Visa
Entry visas are not required for entry into Greenland or Spitsbergen. All nationalities require a full passport valid for 6 months. However in order to reach Spitsbergen you have to fly Longyearbyen which is in Norway - so you will require a Norwegian Visa.

Time
Greenland Standard Time (Winter): GMT -3 Greenland Summer / Daylight Saving Time: GMT -2
Noway Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +1 hour Daylight saving time: +1 hour

Currency
The local currency is the Ethiopian Birr made up of 100 cents. Visitors may import an unlimited amount of foreign currency, providing declaration of such currency is made to customs on arrival. Foreign currency may be changed only at authorized banks and hotels. The currency declaration form must be retained, as this will be required by customs on departure. Visitors, however, will be able to change any excess Ethiopian Birr to foreign currency at the bank in the airport before departure.

Polar Bears
On all our Polar expeditions we always take every reasonable precaution.
For our Greenland trek this includes ...... Polar Bear trip wire alarm system (since 2009 using a pin activated personal attack alarm system, rather than shotgun cartridges that can become damp and fail); 30.06 large calibre rifle & 20 ammunition; 1 x rocket flare 1 x smoke flare 1 x hand flare inside every tent 1 x pack of 8 x mini pen flares Flare Gun (large calibre); Pepper Spray bear deterrent; Each tent has it’s own hand held flare. The other items (rifle, spray, mini flares, rocket flare) are distributed between the other tents.
For our Spitsbergen on tracks we have strict policies in place regarding Polar Bears encounters and acceptable distances between a client and a Polar Bear. When we stay in fixed accommodation there is very little risk of attack, If we camp, the site will be well away from the coast (at least 10km), and we always put up a bear trip wire - Attacks are more likely in the summer when the sea ice has melted and their main food, seals, become scarce. Our trips run in March and April when the Polar bears are still able to hunt the seals that bask on the sea ice at that time.. Our guides have military training with firearms. .

Food
The food served in Madagascar is very much influenced by European and Asian cuisine. There is a lot of fresh food, zebu steak, rice and fish eaten. We are able to cater for vegetarians. When on trekking or river trips, there tends to be a good supply of food, with pasta or rice salads for lunch, some hot meals (often based with rice or pasta) for dinners and even some sundowners. Plenty of snacks are provided for quick fixes throughout the day.

Insurance
Adequate travel insurance is mandatory for everyone who participates in a Pioneer expedition. Please bring a copy of your insurance policy and contact numbers to give to your expedition leader in case of illness or accident.

Environmental
We have a social, cultural and environmental conscience! It is vitally important that travel has a positive impact on the social, cultural and environmental aspects of the places we visit. We ensure that when you visit places with us, your presence will help those that live there, that their culture will be respected and that the environment at the very least will not be harmed.

Cultural Policy - All societies have their own rules, borne out of generations of cultural development. We are not here to change these directly, but to witness them and appreciate them as another form of human existence. While on expedition, we will respect local cultures, those developed out of religion or social norms. We ask you to respect these to, as they are no better or worse than our own.
Environmental Policy - There are many aspects to the issue of the environmental impact of travel. Flying to the destination, accommodation, food preparation and human waste control. Each of these is covered either directly by our own environmental policy or we ask you to assist by for example, offsetting your carbon emissions to get to your destination. We try to use eco friendly accommodation where possible. Food is bought and prepared locally. We try to use fresh produce as much as possible. All expeditions are accompanied by rubbish bags. These bags are used by our local staff to remove non biodegradable stuff from the mountain. When at high altitudes, where food does not decompose well, we also return food scraps to Addis to be disposed of. We encourage our trekkers to participate in this process too. We strongly believe in the motto 'take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints'. Our guides and porters are always careful to leave as little trace as possible of our presence when we visit remote locations, we never leave any rubbish. Remember, the less rubbish you create the better, as many countries don't have adequate rubbish collection infrastructures in place, let alone recycling facilities.
We also inform the trekkers how to treat nature along the way, where they can go to the bathroom. how close they can get to wildlife etc. We teach our local staff the dos and don'ts in relation to how to treat the environment. We discourage hunting and deforestation for burning wood as well as keeping camp sites clean and clear of waste.
A key feature of our green tourism policy is that we make sure we boil all drinking water when on location, rather than relying on bottled water. This makes a huge difference to the local environment, as bottles take tens of thousands of years to biodegrade. Be aware of the environmental impact washing in streams and other natural water sources could have - many shampoos, soaps et cetera contain harmful chemicals which are then deposited into the ecosystem. Eco-friendly soaps are available to buy.
Services of a local guide - Our company employs local guides and porters, thus ensuring that economic benefits remain in local hands. We also encourage craftsmen at various destinations to produce local and traditional crafts keeping tradition alive for their children. We advise them to sell their wares for reasonable prices so that tourists do not go away with either nothing or feel they have been taken for a ride.

Ethiopia Weather
There are two seasons: the dry season prevails from October through May; the wet season runs from June to September.