Sunway – making a difference and how you can get involved

Here at Sunway Safaris we firmly believe in Responsible Travel. We believe in enriching the lives of locals, giving back and reinvesting in the countries we visit.  We travel with the minimum amount of impact possible and through the years we have found a number of projects and organisations that we believe are truly worth supporting.

Here are the organisations/projects we support and how you can get involved:

Save our sausage tree project – community and sustainability

The local communities in and around Botswana’s Okavango Delta have used the wood for the sausage tree to craft their traditional mekoro for hundreds of years. The knowledge and skills have been passed down from generation to generation and up until recently has been a sustainable practice. With increased tourism to the Okavango Delta there has been increased demand for mokoros and this has resulted in more and more sausage trees being felled. This is proving to be unsustainable as increased pressure is placed on the dwindling sausage tree.
Sunway Safaris established the SOS trees project to encourage and assist polers in the local communities of Ditshiping, Daunara and Morutsa to buy replica fiberglass mekoro, which have a lifespan of approximately ten years, are more stable to travel in and are produced without any negative effect on the environment.
Bewteen 2011 and 2013 individual poler guides have with the assistance from Sunway clients managed to buy 23 mekoro.
There is still a long way to go. If you would like to contribute please speak to your agent at the dime of booking. A mere €10-20 per client add to your tour booking payment will go a long way. You can also put cash into the SOS trees collections box in Maun. 100% of any donation of any amount will beuse dto purchase mokoros

PEN Organisation – Educational Responsibility

Each year we run a number of safaris to the national parks of South Africa for underprivileged children. Our aim is to raise the young adult’s awareness and basic understanding and respect for the natural environment. We also want to show them prospects for their future employment in conservation or the tourism industry.
We work with the PEN Organisation. PEN dreams of igniting change, healing communities and nurturing togetherness. While at Sunway we focus on the youth of our country, the dedicated team that works at PEN works with the whole community which includes children, teens, elderly, parents, students, homeless people, sex workers, drug addicts and every person that crosses their path. Their work covers education and access technology, health and emotional well-being, community support and citizen rights, enterprise coaching and skills development, creative arts, music and recreation as well as supportive housing and mission support. www.pen.org.za 

Sunway currently covers the costs for these educational trips, however if you would like to contribute, please contact us or add your donation to your booking.

Wild dogs of Hwange

Painted Dog Conservation is a comprehensive Wild Dog conservation organisation. They rehabilitate and release injured and trapped wild dogs. They also have a comprehensive educational program and three anti-poaching unit.

There are only an estimated 3000 – 5000 wild dog left and need all the protection they can get. As a client of Sunway you will visit this organisation on the Zimbabwe Botswana safaris and donations can be given directly to the centre.

Every little bit helps!