Lisu hill tribe tour, Thailand

This tour is offered to individual traveler’s and small groups and is based on a program which follows traditional paths and routes and doesn’t require large-scale facilities. Transportation to and from the lodge is provided by local trucks, run by local communities. We use our local tour leaders who are leading the customers to many outdoor activities and encounters with various hilltribes. We are training these local tour leaders on a regular basis that they are able to conduct this kind of tour and give a briefing to the customers about various aspects. The local community running the Lisu Lodge is getting 1/4 of the profit made, while another part (1/4) is invested in the communities to ensure sustainable development. The money mostly goes to: Village infrastructure (road, water, electricity, sanitary system), village fund, education fund, villages nursery (kindergarten), tradition culture, religion holding, health care and handicraft promotion. Furthermore the villagers are great manufacturers of handicrafts which we also support by providing them with sewing-machines, textiles or other raw materials in order to give them the opportunity to sell their creations to the visitors as a genuine Lisu-souvenir. The earnings from their sales are left to them as it is a result of their efforts.

The electricity as well as the warm water is gained through the solar panels as we decided to provide comfort for western expectations without damaging the environment. The environmental messages are communicated during workshops and training lessons to our staff. In each room of our eco-lodges Lisu Lodge there are notes applying to the guests not only to save tap water for brushing teeth, shaving and taking shower, but also to use towels and bed-sheets etc. twice.

On this tour there are only local restaurants, shops and markets available and the local community is preparing Thai food for the customers with ingredients from their own production (vegetables, fruits) or purchased locally from the markets. We are committed to reducing and recycling waste in our offices. Our offices practice double-sided printing, and recycle printer cartridges, whenever possible. Our offices turn off air-conditioning units and PC’s when offices are not staffed. Much of the waste from our offices is naturally recycled (e.g. bottles and paper waste are sold, where they are re-used/ recycled).

We are supporting the Green World Foundation in Thailand and will have lecturer from this foundation to conduct seminars in our office for our staff in the near future. We already started selling some environment friendly products (bags, T-shirts) on their behalf and hand over all the money and profit to them.