ZARA and Sustainable Tourism

ZARA's founder and managing director, Zainab Ansell, a local from Moshi/Tanzania, has been active in her community for her entire life and is passionate about the future of Tanzania, the environment and the youth, women and guides and porters of Kilimanjaro. Since the start of ZARA Tours, we have been supporting charitable NGOs in Tanzania including schools & centres for street children and orphans. Further we have been actively involved in conservation and development issues of the Kilimanjaro National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and we contribute to and involve local communities into our tourism products, and we regularly support charity Kilimanjaro climbs and other fundraising charity events in Tanzania.


Pictures: Kilimanjaro charity climb with former Tanzanian president Ali Hassan Mwinyi; our conservation biologist Ahmed Attas performing field work, children supported by the Huruma Women Project


Mount Kilimanjaro Porter Society

A milestone in the history of ZARA's charitable involvement has been the creation of the Mount Kilimanjaro Porter Society which was founded by Zara Tours in 2004 with the goal to improve the working condition of all porters on Mount Kilimanjaro and other hiking areas in Tanzania. Today, most porters at Mount Kilimanjaro (and all porters of Zara) are members of the Society and can benefit from various resources such as language classes, classes in environmentally sustainable tourism, healthcare and first-aid classes, training in providing customer services, classes to know their rights, legal advice, assistance in micro-finances to improve their family’s living conditions and guarantee a proper education of their children, year-round employment possibilities, and access to an affordable equipment and clothing store.

Pictures: Zainab giving English language certificates to porters, and Zainab providing first aid training to Kilimanjaro porters

ZARA Tanzania Charity

In order to support those in need in a more holistic and sustainable way and in order to reach more people to get involved - Zainab decided to launch the ZARA Charity in 2009. For the ZARA Charity, Zainab has brought together a group of charitable NGOs (Non-government organizations) and CBOs (Community-based organizations) that provide valuable relief to suffering Tanzanian communities. It is Zainab's aim to give them a firm ground of support upon which to stand and function.

As a separate charitable organization, ZARA Charity, its operations, and its finances are distinct from ZARA Tours. While ZARA Tours donates 15 US$ per traveler to support the ZARA Charity, any and all monetary or material donations remain with ZARA Charity to be passed on to its supported organizations with no form of contributed support ever going to ZARA Tours. 

ZARA Charity believes in complete and comprehensive accountability that ensures responsible application of all donor contributions to the specific causes they wish to help. If donating to the Charity as a whole, then this entails guaranteeing that donated funds are given directly and completely to supported organizations only. 

ZARA Charity has people in touch with many charitable organizations that understand their needs and can distribute donated funds accordingly. These people will follow up on how the money has been used in order to guarantee donors that their money is being used according to their interest and in the best manner for the benefit of the needy. 

International involvement

Our international involvement in sustainable tourism includes sponsorships and memberships of the African Studies Institute at the University of Georgia, Sustainable Travel International (STI), Wildlife Now and Women in Tourism International Alliance .
 

What you as a traveller can do

You as a traveller can support sustainable tourism:

• by assisting local economies through the purchase of local products instead of imported ones
• by donating money or goods to the charitable organisations that we support. You can even visit the organisations to make sure that your donations really reach those projects
• by volunteering at charitable organisations
  
• by respecting local cultures and traditions. Our guides will inform you. Please ask before taking photos of people or private houses.
• by not buying souvenirs made from endangered indigenous wood such as ebony, bamba kofi or mangrove wood, and souvenirs which encourage the destruction of our flora and fauna such as pieces of corals, large sea shells, turtle shells or other primed or living animals
• by not removing any natural objects such as plants or sea shells
• by not harassing wildlife or marine life
• by not leaving litter. Please take all litter back from the mountains or safaris unless responsibly disposed of by your trip guides
• Water is precious - please use it sparingly. 
• At our hotels, leaving towels on the towel rail means you want to use them again. Putting them on the floor means you want them to be replaced. This saves detergents.