Philosophy

What's the idea behind this

When we went on our journey to East-Africa we didn't know what we should expect, or maybe it's better to say what we could expect. We're both well travelled people and between the two of us we've had the opportunity to see 25% of the world. Of course if you're well travelled you also come to see poverty. It will not come to you as a surprise that in Kenya and Tanzania we ran into extreme poverty. But like in many poor countries we've met some wonderful people. People that with no hesitation share their belongings and home with you, but most of all their cheerfulness and their good faith.

As did our guides, Issa and Douglas. Two wonderful men that went further with their services than we could dream of. Douglas took us on a special adventure outside of the agreed itinerary which was so extraordinary that we will never forget and Issa was kind enough to welcome us into his house and meet his family, while he offered us a Cola and proudly showed us his family photo albums.

And then you start wondering, thinking about what you see around you and how these people life, and thinking about your live. And the longer you're on the road with these men the more you get to know about them and cherish them. And then it hits you when they tell you about schooling. The differences between Private- and Local schools are amazing, not only money wise but also quality wise. Issa tells us that he has a friend in the US who sends him 500 dollars each year so his oldest son can go to College, unfortunately his youngest can't go to school as there is not enough money. This is were we got the idea of doing something, later that evening in the lodge we started talking about how we could help.

We are not the kind of people to sit still, and we didn't think sending money would be enough, also our financial picture has it's limits. So we started thinking about what it was we could do? Bas likes to build web sites and i'm good at organizing, with this in mind our idea was born. We would start a travel advice bureau for private safaris. We don't have the intention to start our own company but we would like to help people. And at the end of the day "it's all about the money", with brings us to the following.

As a guide you make approximately $10,- per day with a work day of 16 hours. Now you could think that this gives the tourist a change to go on safari for hardly any money, but that is far from the truth. A private safari will cost you approximately $250,- a day and that's the budget version. A safari for 3 weeks (2 weeks game drives and 1 week at the beach) costs a minimum of €4000,- and can even go up to the extreme of €9000,- per person. And then we are talking about approximately the same trip. These prices differ per travel organization and the way you would like to organize your trip, (or let it be organized). When you ask were this money is going to you find out that most of the money ends up with the guides boss. In Kenya and Tanzania these are businessman from India for about 98%. A local travel agency will charge approximately $160,- for the guide and the car rental. Of which the guide him self only gets the $10,- we've mentioned before. For this amount the good man will drive you around in his car all day spotting wildlife for you, wash and clean the car after a messy ride and he gets up early in the morning to be there when you're ready to leave. He sleeps in the so called guides quarters without any luxury, sometimes even without running water. So while the boss is bathing in luxury in Nairobi the guide is making ends meat to support his family.

In our opinion there must be another way, to say it popular, 'get rid of the middleman'. Renting a car will cost money, accommodation is not for free and airplanes still don't fly on water. It will always cost money to travel, it's not our intention to offer you the cheapest trip. You can compare this to the Fare Trade products. The money needs to end up in the right places, and a great extra is that it becomes less expensive, (unlike the Fare Trade products).

We would like to give people the opportunity to get in direct contact with the local guides, for an honest price, a wonderful service, an unforgettable experience and in a form were almost al your wishes can become true without the restrictions of a travel agencies standard itinerary

We don't want to make money out of this (otherwise we would be the 'middleman') and hope that you may be able to experience the same extraordinary trip we did. In short, you will organize the trip your self with the help of local people (who have the knowledge). But most important you get to fill in the itinerary to you wishes. A day longer at the beach? Search for a leopard? Experience more culture? Or visiting the Elephant Orphanage? It's all up to you. Have a look at theitinerary page. for examples.