Eco & Community Tourism

Exploriada Adventure Travel is involved in community and environmental conservation programmers. We work in areas for enhancing community livelihoods, water and sanitation, organic agriculture, community health, environmental conservation, research and education. In collaboration and partnership with other individuals, organisations and corporate bodies, Exploriada Adventure Travel seeks to give back to the community in the form of supporting community development and empowerment programmes.

By choosing us to be your travel partner, you will be given a unique opportunity to learn and experience nature and to interact with the local communities in their Day-to-Day lives.

The fraction of the amount paid will be used in the empowering and supporting community based development programs.

We also work in collaboration and partnership with various organisations involved in community development initiatives. Please follow the links below to learn more:

 

Ecotourism with Exploriada

Forests are essential for health of the planet. They help to control the climate, recycle water and oxygen, prevent soil erosion and provide homes for the most of the world’s species of plants and animals. In spite of these benefits, human activities are rendering the forest incapacitated to offer such service to the planet. Notwithstanding decades for environmental campaigning and international action, the richest forests continue to be depleted at an alarming rate (UGI, 1998/99). According to Park (1992) the developing world lost 2 million km2 of forest between 1980 and 1995, most of the loss was tropical rainforest. However, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported in its State of the World Forest Report in 1999, that annual losses in the developing world seemed to decrease i.e. from 15.5 million hectares a year during the 1980s to 13.7million hectares between 1990 and 1995. It is estimated that even at this rate, an area in the size of Greece was being lost every year (UGI, 1998/99).

 

Ethiopia natural resources

Ethiopia’s Institute of Biodiversity Conservation states that Ethiopia is endowed with diverse ecosystems in which diverse flora and fauna as well as microbial resources are found. High land and low land and desert properties exhibited all over the country. The major ecosystems include: afroalpine and subafroalpine, montane dry forest and scrub, montane moist forest, acacia-comiphora woodland, combretum-terminalia woodland, lowland humid forest, aquatic, wetland, montane grassland, and desert and semi-desert ecosystems.

The protected areas of Ethiopia constitute 14% of the total land area, excluding the montane forest according to the most recent study. Ethiopian forest cover has declined to 3.56% of the total. The annual loss of the highland montane forest areas of Ethiopia has been estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000 ha.

Ethiopia has nine vegetation-based major ecosystems. The country contains outstanding physical features including the lava lake of Erta`ale and the sulphur deposits of Dallol. Most recent studies indicate that:

  • There are more than 6500 species of higher plants (10-12% endemic)
  • About 887 plant species are used for medicinal purposes, constituting over 10% of the vascular species existing in Ethiopia
  • Ethiopia has 862 species of birds (16 endemic), 277 species of mammals (35 endemic), 201 species of reptiles (10 endemic) and 63 amphibian species (34 endemic)
  • Seven mammal and two bird species have been listed by IUCN as critically endangered
  • According to the CITES list, 1 reptile, 4 birds and 8 mammals are in danger of extinction.

Threats to biodiversity include:

  • undervaluation of environmental resources;
  • deforestation (due to agricultural expansion and settlement, habitat fragmentation, and subsequent decline in regeneration, and forest fire);
  • lack of adequate knowledge of biological resources;
  • overexploitation

 

Ecotourism in Ghana

The total land area of Ghana 238,539 km2 had 34% originally rainforest coverage. Today less than 11,000 km2 is covered by forest (Frempong Manso, 2000). Since the colonial era, the exploitation of timber for commercial purposes has been part of Ghana economy. It is only since the start of the Economic Reforms Programme (ERP)1 in 1983 that deforestation has become a serious concern because of the over-exploitation of the forest resources. Forest resources in Ghana are being depleted at a faster rate than before compared to other developing countries. Since 1981, the average annual rate of deforestation in Ghana is estimated at 2.0% compared to 0.9% for all tropical forest, 0.6% for Zaire, and 0.6% for Brazil (WRI, 1990). The effort of the government in both Kenya and Ghana to reduce deforestation have yielded limited success, primarily because many of the initiatives were misguided and /or failed to deal with deforestation as a complex, dynamic and interwoven process.

 

Ecotourism in Kenya

The total land of Kenya is 580,000 km with a population over 43 million residents. Kenya has warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian ocean, which changes to wildlife rich savanna grasslands. The northern and eastern parts are dry lands and the wastern exhibits temparte forested and hilly areas. The presence of Mount Kenya makes Nairobi cool city and Victoria lake sense of nose. Kenya is famous for safaris and diverse wildlife reserves such as East and West Tsavo National Park, the Massai Mara Nakuru National Park and Aberdares National Parks. In terms of fauna in Kenya the great wildebeest migration, 11.5 million of these migrate a distance of 1800 miles from Serengeti park in Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

Among the best Safari experts in Kenya Exploriada works with a Kenyan Serekede Safari tour agency.