direct reason. We could work to reduce our CO2 emissions as much as possible not only by flying less but also making other lifestyle changes in everyday life.
4. Ecospheres Offices
- Ecospheres Africa’s office is in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Ecospheres works unconventionally, our team are located around the world and therefore works mobile. Though we are always available to give service to customers when at destination or at home.
- We hold printed material at a minimum, and use us of FSC certified paper.
- We plant trees yearly in Masai Mara to neutralise CO2 emissions for our work related travel, but also privately.
- We give talks and lectures on responsible travel at schools, universities, companies, organisations and institutions.
- We engage in eco-destination development and assist with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) work locally.
- Ecospheres provides contacts and opportunities for companies to engage in different projects.
- We also provide Give Back Tours for donors and others who are interested in experiencing or contributing to philanthropy projects.
