Cultural and Community Tours
Meeting people, not performances
Cultural tourism is done badly more often than it is done well. A rushed village visit with a dance laid on for a vehicle full of visitors serves nobody, and most travellers can tell the difference.
We would rather arrange fewer experiences and arrange them properly, with communities that have chosen to host visitors and that are paid directly for doing so.
Plan My SafariMaasai and Samburu communities around the Mara, Amboseli and northern reserves. The best visits are built around something real: walking with a guide who grew up there, learning how livestock and wildlife share the same land, or having a conversation rather than watching a performance.
The Swahili coast has a longer written history than much of the interior. Lamu Old Town, Fort Jesus in Mombasa and the ruins at Gede are worth seeing with a guide who understands the period.
Rwanda has the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is difficult and which most visitors are glad they made time for. Community cooperatives around Volcanoes National Park are organised and worth visiting.
Uganda has Batwa community projects near Bwindi, involving communities displaced when the forest became a park.
Travellers interested in how people actually live, and comfortable with the fact that these experiences can sometimes be uncomfortable.
They also suit families with older children, because they add context that a game drive does not.
We work with community-run projects where income stays local, and we will tell you honestly when something is a commercial operation rather than a community one.
Ask before photographing anyone. Most people will say yes if asked, and resent it if not.
A half-day is usually right. Longer visits often run out of substance.
Tell us what interests you
History, daily life, craft, music or conservation. We will build it into your route rather than bolt it on.