We hope that ethical responsibility in Tanzania is as important to our clients as it is to ourselves.   As a tourist or foreign agent it can be very difficult to know what appropriate ethical behavior is in a far away country.  Below we will attempt to educate you as some of the issues, and what we see as responsible solutions.

Kilimanjaro and other Mountain Climbs

Mountain Guides, Porters and Cooks :  A huge staff of Tanzanian guides, cooks and porters support western climbers so they can have an enjoyable and successful climbing experience.  The mountain staff we use on our climbs are highly skilled and experienced and they climb with appropriate equipment for the harsh mountain weather.

However, this is not always the case, Tanzania is a country where jobs are scarce and pay is among the lowest in the world. Unqualified young men and boys are willing to work on the mountain for the rock bottom wages offered by cut-rate mountaineering and safari companies. This presents a hazard to their lives as well as the lives of others climbing to the summit.  Death among young, inexperienced and/or poorly equipped porters is not uncommon.  This tragedy is the direct result of climbing companies being unwilling to pay proper salaries to hire and train professional support staff.   The practice of hiring unprofessional mountain staff also results in strikes for increased wages halfway up the mountain which disrupts or ends a climb.

At African Environments we have a dedicated program of training guides and porters so they can perform their job on the mountain professionally and safely.  We offer the highest wages of any company operating on the mountain and require that everyone working on our climbs is properly outfitted and fed.  We provide porters with good tents and provide access to quality mountain equipment.

All the mountain staff in leadership positions are required to have first aid training and they have attended courses in high altitude physiology and mountain rescue.   More often than not these skills are used to save the lives of the staff and tourists that happen to be climbing the mountain simultaneously with other operators.  We are proud of the lives we have saved and the help we have been able to offer.

Environmental Concerns on the Mountain:  The fragile tropical alpine environment of Kilimanjaro receives up to 27,000 visitors per year.  Most of these  are climbers only interested in getting to the top of the mountain, and getting down as fast as possible.  This has resulted in severe environmental degradation that is partly caused by lack of appreciation for the fragile environment, but mostly it is a problem of economics as described below.

Trash:  Hauling trash off the mountain is costly as it requires hiring additional porters.  Carrying fuel up the mountain to cook on and to burn trash is also costly and often performed inadequately.   A policy of requiring that each climbing operator haul their own trash off Kilimanjaro has been adopted by Tanzanian National Parks.  To ensure this is done the Park service actually weighs the trash when the trip leaves the mountain exit gates.  This program has been marginally effective to date however it is a step toward a solution.

Fuel wood consumption has led to serious environmental damage on the mountain.  Until 1999 cooks and porters collected their cooking fuel from the giant heath forest because cut rate operators would not purchase stoves and  kerosene and hire the porters to carry them.  Now all companies are required to provide stoves on climbs that are fueled with kerosene.  
Safari

Impact on the environment while camping on Safari

Dining in huge canvas mess tents, sleeping on a “proper” frame bed, having ice in your drink and being attended to by a small army of staff is all part of the "classic" luxury safari camping experience.  It is also partly the cause of severe environmental degradation in Africa’s wild places that is caused by photographic tourism.  At African Environments we have tried to find a balance between meeting your needs in the wilderness while minimizing the impact on the environment.

For starters we insist on packing our camp in 4x4 Toyota pick up trucks rather than the huge 7 ton lorries that are typical of luxury safari camping.  Smaller lighter pickups do not tear up the ground and do not leave deep ruts when it is wet.  In order to pack our camp in Pick-ups we have had to adjust the camp amenities slightly:  we carry coolers of ice rather than a deep freeze, the tents are a classic “A” frame shape rather than wall tents, and finally the number of staff per person is slightly reduced.  We feel that this style camp still offers a luxury experience but is much more ecologically friendly.
Toilets:   Our toilets are either ‘caravan toilets’ or the "long drop" style and we provide a small bucket next to the toilet for the disposal of toilet paper. All organic matter goes in the "hole" and toilet paper is burned by the camp staff after you leave the tents.  We have found that if the toilet paper goes in the dug hole, it quickly gets excavated by animals and is left scattered around the campsite.  Many groups use these campsites throughout the year and we are doing our best to keep them clean for future users.  We find that organic matter decomposes promptly in the warm rich soil with the help of dung beetles.

Showers:  The areas we camp in are often very dry and remote, making water collection difficult and supply limited.  We will provide you with a shower everyday but we encourage people to use just one bucket each for their showers. It is most effective to have a “Navy Shower”. Get wet, turn off the faucet and soap up. Then you can open it back up and enjoy the hot water (until it runs dry!).
Local training programs

Every spring and fall, during the tourist "low season" we offer courses and training programs to our guides, cooks, drivers and porters.  Classes offered include high altitude physiology, first aid, ecology, tracking, ornithology, and...

We feel it is important to offer continuing opportunities for personal growth and career advancement to the Tanzanians that work for us.

Culture interaction  

Cultural interaction between tourists and indigenous African peoples can be a valuable experience for everyone.  However, too often it results in tourists poking cameras in the faces of locals while the locals grapple for any money and gifts they can get.  We have put a lot of thought and work into creating meaningful interactions that are positive for everyone.  We identify a local family or group with strong leadership and lay dawn the "rules" of the interaction:  no cameras, no begging or bartering.  Everyone meets and is shown around the village and maybe shares a meal or a song or story.  At the end of the visit the guide will usually ask if visitors can take pictures.  We pay the village leaders a lump sum for this visit and encourage them to spend the money on projects that will benefit the entire group.

In all the village areas we visit we hire local guides which is another important income source for the villagers.  We find that often the best way to interact with locals is to share an activity such as walking.  For this reason, walking safaris are naturally cultural safaris as well.
It is important that we periodically review the effect that these visits are having on the village or family to ensure that the visits are acceptable to everyone and the overall experience is beneficial.

Community service projects

Because many of our visitors are interested in contributing to the welfare of Tanzania in some way we have identified and developed some important projects that clients can visit and contribute to. All of these projects are very grass roots and "on-going".  If you are interested in visiting and or contributing them please let us know.

Village Schools:   The villages around Arusha are very poor and rural even though the bustling city of Arusha is nearby.  Our village of Kiranyi has 1200 students enrolled in it’s 8 room, 10 teacher school.  We have started several initiatives to improve the school.  We have built 140 desks for the classrooms in which the students were previously sitting on rocks.  We have also contributed to the construction of new classrooms.  The Soccer team from the school is sponsored by African Environments as well.  
We also support three other schools

Olasiti Primary School – a dramatic increase in the population of Olasiti as the town has expanded has left the school behind. Children now come to school in shifts – some in the morning and some in the afternoon – and still space is tight. We have helped to build one classroom and are in the process of building another. We have also built about 100 desks for the school.

Kisongo Primary School – a village about 10 miles out of Arusha. We have raised money to help with teaching materials and have set up a ‘pen pal’ programme with a school in the USA.

Mysigio Primary School – This school is located near Ngorongoro, close too our semi permanent camp. Over the years we have helped to build a number of classrooms and have provided supplies and text books. The latest project is to build a library complete with solar lighting so the children can continue studying once the sun goes down.

Tree planting:  Another major problem around Arusha is deforestation.  Most of the villagers still live an entirely subsistence lifestyle and as the population increases the demands on the environments are causing severe degradation.  In Kiranyi Village in the past 10 years almost all of the indigenous trees in the village have been cut down.  We have started an indigenous tree nursery at our headquarters in Arusha and we give trees to the villagers to plant.  In the past year this program has planted over 5,500 trees.

Sourcing Materials

We also do our best to support local businesses and artisans. Our coffee comes from a local co-operative, most of our vegetables come from a women’s organic farming group in the village, our cheese come from a small local co-operative and so on.
Deforestation for charcoal is a major issue in Tanzania where a large portion of the population rely on it for their cooking. We purchase charcoal made from coconut husks – a renewable by product of the coconut industry