Avila travel from Haarlem plants its own forest in Botswana with the Timbo Africa Foundation
Travelling is something incredibly beautiful, we can all agree. But what could be more beautiful than using travel to make the world a little bit better.
Tourism plays a big role in protecting Wildlife, supporting local communities and positively connecting people around the world. But as a travel agent or a consumer, what do you do about the much-discussed topic of flight & travel shame.
The growing trend and question is whether we should really travel by plane to faraway destinations and what the impact is on our environment.
Avila Travel and the Timbo Africa Foundation have thereby joined forces to create a positive impact movement on (distant) travel by planting its own ´Avila Travel Forest’ whereby several areas the size of 10 hectares will be rehabilitated in the Central Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana. In doing so, both parties aim to have a (proven) positive impact on destinations, its communities, wildlife and the environment.
To give travelers a chance to offset the CO2 component of air travel, a large tree nursery for native African trees has been set up by the Timbo Africa Foundation in the Central Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana, where the foundation has been active in conservation, creating wildlife corridors and reintroducing endangered game species since 2016. At this nursery, guests visiting our camps, can buy any number of indigenous tree species such as Baobab, Huilboerboom and Jackalberry, which will be planted back in eroded areas and Riverine Forests in the Game Reserve.
Planting local native trees goes far beyond offsetting the CO2 component. The nursery itself is housed on community land and 4 full-time employees provide saplings which are grown from locally collected seed. So it contributes directly to the creation of sustainable jobs. The tree species itself is a very important factor, as the trees will be planted in areas where they are under pressure or have disappeared due to elephant behavior, climate change and historically mismanaged cattle breeding areas. In other words, they play an important role in restoring large areas of African wilderness.
The general planting of trees in the Central Tuli Game Reserve also plays an important role in stopping surface erosion and helps create more favorable conditions for grass growth; not only an important factor in CO2 absorption, but also a vital component for increasing biodiversity and increasing carrying capacity for our herbivores.
