18 independent reviews for Ghana, Togo and Benin holiday, gold and magic

Hi Maryanne, Thank you for taking the time to review your trip to Ghana, Togo and Benin. It’s really important to us that the local people we visit on our tours benefit from this, and our local team ensure that they are paid fairly. Payment is given to the village elders who decide how to distribute it, and how it is spent, according to the needs of the community. Our local team also regularly bring gifts to the local villages, such as rice and soap, and maintain good relationships with the people of the villages we visit. We always prefer to work with local guides and drivers too, and source food supplies locally, to ensure that money stays within the economy. Plastic waste is a problem in this part of the world, sadly, and we are very conscious not to add to this. Refillable water bottles are something we have been trying to roll out with various local teams across our destinations and we are finding this more difficult in some places than others. In destinations like these, the reality is, is that a large container of water in the back of the bus that you can use to refill your own reusable bottles, has likely been filled with lots of smaller bottles, as the only other available water sources are unsanitary and unsafe to drink. We will keep working on this, however, as we really do share your concerns and want to do everything we can to minimise the amount of single-use plastic used on our tours. It is true that the villagers collect empty bottles and you might have seen some being reused during your trip, for things such as palm oil which is produced locally. We’re really pleased that the village visits and Akwasidae Festival were particular highlights for you, and that you enjoyed the itinerary, but it sounds like the delivery of information could have been better executed. We will discuss this with our local team and see how we can make things run a bit more smoothly in future. Thank you for travelling with us, Maryanne, and for taking the time to share your thoughts on the tour. It’s always really helpful to know what’s working well, and what we could be doing better, so your comments are very much appreciated.

Photography is always a subject that we try to manage sensitively; we recognise that many of our travellers like to take photographs but it’s important to bear in mind that the people that we visit are not simply objects to be photographed. We visit villages that are happy to receive us as visitors, and always ensure that our presence is not resented, and that we leave something for the village to thank them for having allowed us to visit them. As you say, this can be a delicate balance and not all travellers give this as much thought as you, so where necessary we try to step in and speak to travellers if behaviour becomes inappropriate, as well as giving guidelines as to how to behave sensitively.