It’s been called responsible or socially conscious travel and volunteer tourism (Voluntourism): Spend your vacation in a developing country helping out in a clinic or school or working on conservation or building projects – all on your dime.
Once the stuff of church mission programs, volunteer sojourns are now being offered by a growing number of non- and for-profit American companies. Many focus their itineraries on Africa and entice clients with the opportunity to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, participate in a safari or hike forests in search of endangered mountain gorillas.
For participants, voluntourism is the ultimate way to experience a country without a guidebook. Trips tend to be more immersive and meaningful; travelers report a more authentic experience.
Africa ranks among the world’s top three volunteer destinations, according to voluntourism.org, a nonprofit committed to educating, empowering and engaging volunteers and host communities. Most voluntourists spend one to two weeks participating in educational and training programs, construction projects and working with children.
While volunteer travelers are making an impact and spending money locally, there’s also some criticism that the most pressing needs of beneficiary communities are more complex than a one or two-week project, and that change should originate locally.
Although there’s no breakdown between regular tourists and volunteers, African nations are experiencing a boon in visitors.
Travel and tourism’s direct contribution to the African economy was $33.5 billion in 2011 and is projected to reach $57.7 billion by 2022, according to its Travel & Tourism Council. More than 9.1 million international tourists visited South Africa in 2012 — up 10 percent from the previous year and more than double the average 4 percent global growth estimated by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The U.S. ranked as South Africa’s second largest overseas tourism market, right behind the United Kingdom.
Identified as one of the key sectors for economic growth, tourism in Africa will fuel the need for more hotels and activities to accommodate the growing number of tourists.
Cross-Cultural Solutions, a New Rochelle, N.Y.-based non-profit, has sponsored international volunteer travel for nearly 20 years and operates programs in 10 countries, including five sites in four African countries. In 2012, it hosted 938 volunteers in Ghana, South Africa, Morocco and Tanzania, according to Alexis Margolin, digital content manager and staff writer.
The organization promotes people-to-people volunteer work and encourages participants to engage in the community, share meals with local residents, shop at local markets and ultimately make a real connection with Africa’s cultures and people.
“We train and employ a team of staff members from the community in all of these sites,” Margolin said. “This provides sustainable income, fair wages and support to the local economy. It also is critical to our being able to address local issues, as we trust local people to be the experts.”
Cross-Cultural Solutions, she said, also sources all food, water, transportation, materials, lodging, cultural speakers and activities locally, further stimulating each community’s economy “in a sustainable way.”
The organization also recommends its volunteers bring at least $100 spending money for each week of their stay.
ET African Journey, a joint African safari and tour partnership between Ethiopian Airlines and New York’s cultural tour company Group IST, included a volunteer component to its recent 12-day Mount Kilimanjaro hike and pop-up restaurant. After scaling the peak, climbers descended 12,500 feet to a base camp, where they were treated to a gourmet feast prepared by renowned African Chef Pierre Thiam, in what the company dubbed the “world’s highest-altitude pop-up restaurant.”
Participants then spent two days volunteering at Tanzania’s St. Timothy’s School, built by Mama Hope, a non-profit organization that invests in projects which bring food, security, clean water, education and health care to African communities.
“This trip is a wonderful way to get Americans to come to Africa and get involved with a very worthy cause,” Mama Hope founder Nyla Rodgers said in a press release announcing the $3,500 travel opportunity.
Terra Incognita Ecotours’ approach to sustainable travel provides a different spin. Trip price tags for the Tampa, Fla., company’s once-in-a-lifetime vacations, safaris and treks through bucket-list countries include financial donations to conservation and wildlife nonprofit groups. Contributions range from $100 to $500 depending on the trip and the needs of the conservation groups, said founder Gerard “Ged” Caddick.
“What’s needed more than volunteers or anything else is money,” he said. “For very little money, these organizations can hire someone locally and get them involved on a much more fundamental level. I’m reluctant to bring over volunteers because it’s not motivating anyone in the destinations to get more involved. There’s this image that the white man comes in and fixes problems. I’m more interested in getting more local people involved in fixing the problem.”
Each of Terra Incognita’s trips is designed to promote thoughtful and respectful travel that makes a difference. Since 2006, the company has donated $130,000 to programs in Rwanda, Tanzania, Madagascar and several South American countries. Bringing tourists to Africa also creates jobs for locals — from guides and porters to restaurant and hotel staff – and Caddick makes a point of asking his clients to use locals.
“When possible we stay at locally owned lodges and hire local drivers,” said Caddick, the company’s sole U.S. employee. “I made a deliberate decision if I needed more staff my goal was to hire them in places we visit, not here in the U.S.”
Many of the company’s beneficiaries are conservation and wildlife focused — a throwback to Caddick’s previous zoo and expedition travel careers. Itineraries are designed to include dinner with members of the conservation partners.
“We offer premium tours that include visits to community and groups we work with,” he said. “Our clients get to see where their donation is going. Our biggest partner has a $1 million annual budget. A $5,000 donation makes of world of difference to what they’re doing.”
It took Caddick years to perfect Terra Incognita’s planned eight-day Uganda trek, which debuts in 2014 with three excursions. In addition to a traditional African safari and the opportunity to witness the spectacle of tree-climbing lions, participants will also hike the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to visit a family of endangered mountain gorillas and the Kibale Forest in search of chimpanzees. Overnight accommodations are included at each destination. Ecotourists will also meet the Gorilla Doctors, a group of veterinarians who treat sick and injured wild mountain gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo.
“We are a for-profit company but I made a commitment that everywhere we took tourists we would have a conservation partner,” said Caddick, who hosted his first trip in 2006. “I used to work in the zoo world and quite often what I found was it was quicker to do the job myself than spend eight hours showing someone how to do it. I felt from my company’s point of view if I could expose and educate people to the issues and get them engaged emotionally, they’ll continue donating after the trip is over.”
They usually do. One client donated $50,000 to one of the company’s partners.
Terra Incognita now offers as many as 30 annual trips. “Kenya and Rwanda are the most popular,” Caddick said. “Africa is more than 50 percent of my business.”
He estimates clients spend $200 to $500 during their travels.
Sun International, which markets travel and safari vacations to its African resorts and casinos from a satellite South Florida office, provides volunteer opportunities for its guests, while its corporate social responsibility program has benefited communities from Cape Town to Zambia. In Zambia alone, the company supports orphanages, schools, hospice, fish farming and women’s tie-and-die projects.
Sun International’s five-star Royal Livingstone Hotel and the three-star Zambezi Sun Hotel — collectively Sun International Zambia — have been recognized for their community and economic impact, receiving the Imvelo Responsible Tourism award four consecutive years for social involvement programs and best practices. Sun’s 50 community programs in Zambia address community investment initiatives, local outsourcing, community health and welfare and other social issues.
The Department of Tourism is a partner in the Imvelo awards, which judges entries on the integration of their business activities in the local community and the extent of the community benefit.
Sun International Zambia’s Rays of Light program is committed to improving the quality of life through various agricultural and entrepreneurship initiatives. It supports orphanages in greater Livingstone and Kazungula, improved school infrastructure and local farmers. Overseen by Stain Musungaila, the resort’s social responsibility manager, the company’s support of the Lubashi Home orphanage ensures no children are living on the street.
Guests can volunteer at the orphanage and donate clothing, books and other supplies for the resident 5- to 10-year-old children.
The destination has also partnered with Nsongwe Women’s Association Farm to establish a vegetable production network combining conventional farming systems and hydroponics technologies.
“From the onset, Sun International Zambia has had the vision to transform the Zambian tourist experience by offering sustainable, top quality hospitality thanks to the huge efforts of all of our staff and partners,” said Joanne Selby, general manager. “Because Sun International Zambia is situated in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we welcome the opportunity to ensure that our actions are environmentally conscious and that our business success is reflected in the communities in which we operate.”
In South Africa, guests of Sun International’s Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town visit SEED’s Rocklands Urban Abundance Centre in Mitchells Plain in nearby Cape Flats. The facility integrates school-based outdoor classrooms, youth development and career exploration and provides enterprise and skills development promoting sustainable living.
The excursion costs less than $10 plus transportation, includes a two-hour tour and tea plus immersion in the Flats’ Xhosa, Muslim and Rastafarian cultures.
“We’ve been successful with our tour packages to other townships like Guguletu and Khayalitsha, especially as companies are looking to give their employees more emotive experiences and travelers are looking for ways to give back,” said Sherwin Banda, Table Bay’s general manager. “Most travelers are unaware that these types of programs exist and we want to show our guests all sides of Cape Town, not merely just the traditional tourist attractions. Guests take home with them an unforgettable memory, an emotional souvenir if you like, of their time spent in Cape Town.”