The Travel Company

This trip is being organised by Guerba World Travel. We first travelled with Guerba in 1994 to Morocco, and have to admit that the choice of company was less 'informed' and more 'pick a name out of a hat'. It was a fabulous tour, with knowledgeable and entertaining staff, and the unique experience of travelling in a Guerba truck! So we travelled with them again, to Egypt in 1996 and Tanzania and Zanzibar in 1998.

We didn't know then about Guerba's policies of responsible tourism. For every passenger trip week that they operate in Africa, they plant a tree in Kenya. They have organised other charity climbs to support the building of a computer training school and a nursery school in Tanzania. In 1990 they formed Guerba Kenya Ltd, based in Nairobi, and staffed by Kenyans; all Guerba overland vehicles are serviced there, which supports Guerba's policy to employ local people wherever possible. And they won first prize in the First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2005, in the 'Best of Mountain' category, which is particularly encouraging for our trip! Read more about this here.

With Amani, as well as donating the flights and climbs for ours and other trips - not the first time I've mentioned this but I still think it's an amazing thing for a travel company to do! - they arranged a safari for the Amani children. These children live in an amazing country with incredible wildlife that tourists travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of pounds to see, but they rarely get the chance to see the animals for themselves. This trip was a great success: the children learned lots about the animals and enjoyed the rare opportunity to go on a trip together as a 'family'.

By helping us with our fundraising and making this project a success, you will not only be helping the children of Amani, but you will also be encouraging companies like Guerba and hopefully inspiring other companies to follow their lead.