As I set off, somewhat intrepidly, to the remote Ntakata region of Tanzania, armed with a super-filter water bottle, emergency muesli bars, a safari hat (best purchase ever) and a torch (because no one wants to accidentally sit on a cockroach during a nighttime toilet trip), I wasn’t just apprehensive, I was excited. This wasn’t any ordinary field trip. I was going to see a carbon offset project in action.
We talk a lot about emissions reporting and compensation in the travel industry, but to stand in the middle of a thriving forest and witness the tangible impact of carbon funding, that makes the numbers come alive. It’s no longer just data. It’s people, wildlife, and ecosystems.
The Ntakata Mountains Project is community-led, audited, and award-winning, and for good reason. Local project managers, deeply embedded in the region, guide us to remote villages, some three hours across challenging terrain. Along the way, I see how conservation is thriving: 216,000 hectares of protected forest provide sanctuary for endangered chimpanzees and other native species, and act as a major carbon sink, absorbing CO₂ that many of us have contributed to through our daily lives and travel.
But it’s not just about trees. The ripple effects are extraordinary. Funding from the project directly benefits more than 38,000 people, through improved education, new healthcare facilities, sustainable farming practices, and employment. I visited a mother and baby clinic where children are now vaccinated and weighed within the village, a far cry from the previous all-day journey to a distant district hospital. That kind of change saves time, improves outcomes, and reduces the health inequalities that often go unseen in climate conversations.
After a few days in the field, I took a tiny bush plane north to Lake Tanganyika. From there, a steep 2.5-hour hike led me into the rainforest, where I had the rare privilege of observing a community of wild chimpanzees. For an hour, we watched each other. They foraged, played, fought and occasionally stared back. Thanks to the ongoing conservation work funded by this project, this fragile group is now growing after years of decline.
These are the moments that put everything into perspective. Yes, offsetting must be done with rigour, transparency, and accountability. But when done right, as it is here, it becomes far more than a climate metric. It’s an investment in people, biodiversity, and long-term resilience.
Awareness and education have empowered these communities to protect and benefit from their environment. The forest feeds itself, and them. And while I was sad to leave the people (and chimps) of Ntakata behind, I’ll admit sleeping without a mosquito net and not sharing a toilet seat with a spider did feel like a luxury.
It’s experiences like this that remind me why I was proud to be named ITM’s Responsible Travel Champion 2025, because meaningful sustainability in business travel doesn’t happen from behind a desk.
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