Tanzania is a beautiful country and offers its tourists countless vacation destinations.  Currently, however, the majority of these tourist destinations have become overly westernized and have therefore come to lose any true cultural value that makes a trip to Tanzania even more worth while.  With this in mind, we are opening the Southern and Western parts of Tanzania to tourists who are looking to gain an insight into the cultural lifestyle of Tanzania while still enjoying the lesser known, but equally awesome destinations of Tanzania.

 

 

 

Cultural and Responsible Tourism

St. Maurus’ Abbey

at Hanga

 

Many of Tanzania’s most beautiful destinations lie in its Southern and Western regions, but due to the fact that the main international arrival centres are in the North and Eastern parts of Tanzania, these places are often overlooked.  Some of the wonderful destinations that we will make available to guests of Tanzania are Mbamba Bay on Lake Nyassa (Malawi), Mikumi and Ruaha National Park, Udzungwa Mountains National Park and Selous Game Reserve.

 

Our cultural and responsible tourism* project offers different vacation and excursion itineraries that include not only visiting these previously mentioned destinations, but also providing our guests the opportunity to experience the life and culture of our local village.  The cultural portion of the itineraries would be fulfilled by exploring the village, learning what the local villagers eat, what they do for work, and how they live their everyday lives.  We believe that it is important for Westerners to have a perspective of what rural Tanzanian lifestyle is truly like.  And with our intimate knowledge of the country, people, culture, and also our capillary presence and plethora of contacts in the territory (guest houses, monasteries, convents, and our new Abbey Guest House soon to be completed), we will be able to comfortably accommodate and culturally satisfy these more adventurous guests.

 

*Responsible Tourism: sustainable & cultural tourism with more focus on the active involvement of the local communities to deliver economic & social benefits in the respect of the culture of the people and the surrounding environment.

 

 

Tours Planned for 2008-09:

 

We are excited to announce that we have already setup itineraries with two different groups for the current and upcoming year.  One operating out of Italy, and the other hosting German and Austrian travels.

 

Tours with gaia-coop (Italy)

Operated by: Giovanni Regiroli

Website:  http://www.gaia-coop.it

E-mail: viaggiresponsabili@gaia-coop.it

 

 

For the 2008 year we have planned four two-week long tours.  Starting in 2009 we look to expand our tour options to three weeks.

 

Our current dates of travel are:

 

Arrival                         Departure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*This will also provide an option to arrive one week early, August 16th, in order to take part in the 50th Golden Jubilee Celebration.

 

 

 

 

Tours with ONE WORLD Reisen mit Sinnen (Germany and Austria)

Operated by: Petra Gehrer

Website: www.reisenmitsinnen.de

E-mail: petra.gehrer@gmx.at    or   oneworld@reisenmitsinnen.de

View: Day to Day Itinerary

 

 

Our current dates of travel are:

 

Arrival                                Departure

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions about either of the tourism programs please contact the respective operator or you can contact our Cultural and Responsible Tourism Advisor, Br. Fulgence, in Hanga at:  fmluwili@yahoo.com or Br. Kizito at:  kndunguru@yahoo.com

 

Future Guest House Site: Mbamba Bay