Holger Asche is a genuine North German and has worked as a travel merchant for many years in leading positions for travel agencies, special and major tour operators, shipping companies and airlines - interrupted only by a tourism business studies degree and a visit to the WITS Business School in Johannesburg. It was there that Holger's deep love for Africa germinated for the first time and grew stronger with each further business and private trip. Sometimes just a long weekend, but rather three weeks with the whole family – as long as Holger is in Africa! What could be more natural than to show other people the beauty and diversity of this fantastic continent together with his long-time friends Jan and Frank?
Jan Seidel was born in South Africa and heads our Johannesburg office. Having grown up there, he wanted to emigrate to Germany – his father's home country – as a Twen, but returned to his beloved African homeland after only three months. Here he became Customer Service Manager at Lufthansa, later moving to British Airways, where he headed the international Contact Center for many years. In more than 22 years of tourism Jan has traveled around the world. But nowhere has the cultural and natural diversity of a continent touched him more than in South Africa. Even today, he is often on the move here; looking for a photo motif for a beautiful African sunset or buffaloes that whirl through the open grasslands in a dusty atmosphere.
Frank Wardenberg is a long-time sales expert with a keen sense of wishes and desires. As a graduate in business administration (BA), he managed sales and marketing for a British Airways subsidiary for twelve years. Then his more than 20 years of experience in tourism, a strong team spirit and his friends Jan and Holger joined forces to form Ajimba African Tours. For Frank there is nothing more beautiful than to share his passion for people and cultures with his love for travelling – for this he brings his wide-meshed network to Ajimba. Getting closer to the local people is a worthwhile incentive, which he can also realize at Ajimba, using the example of many educational projects that Frank has supported with computer donations in Africa for years.
Ajimba leaves beaten tracks – for travelling with the consciousness of wanting to give something back to people and nature. For this purpose, we exclusively work with partners, hotel and lodge operators who are socially active in their local communities, have established or support foundations for the help of local people or schools, primarily employ locals and pay fair wages. Therefor we enable you to support projects on-site with advice and action. Through our commitment to a travel offer that focuses on human rights, working conditions, environmental protection and sustainability we give you the opportunity to get to know southern Africa with its touching flora and fauna and its open people in a conscious way. We invite everybody to join the high standards of creating a holistic experience of people and nature with a journey. A journey that you will start with a good feeling and from which you'll return with an even better one.
Ajimba leaves well-trodden paths – for a journey with the awareness of wanting to give something back to people and nature. We work exclusively with partners, hotel and lodge operators who are socially committed in their local communities, who have established or support foundations to help the local population or schools and who primarily employ local employees and pay fair wages.
We offer you the opportunity to experience Southern Africa with its touching flora and fauna and its open people in a conscious way through our commitment to a travel offer that is oriented towards human rights, working conditions, environmental protection and sustainability. We invite all of you to join the high standard of creating a holistic experience of man and nature with a journey. A journey which you will start with a good feeling and from which you will return with an even better one.
Fair Trade Tourism is a non-profit organization that promotes best practice methods in responsible tourism in Africa. The organization sharpens awareness and supports tourism companies through membership and certification programs in order to act more sustainably.
Fair Trade Tourism certifies tourism companies in South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and has formal recognition agreements with equivalent certification programs in Namibia, Seychelles, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania.
Fair Trade Tourism supports tourism companies with proven methodologies, tool kits, and business development services to help them along the path to promote sustainability.
Guests travelling to Southern Africa and wanting to get to know foreign cultures, unfortunately, do not arrive without an airplane to their destination. Thus, every Ajimba guest contributes inevitably and also consciously to global warming!
However, as our trips do not (yet) offer more climate-friendly and reasonable alternatives to conventional flying, we at Ajimba take responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Together with our partner "atmosfair’’ We want to provide climate relief.
‘’Compensation cannot solve the climate problem, it is necessary as the second-best solution, as long as the best solution still does not exist!’’ (Atmosfair). Please see our CO2 compensation webpage here.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council, GSTC, creates and manages global sustainable standards as a non-profit organization. Also called GSTC criteria, for two groups: policy makers and destination managers as well as hotels and tour operators.
These standards are guiding principles and minimum requirements that a tourism company or destination should meet. To protect and preserve the world’s natural and cultural resources. At the same time, they ensure that tourism is an instrument for the conservation of nature and the fight against poverty.
We are a member of forum anders reisen. More than 130 tour operators have joined forces to promote sustainable tourism. The name stands for special travel experiences that are oriented towards people and the environment. Together we use local resources carefully and purposefully and treat foreign cultures with respect.
Journeys you will grow on! The video.
In addition, we strive to maximise the promotion of 2015 from the United Nations with our travel and entrepreneurial activities. Objectives for sustainable development. The aim is to stop extreme poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change until 2030.
End poverty in all it's forms everywhere.
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.
Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
Achieve gender equality and empower all women.
Ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for everybody.
Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for everybody.
Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources.
Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.
Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
At Ajimba we are not able to influence the goals directly, but we can commit in making an effort to ensure we contribute to these targets through our core activities and actions. It forms part of our corporate philosophy and together, with our guests and partnerships, we aim to indirectly deliver a relevance to their experiences.
