The number of tourists visiting The Gambia annually grows by 40%. The problem, however, is that many of the hotels and restaurants have foreign owners, making this growth but partly beneficial for the population. Ecotours Gambia wants to change this. What do we do differently Our guests stay in so called ecocamps. Some ecocamps are designed and built by the local community with support from the Ministry of tourism to promote sustainable tourism in the Gambia. Others donate 10% of their income to the surrounding villages, so that children can go to school and good medical care becomes available. The guests are offered a lot of interaction with local communities. They can participate in drum, dance and Ty and die workshops. And are invited to eat with the locals. This gives it a unique and penetrating picture of the real culture and hospitality of the Gambia. Also known as the smiling coast of west Africa. Out of the principal of social return on investment Ecotours donates a portion of its proceeds to the Foundation People Perspective. This Foundation finances projects that contribute to non-grid solutions, such as making available for the population the Waka Waka Power and the cooke stove Ace1. Gambia hits fast deforested. Almost everyone even in the big cities is cooking on charcoal or wood fires. Worldwide, cooking on open fires is responsible for more than half of the emissions of CO2 and annually 4 million people especially women die as a result of inhaling harmful substances. 50% of the Gambia is not connected to the electricity grid. Rice is the main food in the Gambia. Almost all dishes have rice as a basis. The Gambia is the only country in West Africa with large scale rice farming. On the South Bank this is concentrated to Sapu. The land is fertile and can yield two to three harvests per year. As these rice fields would be fully operational, The Gambia can provide fully in its needs for rice and even export it. However, a major problem is the lack of good agriculture machinery, such as tractors, tillers and wanmachines. As a result, the yield per hectare lowers drastically in recent years. Through donations from Ecotours and other sources People Perspective Foundation buys tractors etc. in Europe and shipped them to The Gambia, where they are rented out to farmers for a small fee. The farmers do not have the necessary machines all year and this construction makes it possible, that the fields are still ploughed, making the yield increased. With the rent the machines are maintained. This maintenance is a learning/working project for local young people and is performed by a Go for Africa Foundation (goforafrica.nl), which already has 10 years’ experience in The Gambia with learning/work projects in car technique.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:02:10 +0000
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