1 independent reviews for Angola holiday, Expedition to Angola

Hi Marina, Thanks for your comments about our trip to Angola that you recently took part in. We're pleased to know that you that you enjoyed the trip - Angola is a fascinating destination, and one that we've been running trips to for some time now. It's a consistent favourite with our travellers. You mentioned some points though which we'd like to address. When we visit local villages we are careful to be as sensitive as possible, and issue very clear guidelines to our travellers as the code of behaviour expected when taking photos. It is customary to offer the villages a gift for allowing us to visit and spend time with them - this is a long established practice throughout some parts of Africa and is very much seen as a way of showing respect to tribal elders. In some instances it is appropriate to bring gifts such as rice, tea, or other commodities that the villagers may use but in others, having discussed this with the communities over the years, they sometimes prefer to receive a financial gift so that they can then choose what to buy, which may or may not be available for our groups to buy for the in advance in local markets. It would quite often be seen as disrespectful not to bring something, and of course our travellers are gaining something from this experience so it is right and fair that the villagers should gain something in return. In this instance, it is appropriate to give gifts to a chief or tribal elder, for them to distribute as they see for and in accordance with social codes. This does not however necessarily stop other villagers for asking for something directly from our travellers, but our guides will do their best to manage this. You've stated that we left litter when camping. Having spoken to the member of our UK team that accompanied this trip, we're confident that this was not the case - we are particularly careful to leave areas as we found them. With regards to giving bottles of water to tribal people, we understand this happened on one occasion when the group met some people in the bush who were thirsty and requested water. It would have been completely unethical to deny them water, and inappropriate for us to insist that they drank it on the spot and return the bottles to us. They will no doubt have found use for any bottles that were left for them, perhaps for storing milk from their livestock. When operating tours in more remote parts of Africa, it is sometimes necessary to adapt the itinerary to take into account local conditions and to maximise the experience for our travellers. I understand that this was discussed with you fully at the time, and the remainder of the group did not raise any concerns. You've also mentioned blankets. We brief all of our travellers before the tour on what they will need but I understand that your sleeping bag was not quite warm enough. The guide offered to take you to the market to purchase extra blankets but you did not want to do this, and so at a later point the guide purchased additional blankets for you. Once again, thanks for taking the time to send your comments, and we hope that you've come away with some warm memories of your trip in Angola.