Responsible Tourism

Kenyan Village Homestays

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Highlights of this tour.

Our programme enables you to explore the various fundamentals of culture. This includes language, food (preparation, storage), songs (dances and music), agriculture & wildlife, rituals, stories, traditional medicine (healers, tools), and values. All of these attributes collectively, form an intricate web, which gives every community its identity, character, self-respect and purpose.

Example of the itinerary.

Day 1:Arrival into Kenya. Arrive in Nairobi and check-in into one of our Community Centres. We carry out a presentation of how your visit will be structured on a day to day basis. We also use that time to allocate your host family, discuss what to expect, codes of etiquette.

Day 2:Depart for the community-based village homestay. Depart Nairobi for the village homesteads, arriving at around lunchtime. After settling in your accommodation in your host family's home, you are then invited to share a traditional meal. Each host family welcomes a maximum of four guests including a staff member (to assist with translation where necessary).

Day 3:Introduction to the community. All the visitors gather together for after breakfast for a talks and discussions about history, culture and present-day status of the host community. In the afternoon there is a ‘cultural learning' sessions where you are given the option to learn a specific element of the community's culture e.g. handicrafts, medicine, language, songs & dance.
Day 4:A day in the village. Activities on this day are based around spending time with your host family helping them in their daily tasks. These vary from family to family however the most common activities you would participate in are:- harvesting grass for livestock, collecting firewood, tilling the land, sowing, fetching water, market shopping and milking the cows.

Day 5:A project with the community. The community has identified with a joint project (utilising the proceeds from tourism) they sustain depending on their needs. Such projects could include: small construction projects (wall making bricks, borehole digging), handicrafts and weaving, environmental clean up etc.

Day 6:Visiting the local area. We organise visits to the local hospitals and schools as well other landmarks that form a focal meeting point for the community such as the church or community centres. This provides an opportunity to understand how the village is connected with their wider environment and locality.

Day 7:Excursions. The day is spent visiting nearby National Parks viewing and appreciating the wildlife and scenery. The National Park visited depends on your village location; this would be advised upon on your arrival in Kenya. Later in the day the host families organise an exchange ‘cultural evening' which is also a time for the guests to thank the hosts.

Day 8:Departure. Depart the homesteads and villages for a final shopping day, in Nairobi.

 

Benefits for communities

• Provide a more sustainable form of livelihood for local communities alongside their established means for earning potential.
• Fosters the sustainable use and collective responsibility over land and resources.
• Encourage communities themselves to be more directly involved in conservation of their local environment.
• Generate local economic benefits by generation of income acquired from hosting, translation, and transportation services for the visitors.
• This creates an understanding and goodwill towards other conservation measures such as protected areas, indigenous forests and natural habitats.
• This project mobilises and helps to empower women and women's groups who are the main participants in this project as they welcome the visitors into their own homes or provide contacts from their villages that would supply accommodation for the visitors.

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