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We specialize in custom itineraries that connect our visitors as travelers, not tourists, offering access to local friends, experts and projects that give back to local communities and conservation needs.

The shift from traditional to modern beadwork among East African peoples is inevitable. For Eti Dayan, the disappearance of this heritage and ethnic identity it expresses is a great loss. The museum, which is unique in Africa, serves as a reminder not only of the beauty of beaded art, but also of a culture that is rapidly vanishing.

It was an especially momentous week, as we only recently launched as a foundation. With your help, we raised more than $25,000 to support our shared vision to end period poverty and uplift the people of the Mara.

And now, as official partners of the Utopia Foundation 501c3 and headquartered in Traverse City, we are ready to take the step forward into capacity building and continue walking alongside our amazing project partners across the globe.

We at the Uplift Travel Foundation are proud to stand alongside community leaders and activists working to address the locally identified needs of rural Kenya, and we’re humbled by the good works we have become part of through involvement with local visionaries in our key areas of impact. Among them: Ending Period Poverty with featured partner PadMad Kenya.

Great food, music and a panel of project experts will provide an inspiring backdrop to a silent auction filled with exciting items and unique experiences from our wonderful local partners and friends.

All funds raised go directly to provide sanitary pads, reproductive health education, clean water and sanitation facilities in Kenyan communities via a partnership between Kenyan organization PadMad and U.S. partner, the Michigan-based Uplift Travel (Utopia) Foundation.

May 2026 Kenya Trip This trip will take students and faculty from Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) to local villages and conservancies across Kenya and in the Maasai Mara, on one of three experience tracks: 1) communications, use of journalism and photography skills to help capture voices of those most often unheard; 2) social work, learning firsthand about cultural stigma and work to address period poverty; and 3) biology, as we witness and discuss creative solutions to h

November 2025 Kenya Trip This group journey will go beyond the traditional definition of safari (in Swahili, translated as journey) within the Maasai Mara National Reserve, a UNESCO world heritage site, and local conservancies. We'll experience the culture and ingenuity of locals as we learn their songs, dances and even trademark jumps; learn about elephant and other endangered species conservation from talented keepers; and hold fireside discussions with young girls and wome

White rhinos, as it's quickly obvious, are not white. They are gray. They got their name, we learn, from early English speakers in South Africa who incorrectly translated wide—the shape of the face—as white, and the name stuck.

Tell anyone that you've just gone on an African safari, and here's a question you're sure to hear in response: “Did you see the Big Five?!”

My name is Noonkishu. In the Kimasai language, I am “mother of cows.” The name was conferred in November 2025, by a large man with a...

This is menstrual health month across the world. And it's a time good for us all to think a bit more of the privilege of being able to go to a pharmacy and pick up a pack of pads. Having that privilege means the ability to go to work, go to school, even leave the house for those several days each month.