Borneo holiday, Land below the wind

In Danum Valley and Bata Puti, we stay in eco friendly accommodation including a traditional style longhouse and an Eco Lodge. The Eco Lodge has environmentally aware and environmentally friendly policies on amongst other things, waste disposal, reusable materials, involvement of the local community and care for the environment. A stay at, and support for, the Sabah Tea Plantation and explanation of it’s organic, pesticide free tea production. We are happy to use their accommodation, restaurant and guides as well as educating our travellers as to the methods of producing organic tea.

Participation in a tree replanting scheme on the Kinabatangan River. Deforestation due to the rapid recent increase in planting palm trees for oil has meant that many of the natural flora is being destroyed along with wildlife habits of more than just the orang-utans. Tree planting is very labour intensive and the locals need all the help they can get so, tour participants, dig a hole and plant a sapling in it. Use of local transport (bus) for part of the tour. The production of the tour is assisted by a small, locally based operator and using native Sabah guides only. We have included destinations not part of standard itineraries such as Danum Valley, Tawau etc. In this way we spread responsible tourism into areas which do not get much income from tourism or awareness of responsible tourism practices.

Providing suitable, relevant information for our customers; to help them to gain a wider understanding of our style of tourism that focuses on learning, genuine interaction with the local communities, reciprocity and cultural exchange processes. To be aware of the potential impact of tourism on the local society, culture and environment, and to behave and dress appropriately with a respect and appreciation for local customs, mores and traditions and a respect for the ecology of areas visited. Our guides and leaders thus facilitate communication of our values to both travellers and local communities, educating them in sustainable tourism practices.

By limiting groups to small sizes we aim to reduce the impact on both local communities and the environment whilst allowing for greater genuine interaction with said communities. It also results in a higher guide/customer ratio thus greater facility for supervision and individual assistance and allows us to use smaller hotels and restaurants and employ the services of more genuinely ‘local’ operators perhaps not otherwise well equipped for larger groups. We combine the well known tourist sites with many off-the-beaten-track, rarely visited destinations thus diverting tourist revenue and contact with responsible tourism into areas not usually benefiting as well as providing a more authentic view of the region visited.

As much as possible we aim to employ local personnel, (guides, drivers, agents etc), use local restaurants and smaller privately owned accommodation. Customers are also encouraged to buy and use local products and services as much as possible in order to support and stimulate the local economy. They are also advised against buying prohibited items and products made from parts of wild animals or plants. By explaining our methods and the reasons behind them local agents, guides and hotels are encouraged by us to adopt further responsible tourism practices themselves and guides and drivers are provided with additional training in this respect. We carefully select the places we visit to ensure that none are involved in exploitative practices of people or animals.