Who we support

Financial Support

Our business partners are small scale enterprises. If our guests want to hire extra gear for the mountains we connect them to former porters who are making a little extra money renting it out. The cleaning of our tents, sleeping bags, and safari equipment gets done by locals as a source of income for their families. *We support women with dukas (small shops) with free book-keeping tuition or by financing them to obtain a driving license in order to help them get better jobs *We encourage young people to start businesses by offering them microfinance support teaching them about cereal production (check I have the meaning right), offering them bureaucratic support and sharing our business knowledge.

Financially we support :

1. The Samaritan Village Orphanage Center

This Center is situated in Moshono/Arusha. It looks after small orphan children providing accommodation, food, education and a real “home” environment. Abandoned babies found in the streets are brought to the Samaritans and given a new home.

2.The Federal Hospital of Arusha

Active Tanzania has close contact with the Eye Department supplying them with glasses and frames to give them to patients who could not afford them otherwise. We get the glasses from clients and friends who come over from America and Europe.

Environmental Responsibility

We buy food for Safaris and Kilimanjaro Treks at the local market only. The food comes in baskets and not wrapped in plastic. We buy vegetables from an Organic Farming Project in Tengeru.

We train our guides, drivers, cooks and porters regularly to collect rubbish even of other people and not dispersing any into the environment.

On Tour we inform our guests about the ecological and environmental achievements already made in Tanzania . We are in close contact with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and are regularly briefed by the Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators.

Traditionally, tourism in East Africa has been dependent on the nature and wildlife. All attractions are conserved and sustainable managed through park fees.

Our tours in the Usambara Mountains help to maintain the original rainforest. The Usambaras are a biological and botanical treasure house with a huge number of endemic trees and plant species.

Social Responsibility and Competence

We take great care of our Porters. We make sure that they have their own tents and sleeping bags and are outfitted properly and they get paid well and promptly. They deserve the same standard of care and treatment that are expected by our visitors.

We provide our travelers with pre-trip information on the social and political situation in each destination.

Active Tanzania Adventures are happy to advise you on how to communicate with the local people.

Tanzanians, speaking the Kiswahili language, are very communicative, and usually greet you saying “Mambo?” (How goes it?) If you reply with “Poa” (cool) they will be pleasantly surprised and will stop for a further chat. If you hear the question “habari gani?” (what’s the news?) and reply “nzuri”, (good) this will help you make contact.

Tanzania is full of street vendors and open markets. Many dealers are aware of numbers and amounts in English. There is hardly any Tanzanian who would pay the price he is quoted either in a market or in a shop. You will hear him say “Nipe bei nzuri” (give me a good price)!

It would be offensive to pay the price quoted and marks you out as a typical “Mzungu” (white person) who has too much money. You can either say “Pongusa” which means “reduce” or you can suggest a new price, even suggesting it be halved. You then wait for the reaction, which could well be a loud sound made by the tongue (it sounds like “click”) which indicates to you that the vendor does not agree at all. Now a long process of negotiating can begin…