Incentives · Journal
What should we gift, and what should we never do?
Useful, light and locally made beats branded luggage. No costume ethnography in the Mara, Stone Town, Lalibela or on a Seychelles beach. Ask us before the merch order.
What we tell planners
The best gifts we see: a small piece from a contracted artisan (Tanzanian or Kenyan studio, Rwandan cooperative, Ugandan craft, Ethiopian coffee that is actually origin, Seychellois or Mauritian maker), a photography book of their actual itinerary, a donation in the guest’s name to the conservancy, island foundation or highland community they stayed with. A kikoi that is a kikoi — not a joke — still works after safari. After Mauritius or Seychelles, think light, useful, and legally exportable.
The worst: heavy branded coolers nobody can fly home from SEZ, MRU or JRO; fake ‘tribal’ costumes for a Serengeti gala; pirate or fake-Creole kits for an Indian Ocean night; beads bought at the airport; anything that treats staff as props. Church mornings in Lalibela and Kigali’s memorial are not costume moments either.
Dress briefs matter in Stone Town, at Kigali’s memorial, in rural Maasai and Batwa communities, in Ethiopian churches (modest dress, quiet, no gala on a terrace of a nave), and in village visits on Mahé, Praslin or Mauritius. We issue one page, in plain language, without being precious.
Tipping guidelines go in the same document as the visa matrix — safari guides, gorilla porters, dhow and catamaran crews, highland drivers, island boatmen. Ambiguity creates awkwardness in front of the CEO.
What to brief next
- — Gift for the suitcase and the memory, not the airport scale.
- — No costume ethnography — in the bush, the highlands or on the islands.
- — Tipping policy in writing for every destination on the route.