Ethical tourism is one of the cornerstones of our company. Deeper Africa is committed to tourism that provides exciting travel opportunities for our guests while enriching lives and protecting habitats in East Africa. Our company's current micro-economic development projects include the following programs.

Mwangaza operates outreach safaris in the Babbit and Huang Districts of North Central Tanzania, to benefit children disabled by polio and by high levels of fluoride that occur in the groundwater. This fluoride problem causes knocked knees, clubfoot, and brittle and bending bones. United States doctors travel to Tanzania to provide surgical intervention for children participating in the Mwangaza outreach programs.

Some of our safaris are joined by Mwangaza founder Paula Gremley as she takes us behind the scenes in Minjingu, outside of Tarangire National Park. We have the opportunity to meet with village elders, meet some of the children helped by Mwangaza's efforts, visit traditional homesteads, and meet with local school children and their teachers. Paula acts as translator and shares her insights about tribal cultures. Deeper Africa makes a charitable donation on each guest's behalf for use by Mwangaza as needed. Your visit to the village also supports micro-economic development projects sponsored by the Minjingu Women's Group.

Deeper Africa partners with SEVA Foundation to provide SEVA donors the opportunity to personally visit SEVA's Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Opthamology in Moshi, Tanzania.

SEVA's Tanzanian staff and Dr. Paul Courtright of SEVA give SEVA donors privileged access to their Maasai community outreach programs, the wards and operating rooms at KCMC Hospital in Moshi, and the homes of tribal people whose lives have been touched by SEVA. Deeper Africa has designed a complete wildlife and cultural safari specifically for SEVA donors.

An amazing array of wildlife lives on the Otarakuai Kitilikini Group Ranch. The Maasai tribal council is committed to developing cultural tourism on the ranch, to generate income that enables them to live off the land, following Maasai traditions. In doing so, they are part of a new and growing ecotourism effort in Kenya. Here is how it works: Our Kenyan outfitter is permitted to maintain a traditional safari camp on the Group Ranch, giving Deeper Africa guests access to protected tribal lands. The tribal council receives a conservation fee for each traveler visiting the ranch. Maasai elders and warriors act as your guides to introduce you to nature and their wildlife. Maasai elders introduce you to the tribe's mystical and cultural traditions. This approach creates benefit on both sides. As a guest, you get a privileged person-to-person introduction to an authentic indigenous culture, and the tribal council has complete discretion over funds earned. So far, these earnings have been used to fund the local primary school and dispensary.

Beads For Education sponsors a micro-economic small business development project with the Dupoto Women's Group. Maasai women from the group use profits from the sale of their traditional beadwork to support more than 125 children and to contribute to their daughter's school fees. The Dupoto Women's Group members are mothers, sisters and aunts working to provide better life opportunities for their girls.

Ten-year-old Entito is a Maasai girl living in Isinya, Kenya. Were it not for BEADS, Entito would probably be forced at puberty into an arranged marriage to an older man as his second or third wife, and she would bear seven or more children. Thanks to BEADS, when Entito finishes high school, she will most likely be the sole wife of a man she chooses. She will have fewer children and will be in a good position to educate her children and improve her family's standard of living. She may even pursue a career. The increased sense of self-esteem she develops as a result of BEADS support will enable her to choose a more sustainable lifestyle that will have a positive impact on the environment and on her community.

Deeper Africa makes a charitable donation on each guest's behalf for use by BEADS as needed. As our guest, you will be welcomed by the women and girls of the Dupoto Womens Project. After a visit to the beading room, you will tour the local school and visit the home of one of the Dupoto Womens Project members. Your visit with the Dupoto Womens Project will help create more sponsorships for local Maasai girls-providing a remarkable and inspiring experience for you and a brighter future for Maasai girls.

Deeper Africa has partnered with the Tanzania Sports Academy in its efforts to develop Tanzanian runners for national and international competition. Tanzania Sports Academy athletes have competed in the Olympic Games, World Championships, African Championships, Commonwealth Games, and the East Africa Championships.

Tanzania provides no government assistance for its highly talented athletes. Runners support themselves or hope to receive assistance through private organizations such as theTanzania Sports Academy. The Academy, a non-governmental organization, provides athletic training programs as well as secondary school education to young talented runners in Tanzania.

Deeper Africa makes a charitable donation on a guest's behalf for use by the Tanzanian Sports Academy toward the construction of their new school building. As our guest, you will be welcomed by the young runners attending the school as well as some of the internationally acclaimed runners. The students lead you on a tour of the school, tell you about their accomplishments and goals, provide you with a sumptuous lunch banquet, and take you out for a training walk or run on one of their training routes.

Max Iranghe, Secretary General of the Tanzania Coaches Association and the Director of the Tanzanian Sports Academy, will share his coaching strategies with you, explain the importance of education - especially for an internationally competitive runner, and discuss how he recruits young talents from certain districts in Tanzania that routinely produce some of the worldís best runners.

You will have the opportunity to speak personally with all of the runners and learn about their dreams of Olympic success.

In the green Chyulu Hills of Kenya, with Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, Luca Belpietro and his wife, Antonella Bonomi, have developed a unique partnership with the Maasai tribal council on the Kuku Group Ranch to help make wildlife profitable through tourism. In partnership with the Maasai, Luca and Antonella have built a camp and lodge. Campi ya Kanzi sponsors the Maasai Wilderness Trust which oversees wildlife conservation projects, education projects and health care projects. All of these efforts create unique opportunities to observe and learn. For example:

Wildlife Adoption Programs: Kenyan law allows local tribes to kill a fixed number of animals for bush meat which is sold to raise money. (Local tribal people don't eat the bush meat themselves.) In response, Luca and Antonella have set up an adoption program so that the tribe is paid not to kill the animals. This way the animals roam free and the local people can get their much needed revenue. Short term needs for cash are met, while the long term goal of building wildlife stocks on the Group Ranch in order to encourage tourism is furthered.

Educational Projects: Five teachers in the local primary school are supported by the Wilderness Trust, which provides funds for books, crayons, drawing paper, blackboards and desks. You can help by bringing pens, pencils and other school supplies. Soccer balls are also greatly appreciated.

Health Care Projects: The Wilderness Trust is raising funds to drill a well near the dispensary and school to provide a clean source of drinkable water.

When you stay at Campi ya Kanzi, you enjoy beautiful accommodations and superb cuisine. In addition, you get to see something powerful and innovative at work. And you get a chance to help real people in a way that makes a difference right away.

For its efforts in preserving Kenya's environmental and cultural heritage Campi ya Kanzi has been awarded the Bronze Rating by the Ecotourism Society of Kenya.

Oria and Iain Douglas-Hamilton are your hosts at their Elephant Watch camp in Samburu National Park where you have a rare chance to join researchers in their daily observations of resident herds. Elephant Watch safari camp operates in alliance with Save the Elephants research camp. You'll get to tour the research station, chat with the researchers, and observe the day to day operations of a wilderness research camp. You'll enjoy back country game drives centered around African elephants. The Douglas-Hamiltons have pioneered the art of identifying individual elephants. Soon you'll be on a first name basis with the bulls, matriarchs, and the elephant families.

The idea behind Elephant Watch is borrowed from whale watching. The plan is to discourage the killing of elephants for their ivory by making them a valuable source of tourist revenue. A contribution is made by each Deeper Africa guest staying at the Elephant Watch Camp to the Elephant Watch Education Fund. These monies fund a local women's workshop, a bees and trees project, and educational scholarships for selected students. Oria and Iain are committed to micro-economic development projects in the Samburu area. They employ local people at their camps and research sites. As well, Deeper Africa travelers can contribute to the Save the Elephants research camp through its United States 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Friend of Africa International.

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