From Our Blog
Siobhan

Win a holiday of a lifetime of a chimp and gorilla safari in Uganda!

posted at 4:17pm, 07 Oct 09 by Siobhan [ 11 comments ]

Today we have a special guest blog from Caroline, our Tea Brand Manager…..

“I had the privilege of visiting the tea growers at the Mpanga Tea Growers’ Factory in Uganda, one of Africa’s most beautiful nations, to take photos for our new packaging. It is here that we source the delicious Ugandan tea that gives our Everyday tea its distinctive body and colour.

You might be lucky enough to see gorillas like this in Uganda!

Mpanga is not far from the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park – one of the few places in Africa where you can track the elusive mountain gorillas.  Unfortunately for me I did not have the opportunity to go gorilla trekking but I heard so many amazing stories about it that I thought it would be a perfect prize  giveaway to celebrate our new packaging.

So, we’ve teamed up with responsibletravel.com to give one lucky tea drinker the adventure of a lifetime  – the opportunity for them and a friend to be whisked away on a chimp and gorilla safari in Uganda. Not only will the lucky winner get to track gorillas in their natural rainforest habitat but they will also get to search for chimps in the dramatic Chambura Gorge and watch big game and birds on the savannah plains below the lofty ‘Mountains of the Moon’ in Queen Elizabeth National Park. You can read more about this amazing adventure  here.

Look out for these special promotional packs of Everyday Tea!

Look out for these special promotional packs of Everyday Tea!

Next time you go shopping make sure to look out for the special promotion packs of Cafédirect’s Everyday Tea (pictured) and you could win this fantastic prize.  Each promotional pack has a special code inside which you can use to enter at here.

Plus, as well as this amazing prize, every single person who enters will receive a £50 holiday voucher to redeem against any responsibletravel.com holiday. They have thousands of holidays on offer, from big adventures and beach breaks to cosy country cottages. Everyone’s a winner!

So make sure you don’t miss this opportunity and tell all your friends!”

Enter the competition here.

Comments

  1. Sophie Tanner says:
    October 28, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Interestingly enough, this conundrum was dicussed in a lecture I attended yesterday by Stephen Fry, following the compelling series ‘Last Chance To See’ – in which he joins Mark Carwardine in visiting remote areas of the globe in search of endangered species.

    He raised the important point that tourism and travel can, in some cases, have a positive impact on conservation. The mountain gorillas that Fry visited in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, for example, would not exist without tourism. Western visitors pay the wages of the rangers who work hard to protect the remaining gorillas – and without their money, the forests would be pulled down and all would be lost.

    Fry urged the audience to take this remarkable trip, saying “in the case of these gorillas, seeing them up close will change you life and it will help to keep them alive.”

    I think the point of opting to travel responsibly is to take into account how your own experience is impacting on your travel destination – and making sure that you’re doing eveything in your power to treat the place with respect. The idea of taking responsiblity for your actions, rather than offsetting them, is surely more progressive and positive than a lot of other types of tourism?

  2. Krissy Roe says:
    October 27, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    Interesting discussion…

    The dilemma around flying is something that faces many responsible travellers… Whilst they may recognise that responsible tourism can have a hugely positive economic impact on communities around the world, they are also aware that global warming (and aviation is indeed one of the fastest growing contributors) threatens the very communities and environments that they are seeking out on their travels.

    We recently published a carbon caution (see http://www.responsibletravel.com/carboncaution ) on our site which advises travellers to fly less (by taking the train, exploring closer to home etc.) and to look at making carbon reductions across other areas of their lifestyle too.

    However, we also feel it’s important to acknowledge that realistically tourists will continue to want to visit destinations requiring a flight. For these people it’s imperative that they ‘make their holiday count’ by choosing a more responsible holiday that makes a real difference in the destination – one that seeks to reduce CO2 impacts, supports local community programs and community developments – just as the holiday we’re offering with Cafédirect does, as Whitney explains above.
    Krissy Roe, responsibletravel.com

  3. Whitney says:
    October 21, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    Thanks very much for your comments Tony and Harriet. You make a valid point, of course.

    We did carefully consider the implications of offering a holiday abroad as a competition prize and the environmental impact that it has. For us, the decision comes down to the inevitable trade-offs of this type of issue.

    On the one hand, we’re no strangers to the carbon emissions that result from travel and from the other parts of our business. As part of our environmental strategy, in fact, we are conducting an updated carbon footprint of our entire supply chain (including those parts that we can only influence, such as suppliers and consumers), and including travel by all staff, grower partners and any travel like this competition. Based on this data, we’re setting targets in the areas of our biggest carbon impact (which happens to come from processing and consumption). Transport really is minimal in the bigger picture. We have also been working with smallholder farmers to adapt to the effects of climate change they are already experiencing. These efforts aim to give us a meaningful and impactful approach to carbon emissions.

    On the other hand, we chose to offer the trip as a prize because we have seen how tourism can provide real benefits to local communities, including funding environmental initiatives and a deeper understanding of social justice and trade issues. Indeed some of our producer partners run their own tourism programmes, such as KNCU (who produce our Kilimanjaro gourmet fresh ground coffee). They have a community based tourism project called Kahawa Shamba which has been implemented to bring in extra income to small-scale coffee farmers in the area.

    In short, we do consider that tourism has its place, as long as the overall picture of the environmental and social impact has been considered.

    We also chose to run the trip through Responsible Travel due to their ethical and green credentials. I’m not sure if you’ve heard much about them, but they recently revoked the option to offset any travel made through them and have opted to inform travellers about the carbon impacts of travel and to offer lower carbon trips and travel advice instead. You can find out more about them here:

    http://www.responsibletravel.com/Copy/Copy902116.htm

    I hope this gives you some insight into our decision and thanks again for voicing your opinions.

    Whitney Kakos
    Impact & Sustainability Manager, Cafédirect

  4. samantha english says:
    October 19, 2009 at 7:00 am

    cafe direct and fair trade are doing a priceless and invaluable job, which is paving the future for so many people, who deserve to earn a true value for their hard work!

  5. uberVU - social comments says:
    October 18, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cafedirect_HQ: Win a holiday of a lifetime of a chimp and gorilla safari in Uganda!: Today we have a special guest blog from C.. http://bit.ly/5SEvr…

  6. ray says:
    October 17, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    chimp and see

  7. lesley totterdell says:
    October 17, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    To track gorillas in their natural rainforest habitat in the Chambura Gorge. To watch big game and birds on the savannah plains below the ‘Mountains of the Moon’.
    To visit Queen Elizabeth National Park.
    To drink Fairtrade tea in these locations. Paradise for any Engliishman.
    Please take me there now.

  8. tony rowell says:
    October 17, 2009 at 11:29 am

    i’d be interested in knowing ow anyone is going to get to Uganda witout flying. of course i may be wrong but if not then how can Cafe Direct in one breath feign being concerned about global warming and in the next offer such a prize. responsible travel may call itself such but if it offers holidays with flights then its name is an oxymoron. it makes me despair and tempted to sell my shares.

  9. denise mallinson says:
    October 16, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    Wow what a smashing prize!

  10. harriet wood says:
    October 16, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    responsible travel means NO FLYING

  11. Tweets that mention Cafédirect | Fairtrade Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Products | Win a holiday of a lifetime of a chimp and gorilla safari in Uganda! -- Topsy.com says:
    October 8, 2009 at 2:54 am

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