Cape Town & the Garden Route

We work hard to create trips which improves life for the people and places we visit and looks after the planet we explore. To read more about sustainable travel ethos and practice, click here, and to find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation click here.

People

 How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural and social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally-owned hotels, vineyards and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food and support of other local enterprise.
• In Cape Town there is the option to visit a local ‘Shebeen’, which originally meant an illegal drinking den, and now refers to a legal tavern as part of township tour. Our visit here really gives an insight into the life of many South Africans that a lot of tourists don’t get to experience. Small local businesses really benefit from this type of tour as we pay for a home cooked, typically South African meal. Travellers are also able to buy souvenirs here which further supports this establishment.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here, including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels.
• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• We do a number of wildlife-oriented activities, such as game drives in Addo Elephant National Park and exploring the waterfalls and forests of Tsitskamma National Park.
• Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regard to working animals and wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for re-usable bottles.
• Our local partners support the Save Our Sausage Trees initiative in Botswana, which aims to address the issue of depleting forests in the area. The Mokoro is a canoe used by the people of the Okavango Delta and it is crafted traditionally out of a single mature Kigelia Africana tree (or sausage tree). Although increased tourism has had some obvious benefits to the area, this has also brought a higher demand for Mokoro boats and therefore more trees are being cut down. As a wooden Mokoro only lasts about 5 years, there are hundreds of these trees being felled per year and not enough to sustain this. We have consulted with the Okovango community, and we have agreed to pay half the price of a fibreglass Mokoro if a poler wants to purchase the other half, in order to save the trees.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Read about our climate action here, including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.
• By favouring smaller, locally run hotels and guest houses we have a much smaller impact on the surrounding environments.
• We encourage guests to try local specialities such as ostrich sausages, traditional ‘Pap’ (maize & water) and snoek fishcakes. As these foods are all sourced locally it means there will be a reduction in food miles.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

Extra steps you could take to minimise your impact when travelling.

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own re-usable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable.