Responsible travel

The Makhad Trust (with Makhad Journeys as its operational arm) practises a well-controlled responsible travel and fair trade policy. The aim is to increase the positive impact our work has on our areas of operation. In particular, we take great care to work responsibly with the economy, the environment and the culture of the indigenous inhabitants of the regions we travel in.

Economy:

  • We work directly with the nomadic communities of South Sinai, employing local people and businesses for transport, guiding and accommodation.
  • We source all produce locally wherever possible. All payments to suppliers are fair, and adapt quickly when conditions change.
  • We aim to develop self-sustaining, income-generating activities to the communities we work with, to minimise their dependency on the coastal resorts.

Environment:

  • Our project work has direct environmental benefits.
  • We tell visitors how to minimise damage to the environment, the wildlife and the marine ecosystems.
  • We keep water use to a minimum, and provide detailed advice on water usage to visitors.
  • We encourage visitors to use environmentally safe soaps.
  • We carefully burn or bury toilet and litter waste.
  • If toilets are to be regularly used, we build compost toilets.
  • In the desert we use, wherever possible, camels rather than jeeps.
  • In any case we keep travel to a minimum and restrict it to existing tracks.
  • All of our building work uses local stone and minimises the use of cement.
  • In our office we recycle printer cartridges and reduce and reuse paper.
  • Our brochure is printed on 100% recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks.
  • Where possible we send information to customers by email.
  • Lights are only on when the office is occupied and nothing is left on standby.

Culture:

  • We emphasise that visitors are guests within the communities, and the local people are the hosts.
  • We encourage visitors to engage with local people and share in camp site duties.
  • We make sure visitors know about local history and culture.
  • We include the local women in our projects to support their economic and social development.
  • We encourage visitors to buy locally made crafts and to pay a fair price for them.
  • We encourage visitors to dress appropriately and to respect the guest/host tradition.