We’re Responsible

 

making a positive impact

 

Responsible travel promotes the sustainable development of destinations by minimizing negative impacts and maximizing positive ones for both the environments we operate in, and the people living in them. A steadfast commitment to responsible travel is vital to our ethos.

 

To help us stay true to this ethos, we are working with Travelife to get the goals. Its certification process provides stringent guidelines for us to follow. To further guide our responsible practices, we created the MAKULA Foundation. Operating independently of Alpha Adventure Safaris, the Foundation actively supports a wide range of sustainability programs and audits ALPHA ADVENTURE SAFARIS to keep us on track with global sustainability measures.

 

RESPONSIBLE HOTELS, TOURS & EXPERIENCES

 

Our comprehensive sustainability rating system for Hotels, Tours and Experiences empowers travellers to maximise the positive benefits of their travels by staying in responsible hotels and taking part in activities that have been deemed to be exceptionally beneficial to local people and environments.

 

Sustainability in action

 

Going Carbon Neutral

 

Being based in East Africa, we understand that climate change is real because we see its effects every day across our destinations.

 

Simply put, action is needed. Rising to the occasion, we’ve become one of the first DMC in East Africa to strive for carbon neutrality. Not just for our offices and staff, but also by offering Carbon Neutral Holidays to our clients and their guests.

 

 

CARBON NEUTRAL HOLIDAYS

 

WE ARE CARBON NEUTRAL

 

We believe that we all have a responsibility to fight climate change. As a company committed to environmental responsibility and leadership we reduce carbon emissions generated in Africa and compensate for unavoidable emissions. We believe that we can generate a positive impact in the region, by promoting renewable energies and helping to reforest areas of land that need it most.

 

Since 2016, we are working towards developing a methodology to measure emissions from our own operations and generated by travelers while they set foot in Africa. Working with specialist organizations, we have created tools and calculated emissions for scope 1 (direct emissions), 2 (emissions from heat & electricity) and 3 (value chain emissions). Even though we still face limitations in our measurement, due to the complex nature of our business, we are committed to improve it year-on-year and to work with accredited organizations to verify our calculations.

 

Our goal is to drive positive change in our supply chain, to offer sustainable options to our clients and work hands-in hands with our partners to decrease Greenhouse Gases and CO2 emissions generated in our destinations. We take accountability for our destinations and automatically fund a compensation scheme. We include it automatically in our services and we use 100% of the funds towards the development of environmental projects in Uganda and Rwanda.

 

Carbon neutral vs carbon free

 

Being carbon neutral doesn’t mean that your guests don’t produce carbon. Their travels will result in carbon emissions. Being carbon neutral means that you compensate for their carbon emissions by supporting projects that fight climate change in Asia. A good example is by planting a certain number of trees that will absorb the equivalent amount of carbon that was produced during their trip.

 

 

What you can also do is minimise the carbon footprint of their holiday as much as possible.

 

Booking carbon friendly activities like cycling or walking tours

 

Use a train/public transport to get from city to city instead of a plane.

 

Take a reusable water bottle with you and use our free refill stations, so you don’t use unnecessary plastic bottles

 

Book activities like planting mangrove forests

 

It’s worth considering that while staying at home in your native country, commuting to work, using a heater, eating food, going shopping and doing all the things you normally do will also result in carbon emissions. While on holiday your guests will be doing many of the same things, so they aren’t necessarily ‘doubling up’ their carbon footprint by being abroad.

 

Day Trips with long term impacts

 

For those looking to maximise the positive impacts of their travels, these short excursions have been identified by MAKULA Foundation as excelling in one or more of our trips.

 

1-Day Ziwa Rhino Tracking & Tree planting in Nakasongora

 

MAKULA Foundation organizes day excursion trips to tourist sites within Kampala and neighboring towns with the intention of tourist spare time to impact on carbon free world. These day trips are meant to enable tourists and business people who are unable to go for long tours get a chance to explore a few areas of interest. Among the attractions to visit on a one day trip is Ziwa rhino sanctuary.

 

 

 

How Does the EXO Responsible Travel Rating System Work?

 

Read on to find out how our EXO Sustainability Team carefully assess properties and recognise the ones which are outstanding in the Eco-Friendly and Socially Aware categories.