After their trip to South America in 2019, Carmen Castricum and her partner Marijn Jansen came home filled with new insights. His whole life, Marijn has had a fascination with wildlife, so during their travels, the couple visited wildlife projects as often as they could. One of these projects inspired them to found The Green Stamp, an online platform that creates awareness around ethical wildlife projects, while also allowing you to donate to charity projects – for free.
In this interview, Carmen explains how The Green Stamp was born and tells us more about the projects it supports and how you can play your part for the conservation of our precious wildlife.
Can you tell us more about The Green Stamp and the project in Bolivia that inspired you to found it?
The thing we found so inspiring about the project in Bolivia is that a part of the fee we paid to visit it was donated to educate the local population on the effects of deforestation. On top of that, the money was also used to teach the locals which animal-friendly measures they can take to prevent jaguars from attacking their cattle. It often happens that when a jaguar attacks someone’s cattle, the animal gets shot as some sort of compensation. We really loved the idea that we counteracted this by paying that entry fee.
With this in mind, we decided to create a platform that supports wildlife projects that donate to charity. All published wildlife projects on The Green Stamp follow three guidelines: they all donate to charity, they all work ethically towards wildlife and they all work as sustainably as possible. With the platform, we create awareness around these projects while showing other travelers which projects are ethical. We also built a free donation program on our website to financially support the published projects.
With The Green Stamp, we create brand awareness around wildlife projects and collect donations for them at the same time.
How does donating for free with The Green Stamp work?
The program that we installed on our website works through affiliate marketing. People can order whatever they need through the links to the web shops that are featured on our website. We will then receive a commission and donate 50% of that commission to the project they selected. It’s good to know that by ordering something through these links, you will pay the same price as you normally would when purchasing something, except that your money goes towards something with a big impact! So that’s how you can donate money for free! Besides these free donations, it’s also possible to donate directly.
How do you make sure that the projects you support are ethical?
We research the project thoroughly and interview them about their ethical and ecological standpoints. Besides that, we also make a financial audit to make sure they make the donations they say they do. This is not always easy, though, because in other continents most paperwork is handwritten.
In the future, we’ll start working with mystery guests who plan to travel to a certain country, too. They will visit a project as a tourist and check how ethical and ecological it is. This way, we will be able to obtain information anonymously, and it’s better for the planet as well because we won’t have to fly to those places ourselves.
You headed to Africa to visit some of the projects you support recently. Which projects did you visit there?
Yes, we went to Kenya and Uganda in April to visit two of our partners. We visited Kenlink Tours and Travel in Uganda, and Loita Hills Basecamp in Kenya.
Can you tell us more about Kenlink Tours and travel?
Kenlink Tours and Travel is an agency offering sustainable safaris in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and DRC Congo. They donate 30% of their profit to the local school and offer tour guide training as well. By booking a tour with Kenlink, you contribute to a better future for the local children by supporting their education and thereby helping them to learn about the importance and conservation of wildlife.
During our trip, we went on a 5-day safari with Kenlink and visited the school that they donate to. It was an unforgettable experience and the people there welcomed us with open arms!
What about Loita Hills Basecamp, what makes them special?
This project is run by a Dutch woman and a Kenyan (Masai) man. It’s a glamping area located at the foot of the Loita Hills in the Mara region of Kenya. You can base yourself there while doing activities in the surroundings. The Masai Mara, for example, is just a 1-hour drive from here, but you can also go on bush walks or visit local villages.
Something great that Loita Hills Basecamp did is that they have built a well that operates on solar panels. The tribes who live in the area can use this well on one condition: they have to remove the fences that they built around their territory. The reason for this is that there are so many fences in the area that wildlife can’t pass anymore, or they often end up stuck in these fences.
With your stay at Loita Hills Basecamp, they donate 10% of what you pay to the Back to Nature Projects.
You visited the Masai Mara while you were staying there, how was your experience?
It was nice to see the Masai Mara, but it was somewhat disappointing at the same time. We had a great time at Loita Hills Basecamp because it was such an authentic experience. When we visited the Masai Mara, we missed the authenticity. It was very crowded and there were many buses in the park. What shocked us is that some of these buses didn’t respect wildlife. They go off-road to get closer to the animals to please tourists, but end up chasing the animals away. Many people have a wonderful experience at the Masai Mara, but it wasn’t for us.
However, we absolutely loved visiting Amboseli National Park! Here, the roads are very well traced, and it’s nearly impossible to go off-road. Thanks to this, the animals can roam around more freely without being chased away.
What’s your best tip to travel more sustainably?
Always check TripAdvisor before visiting a project and look at the bad reviews too. If people have had negative experiences concerning ecological or ethical matters, this is where you’ll find them. It also works in the opposite way; if you visited a project that didn’t meet your expectations, don’t be afraid to leave a bad review too. You can warn other travelers this way.
If you want to know more about The Green Stamp, check out their channels via the links below:
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