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GSE Ecotours Ltd

We are an independent, well established tour operating company specialising in community-based ecotourism holidays to Kenya. These holidays offer an alternative form of tourism where the visitor gets to experience the local culture, customs and lifestyle of the communities they visit.

The host community anticipate that the visitors will live in their homes or homesteads and integrate into their way of life. In return the visitors are required to respect and absorb their culture as they provide some immediate economic and social benefits to these communities.

Our Mission Statement is to “Empower communities to integrate conservation of their environment with economic development by sustainable use of their resources through tourism”.

On your community-based ecotour holiday, your experience of Kenya will explore the various fundamentals of culture. This includes language, food (preparation, storage, tools), songs (dances and music), greetings, symbols, agriculture & wildlife, tools/technology, rituals, stories, traditional medicine (healers, tools), and values. All of these attributes collectively, form an intricate web, which gives every community its identity, character, self-respect and purpose.

The lifestyle of the host community is based primarily on their occupation which in most cases is a farming community. We encourage conservative use of amenities such as running water and electricity as are not as abundant and widely available. We do however make sure that your stay is relatively at ease and you would not suffer from any great discomfort. The villagers are very welcoming and accepting and as a guest in their homes you would be included in all their activities and made to feel as part of the family. This enables your home stay visit to be as fulfilling and rewarding as possible.

On most days, you will be helping your host family with their daily chores and tasks such as planting, harvesting or even selling their produce at the local market. On other occasions, we will arrange some site-seeing trips to get an understanding and appreciation of some of the country’s magnificent wildlife and scenery. These excursions to national parks and game reserves would be within close proximity of the village homesteads. We would also organise local language lessons, provide speakers mainly the village elders who provide information on the history and heritage of the host community.

EcoTourism Policies

We are founded on environmental principles rooted in sustainable development which includes a responsible tourism policy and compliance with environmental legislation.

We work with local businesses where possible for supplies and materials both in the UK and with our host communities, as part of our commitment of running an environmentally sustainable organisation.

We mainly use e-commerce technology for for promotional purposes and communication with suppliers/customers to minimise unsustainable practices such as the use of brochures and written communications.

We maintain small group sizes between 9-14 people to minimise any potential negative impacts on the environment. It also unsustainable to host a large group of visitors on community-based ecotours, local resources can become extremely constrained by large numbers of visitors.

We use local people to act as guides and translators who have an understanding of the culture and way of life of the host community. This has the added benefit that guests can learn a lot about their host communities’ customs and rituals. We also provide guests with information and advice about how they can minimise environmental impacts by reducing their consumption of resources (e.g. water).

We make sure that you are presented with explanations of how each homestay visit would benefit the host community. An understanding of the difference you can make is crucial to ensure the continuance of the project.

 

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