About Us

Our Story

I came first to Africa (Liuwa Plain - Zambia) in August 2005: one of my classmates at Prescott College, Arizona, referred me for a volunteer job. I quit my job and spent four months working in this magical place. Returning to the US, I knew it is only a matter of time before coming back. “The phone rang” a few months later with a real job offer in the same place: and ever since I’ve been working, traveling and exploring mostly Southern & Eastern Africa. My work in conservation had a distinct advantage: I often had to travel (willingly or not) to far flung places difficult to reach. Dusty, pot-holed, or flooded end of the roads or endless boat rides (ending in dark) on rivers going to border regions were common on my work trips. Throughout the years, I also learnt a lot about the tourism industry in the region as it is innately intertwined with nature. The sector has its pros and cons, and ins and out. There is no “one way” to do tourism right but I have seen that many people do not get to experience beautiful places outside of main attractions, and the service they receive could be somewhat limiting.

Hence, Clutch Adventures started to offer to visitors more authentic and active experiences primarily to destinations less travelled. My passion and specialty is always to seek new attractive destinations for active adventure travelers. We can show you this corner of Africa the way most people do not see.

Eco-Tourism Approach

Ecotourism is real when it benefits its all participants and stakeholders: travelers, operators, nature, and local communities. Therefore we follow a simple but rigorous set of principles. These were also informed by our "hands on" experience in working with communities, in the protected areas, and visiting and assisting other tour companies to grow.

√ Low-impact tourism - We primarily visit pristine natural areas and only during the suitable times of the year, and we minimize our impact. Our trips generate direct financial benefits for conservation of those areas. For example, we avoid areas with large congregations of vehicles in game parks.

√ Ecolodges - We sleep in green and eco-friendly accommodation run by operators who engage positively withe local communities and participate in local conservation activities. This could mean showering in hot water powered by solar water heaters, and no TV in the room. Sometimes we camp in very beautiful spots in nature.

√ Local food & supplies - We enjoy local fresh food and depend primarily on local supplies. This means using fresh local tomatoes instead of imported tomato sauce for pasta!

√ Empowering local communities - We visit local communities when suitable and beneficial in some areas and seek activities where they participate or provide useful service. A local canoe will often get you to the same destination as fancy speedboat owned by a foreigner.

√ Transport - We travel only in small groups and using efficient and well maintained vehicles. Our fleet consists of state-of-the-art extended Landcruiser and comfortable Toyota SuperCustom vans. We offset our diesel consumption through sharing part of our revenue for conservation projects.

√ Environmental Awareness & Education - We are your guides and here to make your trip memorable. We also hope that by traveling with us you will learn plenty about local economic, development, and conservation issues and be an active ambassador of these topics in the future.

√ Best Value, Transparent Pricing, and Fair Benefit Sharing - We customize our pricing to meet your expectations and needs and we assure you of great value and charging fair prices. Ecotourism also means that part of the money spent ends up in local economies, communities, and supporting conservation. We design our trips with this in mind, so most of your money makes a positive difference.

Key Team

Juraj Ujhazy, Founder - read here about me

Hamlet Mugabe, Adventure Guide - Born in Uganda, Hamlet is an experienced guide and conservationist with fifteen years of fieldwork experience. While his specialty is birdwatching, he has guided clients throughout the regions in mountains, savannahs, rivers, and swamps. He has worked with Wildlife Conservation Society as one of the key researchers and ornithologists.  Hamlet had graduated at The College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka in Moshi Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and Kampala University in Wildlife Management and Environmental Science and Management. He has also trained in Natural Sounds Recording at Cornell Lab of Ornithology in USA and Wildlife Tracking and Anti-poaching.