Social Commitment

AugustusTours donates to a good cause

In addition to environmental protection, a commitment to local projects is deeply rooted in the AugustusTours company vision, as supporting good causes has long been a tradition for us. For many years, we have supported the Dresden Children's Aid Association (Dresdner Kinderhilfe e.V.) by making a donation at the end of each travel season.

Since 2015, we have been supporting NAJU Dresden. This youth organization of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) follows the principle: "Only those who know nature learn to love it, and only those who love nature will protect it." In this spirit, they regularly organize activities designed to bring children and young people closer to nature with all their senses, while sharing the joy of practical conservation.

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) Dresden

Since 2015, AugustusTours has supported the Dresden Youth Nature Conservation Group (Naturschutzjugend Dresden) with financial and in-kind donations. The group is made up of young people and students who volunteer in their free time to promote environmental education for children and young people.

The donations we regularly make to the Dresden Youth Nature Conservation Group come from proceeds from our tours as well as income from our internal auctions. This company-wide auction is a highlight every year, and one the whole team looks forward to enormously.

Over the past 10 years, AugustusTours has raised a total of €31,700 for the environmental education work of the NAJU Dresden nature conservation group. For example, the donation made in 2016 was used to purchase new mattresses for the nature conservation centre on Dachsenberg, right in the heart of the Dresden Heath. At the nature conservation centre, children can learn about medicinal plants and herbs in the herb spiral, experience the sensory trail where they can “let their feet do the seeing”, or observe the work of wild bees at the insect hotel.

The €3,500 donated in 2019 was invested in further replacing the wooden shingles on the half-timbered clay cottages, which can accommodate up to 20 people overnight. Despite all the challenges the past few years have brought, we donated €3,300 to NAJU Dresden in both 2023 and 2024, followed by a generous €3,500 in 2025.

In the future, AugustusTours would like to continue supporting regional projects such as NAJU Dresden. We are already looking forward to 2026 and are firmly planning to make another contribution to nature conservation! Every year, NAJU Dresden organises a wide range of exciting joint activities, camps, holiday camps and excursions, and is involved in a variety of projects aimed at preserving nature in and around Dresden.

At the beginning of the year, for example, the organisation carries out pollarding of willow trees in the Kaitz and Nöthnitz valleys, while in spring it plans a working weekend to get the nature conservation centre ready for the new season.

That AugustusTours is socially committed is particularly important to the company’s owner, Anke Herrmann: “Nature is the most important foundation for our tours. Its preservation and care are therefore of particular importance to us. We are all the more delighted that in 2025 we were once again able to contribute to this local project and thus to the environmental education of future generations."

Camp forest, water and meadow © Robert Michalk Photography
Donation Presentation to NAJU 2019 © Robert Michalk Photography
Great tit © NAJU Dresden, Robert Michalk

Visiting the Dresden Youth Nature Conservation Group (NAJU)

To reaffirm our environmental promise and get to know the home of the Dresden Youth Nature Conservation Group (NAJU Dresden), we visited the Dachsenberg in the heart of the Dresden Heath in 2018.

We have supported NAJU and its environmental education programs for children and young people with an annual donation since 2015. To see the dedicated team and their nature conservation station up close, we spent two afternoons on-site in 2018, learning about topics such as the "water footprint", "plastic waste", and "native gardening". It was clear at every turn that the NAJU team is truly passionate about their work. The site is a hidden gem nestled within the Dresden Heath. Highlights include timber-roofed mud huts, a main building with a cozy attic, a pond, a butterfly meadow, and an insect hotel. Primarily used by children, school classes, and youth groups to rediscover nature, the station offers overnight accommodation for up to 28 people. Here, hands-on participation is encouraged!

After a refreshing cake break, we were also able to lend a hand and mow the butterfly meadow with a scythe. But only a small part! After all, new butterflies are due to emerge very soon and dance through the air... Now it is up to us to rethink our actions, update our environmental promise, and implement the tips we learned – for you, our guests, and for the sake of our environment.