Social Responsibility comes natural to us. In fact, it started even before we started Tailor Made Safaris! Nick, the owner of Tailor Made Safaris has traveled extensively during his studies. He also worked at a volunteer company doing community upliftment in South Africa for 9 months. Those experiences have learned him one thing: Education should stand at the base of any sustainable development aid. As a result, the focus from our social responsibility revolves around education.
- In 2006, Nick founded the AELC (African Education for Leaders in Conservation) which sourced funding so an African student could pursue a Masters Degree in conservation biology. The selected candidate was from Kenya and he completed his post-graduate degree and is now working at a renowned Kenyan conservation organisation.
- In 2008, Nick, together with a Kenyan and an Austrian colleague founded KNET (Kana-Ndiwa Education Trust), which sources funding to sponsor orphaned children through primary, secondary and university education in the Tsavo region in Kenya. Of course Tailor Made Safaris makes annual donations as well, and in total 15 children now have access to school, which they didn't have before.
- Since 2009, Tailor Made Safaris, has helped a number of South African young people through the FGASA nature guide training program. This by facilitating training at Bhejane Nature Training and mentoring/teaching students personally, and by guiding them through registering with the relevant authorities to become a legal nature guide.
- Since the beginning, we have factored in the costs for climate compensation for all our guests. Of course we want them to fly out to Africa, but then at least we can ensure that the Carbon nett result of their travel with us is zero. We have thus contributed those costs to the Wildlands Conservation Trust in South Africa to use for various projects that involve replanting or protecting trees, and to the Centre of Sustainability in the Philippines. With our donation, they have managed to protect the Cleopatra's Needle Forest Reserve from forestry and created a sustainable livelyhood for the members of the Batak Tribe living in that forest,
- Since 2016, Tailor Made Safaris is a financial sponsor of iProsper, an organisation based in the Kosi Bay region of South Africa. iProsper came into being after it had recognised that many very talented high school leavers never make it to university, as they lack the finances as well as the knowledge as to how to get in university and get government bursaries. iProsper now identifies worthy individuals, and then helps them with the process of applying for government funding, registering with universities, helping them with finding accommodation and finally offering a mentorship program for those fresh students to ensure they adjust to the new 'student life environment' and keep producing healthy study results.
- Currently, we have started to offer free advice and mentorship programs to disadvantages individuals to teach them the tricks of the ecotourism trade, enabling them to start up their own ecotourism venture.
- Also, we keep on investing in our staff members by making training opportunities available to them, that furthers their skill set and their employability.