Patagonia overland tour, Villarica

Patagonia is a remote, expansive region with many stunning National Parks to visit and trek through. Our Patagonia overland Villarrica tour uses small, locally-operated minivans into these national parks to conserve the roads and to minimise pollution. Using local vehicles also supports the local businesses and communities.

Our tour leaders encourage passengers to behave in an eco-friendly manner at all times by ensuring that waste is kept on the vehicle.

Passengers will camp in Torres del Paine National Park, rather than stay in Refugios, which keeps waste levels to a minimum as bio-degradable products are used wherever possible. In other areas we stay at locally-operated hotels rather than international chains to ensure that local businesses profit.

The tour employs educated local guides for many excursions in order to support the local community. The guides are chosen for their detailed knowledge about the history of the region, as well as their dedication to promoting environmental, cultural and historical awareness in this area through their passion for their homelands. They encourage passengers to behave in an eco-friendly manner at all times.

We have an extensive list of pre-departure documentation which includes maps, regional advice, responsible travel practices and detailed itineraries, and we send this out to our passengers well before their departure to ensure that when they travel they are socially conscious and respectful of their surrounding environments - both during our tours and before/after.

Office policy: We recognise that it is not only on-location staff who have environmental responsibilities but also our administration staff in our offices around the world. All our offices endeavour to be environmentally sound through practising energy conservation, implementing recycling plans and being responsible for the surrounding physical environment. We believe in leading through example and operate in this manner to encourage other businesses and individuals to be considerate of the environment and conserve the natural beauty we currently share.

Carbon Offset Scheme:

Working in partnership with international conservation charity World Land Trust in our continuing quest to establish and maintain our position as a leader in responsible travel, we are offering a new way for our travellers to make a real contribution to the health of the planet - the Carbon Offset Scheme.

World Land Trust is a not-for-profit, international conservation organisation that takes direct action to save rainforest and other biologically important lands. Since it was founded in 1989, it has helped local conservation organisations to purchase and protect over 375,000 acres of threatened habitats in Asia, Europe and Central and South America. There are many organisations offering carbon offsetting services, however we believe that World Land Trust has the most scientifically sound approach and socially responsible philosophy.

When you book your tour with us you will be able to offset a portion of your share of the carbon emissions created while you are on your tour. We will calculate what clients have donated, and donate an additional 10% of the total to World Land Trust. So the more you contribute, the more we can give! We will also absorb all processing fees associated with these payments, so there’s no administration cost to World Land Trust and they can spend the money donated where it counts - protecting threatened habitats worldwide.

What Will Happen to the Contributions?

World Land Trust will fund projects on your behalf through their Carbon Balanced programme, which reduces the amount of damage carbon emissions are doing to the environment. We will not profit from your carbon offsetting donations. Your contributions will be made directly to World Land Trust and we will not receive any direct financial benefit or commission from these donations.