Get to grips with the green revolution
Writing as far back as 1962, climate activist Rachael Carson warned that we “stand now where two roads diverge”. One of these roads leads to uncontrollable climate change. And the other? Toward a sustainable and green future. But sustainability is as diverse as the world itself – and it takes many roads and many paths. From farming and recycling to ecology and wildlife conservation, it works when it is equitable and radical, community-led and globally minded. It is how we save the future.
- Inside the fight to protect Kenya’s wildlife, Kenya
- What it takes to save a species, Kenya
- Meet the custodians of ‘garbage city’, Egypt
- Cultivating the cultures of Peru, Peru
- ‘Rock’n’roll’ farming, Denmark
- The future of New Zealand’s native birds, New Zealand
- Marine biology at the Pelagos sanctuary, France
- Tracking the elusive Dugong, Thailand
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Classes
Soren Wiuff teaches his chemical-free philosophy of modern farming
For future farmers, environmentalists and chefs
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Fast facts: Age 14+ | May – September | Half day
Soren Wiuff is renowned as one of Denmark’s most forward-thinking farmers. Purveyor of produce for top quality restaurants such as Noma, everyone in Copenhagen is eager to purchase his bright green asparagus and other vegetables and fruits, safe in the knowledge they have been grown both locally and with care. Soren is not an archetypal organic farmer but rather cultivates his produce without chemicals or pesticides. His dogma-free approach puts its trust in the ebb and flow of nature’s own rhythms.
Feel the soil between your fingers on this immersive and pastoral experience, where you’ll take a tour of the fields – with Soren himself as your guide – helping to harvest fruit and vegetables along the way. Taste and prepare some of your pickings using Soren’s recipes and gain an introduction to the philosophy that guides his ‘rock and roll’ approach to chemical-free farming.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Denmark. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Take a hands-on tour of the fields alongside Soren, picking fruit, pulling carrots and harvesting other seasonal ingredients
- Taste and prepare some produce using Soren’s own recipes (featured in The Noma Guide to Fermentation)
- Gain an introduction to the philosophy that guides Soren’s ‘rock and roll’ approach to chemical-free farming, and explore concepts surrounding sustainability and food waste
Come hungry and curious. Leave with a newfound understanding of the future of sustainable cooking, growing, and conservation.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Join an anti-poaching patrol deep in the African bush
For future conservationists, activists, and vicenarians
Location: Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya
Fast Facts: Age 16+ | September – June | Half day
Each day, the dedicated anti-poaching team of Loisaba Conservancy set out with their highly-trained sniffer dogs – Warrior, Machine, Memusi, and Nanyokie. Their unflagging mission is to help protect the critically endangered wildlife that call this verdant region home. During your stay in this Edenic corner of the world – sighting elephant, giraffe and rhino – you’ll have the opportunity to join the team as they embark on one of their important patrols.
Each of their specially-trained bloodhounds have more than 200 million olfactory cells (or ‘scent receptors’), making them perfectly suited to this essential conservation mission. And now, you’ll get to see them in action.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Kenya. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Meet the dogs and their handlers, asking questions and learning about their work and training
- Embark on an active anti-poaching patrol across the Conservancy
- Understand more about the wildlife and landscapes of this protected region
- Gain a first-hand insight into the work of safari conservation
Leave with a practical, on-the-ground understanding of the vital work that goes into protecting the world’s most endangered species.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Sailing the waters of Europe’s most diverse whale sanctuary
For future marine biologists, veterinarians, and conservationists
Location: Cap Ferrat, France
Fast facts: Age 10+ | May – September | Full day
Covering some 90,000km2 in the triangle of water between Italy, France and Sardinia, the Pelagos sanctuary is one of the main reserves protecting the fin whale – 30,000 of which congregate here to feed during the sizzling summer months. But beyond the whale, countless other species call these waters home, and it is the work of the sanctuary’s skippers and custodians to preserve and protect this special environment.
On this invigorating expedition, you’ll sail out on the waters alongside the expert crew – gaining a comprehensive understanding of this fascinating marine environment and the species who call it home.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in France. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Spend the day in the company of the expert skippers who preserve these waters from all kinds of threat (from pollution to collisions)
- Learn the ropes of the special sailing boats deployed in these waters (remarkable for their speed and manoeuvrability)
- Gain an expert’s insight into the marine environment of the Pelagos Sanctuary and the species who call it home
Leave with an in-depth understanding of the work done by marine biologists and conservationists in one of Europe’s most important marine reserves.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Meet the not-for-profit organisation who’re working to nurture the country’s native communities
For future anthropologists, environmentalists, and gastronomists
Location: Lima and the Sacred Valley, Peru
Fast facts: Age 16+ | April – September | Half day
Mater Iniciativa are a not-for-profit organisation based in Peru. Their vision is focused on protecting the country’s natural resources and preserving the vibrant culture of its native communities. In-house researchers, across all kinds of disciplines – from anthropology to gastronomy – work in tandem on vital projects that seek to have a positive impact through an in-depth understanding of food, nature and social environments in modern day Peru.
During this enlightening and educational experience, you’ll explore the Mater Iniciativa headquarters and learn about their diverse cultural projects with one of their core team as your guide.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Peru. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Meet the minds behind Mater Iniciativa and have the chance to ask questions throughout your tour of their headquarters
- Explore the projects the team are working on alongside the local community
You’ll leave with an understanding of how not-for-profit organisations can use various disciplines to effect positive change in modern societies.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Join the Kenya Wildlife Service in their mission to conserve the black rhino
For future conservationists
Location: Borana-Lewa landscape, Kenya
Fast facts: 15+ | March – May | Full day
The Borana Conservancy is a vast, 32,000-acre area located within Kenya’s startling Laikipia plateau. For the Borana rhino monitors, this is also a place of essential and tireless work. Over the past 3-4 years, the local population of black rhino in the Borana-Lewa landscape has witnessed an unprecedented baby boom. In order to aid conservation, each rhino must have its own ID (or animal passport). And that’s where you step in.
During this unforgettable experience, you’ll join Kenya’s Wildlife Service vets and park rangers as they put rhinos under anaesthetic and make unique patterns of notches in their ears to identify them, before releasing them back into their beautiful habitat. This is essential work that’ll ensure the rhino population can continue to thrive and prosper for years to come.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Kenya. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Meet the Borana Conservancy anti-poaching and wildlife monitoring team, and have the chance to ask questions about their vital conservancy work across Kenya, as well as a potential Q&A with one of the head rangers who’ll accompany them on the activity
- Get up-close-and-personal with black rhinos as you witness the notching process
You’ll leave with an up-close understanding of the vital work done by conservationists and veterinarians across the world, inspired to pursue your own studies in this fascinating field.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Head into the mountains alongside an expert conservationist
For future conservationists, zoologists and environmentalists
Location: Wanaka, New Zealand
Fast facts: Age 16+ | November – March | Full day
Many of New Zealand’s miraculous native birds and their natural habitats are under threat. Over the years, heavy human impact, alongside the introduction of predators such as ferrets, stoats, rats and hedgehogs, have caused grave risk to these diverse local bird species. Vulnerable birds – many now endangered – tend to nest on the ground, meaning their incubating eggs and new-born chicks are, unfortunately, easily predated and disturbed.
On this impactful experience, you’ll join the important fight to protect them alongside a leading local activist. You’ll spend a whole day in the mountains of New Zealand’s wild Southern Alps, assisting with checking, maintaining and resetting predator control traplines. You’ll also learn plenty along the way about the impact of these predators and local conservation efforts.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in New Zealand. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Spend the day out in the field with a leading activist dedicated to protecting NZ’s native bird species
- Travel by four-wheel drive into the mountains of NZ’s Southern Alps and assist with checking, maintaining and resetting a predator control trapline
- Come away with a deep understanding of the impact humans and animal predators are having on native species, and what dedicated locals are doing to counter it
Leave invigorated and inspired about the work that activists and conservationists are doing to protect endangered birds and their habitats.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
A first-hand look into the livelihood of Cairo’s Zabbaleen community
For future environmentalists, geographers, and conservationists
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Fast facts: Age 14+ | September – June | Half day
Across seven different settlements in the greater Cairo area, the population of the Zabbaleen people numbers between 50,000 and 70,000. For generations, they have supported themselves by knocking door-to-door and collecting rubbish from the 20 million residents of wider Cairo. Between utilising and repurposing what they gather, they recycle 80% of waste they acquire – cleaning the sprawling city and dealing with its rubbish more effectively than the government or external companies, which only recycle roughly 25%.
Visiting the Zableed community, you’ll discover a people with a strong sense of identity and a tightly knit community. Here, you’ll experience an eye-opening journey as you embark on a guided tour of the Zabbaleen area, its communities, and the recycling processes that they have championed.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Egypt. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Go on a tour of the area, co-lead by a local resident to give you a real insight into the Zabbaleen way of life
- Learn about the recycling processes the community make a living from
- Visit the APE (Association for the Protection of the Environment), an NGO that aims to improve the lives of the Zabbaleen and emphasise recycling as an important industry
You’ll leave with a humbling yet inspiring understanding of community-led sustainability programmes in one of the world’s largest mega cities.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
Habitat building and wildlife spotting in coastal Thailand
For future marine biologists, veterinarians and conservationists
Location: Trang Province, Thailand
Fast facts: Age 12+ | October – March | Full day
The happy, portly Dugong has a happy home along the coastlines of Thailand’s Trang province – drawn by the shallow shores, covered coves and seagrass beds of this calm and quiet area, along with many other species of fascinating marine life.
On this contemplative and invigorating day, you’ll join a local conservationist and Dugong tracker on a fact-finding and habitat conservation mission. Spotting the Dugong and planting seagrass beds will be your task, as well as – depending on the season – dismantling hazards such as tangled fishing nets.
This class can be added to any Black Tomato experience in Thailand. We can also build your trip entirely around it.
Take this class
Class Highlights
During this class, you’ll:
- Learn about the Dugong and why it is drawn to this region of Thailand
- Search for and spot Dugong and other marine life while learning about the habitat from a local expert conservationist
- Help out with tasks such as seagrass planting and (season dependent) dismantling tangled fishing nets and other obstacles
Informed and inspired, you’ll leave with an in-depth understanding of the Dugong, its habitats, and the work being done to safeguard their conservation.
Looking for something else?
We can create a bespoke trip or experience to suit any mood – educational or not. Just ask.
