Responsible Travel

a conscious journey

Social Business Zanzibar

Sustainable Tourism

How to discover the world responsibly

Traveling is what we live for. We have fallen in love with the world, one step at a time. However, during our trips, we became painfully aware of how vulnerable the world and its inhabitants truly are to the impact of tourism.
Nonetheless, we believe that traveling has a unique power to foster empathy and understanding. Travelling connects people.

We started Unique Universe not just to introduce you to beautiful places and people, but to encourage responsible travel practices.

To us, responsible traveling is so much more than minimizing waste. Responsible travel practices strengthen people and their environment by including respecting and protecting them. We believe that responsible traveling can not just build bridges between cultures, but will most likely enhance your experience.

Sustainable tourism doesn’t imply that you have to give up on all comfort. Responsible travel merely means conscious decision-making and behavior. It’s often as easy as making some clicks. Let us show you how!

Follow us on our journey. Find out how to leave a positive impact, strengthen local communities, and reduce your footprint while exploring.

Responsible travel - learn more!

Central America

South America

Africa

Caribbean

DESTINATIONS

Explore the world

Travelling is our elixir of life. As the free spirits, we are, we love to explore the most beautiful places in the world on our own. However, traveling is much more than just visiting a destination. We love to go way beyond the destination-travel: we meet and learn from locals and their cultures. Uncovering hidden gems while we venture off-the-beaten-path is our thing. We are on a quest to find out what makes a destination truly unique. We don’t have fixed itineraries, and we only seldom pre-book accommodations. Admittedly, we are slow travelers, but we love to go with the flow.

Follow our journey!

PEOPLE

The best stories come from life itself

The world is a place of encounters. For us, traveling means talking with and about different cultures and learning together.

Unique Universe tells stories of people and shared moments during our journey. Even though we visited breathtaking places, the people we crossed path with shaped the experience. We shared life stories and philosophized about happiness and life. While we discussed differences, we discovered even more similarities.

We noticed one thing above all: Even if our life stories differ, our desires, fears, and dreams are so similar.

Follow our quest for happiness

FOOD CULTURE

Taste exotic traditional recipes

The way through one’s heart goes through the stomach. It might be even more true for places when you travel.
In a faraway place, local recipes give insights into the story of the country and its people. Ingredients and food cultures vary across the world. But food has one thing in common everywhere: all over the world bonds are created, and stories are told over a shared meal.

Do you feel like trying an exotic recipe? Or do you want to feed your nostalgia and dwell on your travel memories?

We have collected recipes of typical, local food from across the world to feed your wanderlust!

Taste the world!

Solubright

CHANGEMAKER

Bright ideas changing the world

During our travels, we often observe people coping with challenges. Challenges very different from the ones we know from our life in Germany. Many of those issues were unfamiliar to us, hadn’t crossed our minds before or seemed too severe to overcome.
In countries with sky-high issues, we have met incredible changemakers. Individuals and social enterprises who apply innovative ideas to better lives, protect nature, and overcome existing problems. Social entrepreneurship is growing worldwide as creative innovators work on sustainable solutions. We were deeply impressed by the changemakers we crossed path with on our journey. It’s a matter of the heart for us to share their fabulous ideas for a better future.

Learn more about the world’s changemakers!

UNIQUE UNIVERSE

Discovering the world with our backpacks is our source of happiness. We take you off the beaten path and introduce you to the unique destinations, it’s people and food culture.

We are true believers of slow and conscious traveling and hope to inspire you to learn more about responsible traveling!

Follow our journey!

Dani& Lauri

Papakinye – a true Masai warrior

People of Tanzania

19. January 2018/0 Comments/by UniqueUniverse

Swahili Basics

Swahili is spoken in many East African countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the democratic republic of Kongo, Malawi, Sambia, Ruanda, Mosambik, Comoros, and Mayotte. Swahili is one of best known and most frequently spoken Bantu language.

Is knowledge of English sufficient to travel Tanzania?

There are about 125 different spoken languages in Tanzania. While there is not one official language, Swahili is without a doubt the national language. Swahili is the language of political and social life. When we traveled we realized that locals often experience difficulties speaking English, especially when they are not working in the tourist industry. Tanzanians are very friendly and always eager to help despite language barriers. They get excited when you try to speak Swahili so it’s really nice to know the basics. Often an honest welcome and thank you is already enough to break the ice. Try it!

Our top 15 helpful phrases

Hello (polite) – Shikamo

Good morning – Habarigani

How are you? – Jambo

Good – Poa

Very good – Vizuri sana

What’s your name? – Jina lako nani?

My name is …. – Jina langu ni…

Nice to meet you – Vizuri kukutana

Have a nice day – Siku njema

I’m hungry – Nina ngaa

What’s that? – Nini hicho?

Excuse me – Samahani

No worries – Hakuna matata

How much is it – Ni bei gani…?

Thank you very much – Asante sana

19. January 2018/0 Comments/by UniqueUniverse