Malawi wildlife and nature tour

Planet

We want our customers to enjoy an experience led holiday within a natural environment. To do this we use partners and suppliers who are guardians of their surroundings. This means that they look after the local environment they are responsible for, as well as encouraging employment, and revenue generation, for the local population.

CARBON REDUCTION
Where we can, we use partners that adhere to sustainability practises. Due to the location of a lot of our partners they actively look to minimise energy consumption by using solar power, and reduce water usage.

At Mvuu camp food is all locally grown where possible and the camp runs off sustainable energy.

At Heuglin's Lodge, food is sourced locally where possible reducing air miles. and at Mumbo Island, fish is caught straight from Lake Malawi sustainably by local fisherman. Mumbo Island camp was also built sustainably from local resources and has eco-loos, helping to reduce water usage.

At Huntingdon House food is also sourced organically and locally, with the vast majority of it grown in house, helping to reduce food miles and ensure fresh organic food for guests.

On this trip you will be encouraged to bring and use reusable water bottles that can be used throughout your journey. We strive to help our customers minimise their use of single-use plastic wherever they travel in the world.

During this trip we also reduce flying by driving between locations.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

The use of National Parks within our itineraries is widespread, with all park fees going directly to the local authorities responsible for maintaining and protecting the and flora and fauna within the parks.

During your stay at the Mvuu Camp, guests will directly contribute to helping to protect Liwonde National Park, a vital conservation area in Malawi.

Mombo Island helps to protect the local fisheries and life as well as Miombo Forest with trips into it.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

We align ourselves with partners who actively work with local communities, whether this means that they are employing the local population, involved in conservation efforts within the community, or educating the local population with an aim to encourage them to look after their environment.

Central African Wilderness Safaris which runs Heuglins and Mvuu hires all employees locally, and is conducting research into the impact of one employee and through this has worked to help improve the situation for its employees and locals within the areas that it operates.

Huntingdon House is a large employer of the local economy with the tea estate that it is in, which is one of the main exports of Malawi, helping to grow the economy. By visiting guests have the chance to see the incredible work done and can help to support locals.

Mumbo Island bought all of its building products and interior elements from local craftsmen helping to encourage local skills as well as supporting the local economy with their items, they also go back to the original makers for fixing to help keep the circular element of their help.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

Where possible our partners use local guides, as they know the land, wildlife, and environment the best. This results in a higher customer experience, gives them a greater understanding of the fragile balance of the area they’re visiting, and means that a local person is being employed!

For example, all the guides at Mvuu Camp and Mumbo Island are locals that know the wildlife and the lake better than anyone else having grown up there. They can show guests sides and experiences that nobody else could from their passionate local knowledge and love of the area.

All the lodges stayed at hire majority local people and help to train and enhance their careers. Central African Wilderness Safaris also helps to support local schools to give the children there the best opportunity to progress and teaches them about the environment to ensure they are the conservation leaders of the future.

All of Mumbo Island management is from Malawi with the majority having grown up in the area and beyond that there are nearly 60 locals engaged in everything from guiding to boats to carpentry to support the operation.

Huntingdon House has an extensive CSR programme that supports a range of local projects from sporting activities to supporting the local school in partnership with the Malawi government.

Pre-travel all of our customers are presented with what we call a ‘travel pack’. Within this travel pack our customers receive all the detail about their trip. The detail includes useful information on the destinations they are travelling to, including, but not limited to, the social and political situations within the destination. We also give guidelines on what to pack to try and minimise the amount of luggage our customers take resulting in lower fuel usage on planes and other vehicles.