Philanthropy: What you can do to help
As a discerning traveller, we know that you enjoy giving back to the community in the countries you visit. We are committed to working with these two unique projects: Uthando South Africa and My Tree in Africa
How can you help?
- You can book a philanthropic cultural tour or private day trip with our partner company Uthando. We support Uthando because of their consistent commitment to the community with more meaningful and personalised projects than many others on offer.
- or, if you submit your enquiry online and book with Southern Africa Travel, we will contribute ZAR80 and donate a tree for you to offset your footprint.
uThando South Africa
Southern Africa Travel supports Uthando (meaning Love) South Africa, a non-profit organisation and Responsible Tourism initiative based in Cape Town. Uthando supports a broad range of community based, sustainable and innovative social-development programmes. Funding and other forms of assistance come primarily through the tourism industry.
In addition, Uthando offers unique and tailor made daily scheduled tours and private half-day field trips, taking visitors to the philanthropic projects being funded by sponsors. Most of these are located in the sprawling townships on the outskirts of Cape Town. The field trips offer visitors to South Africa an opportunity to discover the positive and interesting stories of life in the townships, interacting with locals in their place of work and learning how these impoverished communities overcome adversity and poverty. By joining a field trip, visitors are also contributing to and assisting with social development.
Find out more about the Amy Biehl Foundation, Abalimi Bezekhaya, a vegetable growing project, or Volcano - the arts project that brings art and music into the lives of township children.
My tree in Africa
In 2007, just over 9 million foreigners flew in to South Africa – an increase of 8.3% over 2006 and a massive step up from the 3.9 million visitors at the dawn of our democracy in 1994. Leading up to the Soccer World Cup in 2010, just over 2 million tourists arrived between January and March alone, an increase of over 20%, compared to the same period in 2009.
This is great news for our tourism industry. But it also should sound alarm bells for anyone concerned about the world we live in. One long-haul international flight adds a considerable amount to your individual carbon footprint. Southern Africa Travel, operated by Giltedge Travel, in association with My Tree in Africa, offers you the opportunity to offset the environmental impact of your travel.
If you enquire online and book through us, we will donate a tree for you. It will then be planted in disadvantaged communities across the country by an organization known as Food and Trees for Africa. And while planting one tree will not make your round trip carbon-neutral, it goes a long way towards offsetting your CO2 emissions and is the first important step towards responsible travel.
In a country like ours, with our immense socio-economic challenges, it is vital that those of us who can make a difference, do so.
May you enjoy your visit to our beautiful country. And may you take away beautiful memories and leave behind only the smallest of footprints.
CLICK HERE IF YOU WISH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT A PHILANTHROPIC CULTURAL TOUR Southern Africa Travel will help you plan a trip to suit your interests.