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Galapagos cruises: The Galapagos was the first natural site to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site - 1979. It is also a Biosphere Reserve and Whale Sanctuary. The Galapagos is a worldwide model for eco-tourism. Here you are able to visit an area of great natural beauty and encounter, at close quarters, animal species that have no fear of humans. Strict regulations govern all tourist activities and are rigidly enforced and tourist numbers are restricted.
For every visitor we take on our Galapagos cruises we donate £25 to the Galapagos Conservation Trust (www.gct.org) who work to protect and conserve the Galapagos islands, or choose to take up a free one year membership of the Trust, paid for by us.
The boats we use are all locally owned and operated yachts, equipped to accommodate 10 - 16 passengers and accompanied by professional naturalist guides certified by the Darwin Research Station.
We are also now supporting the UK registered chairty Amantani. As this charity is very much in keeping with our ethos of small scale, targetted help which is educational & sustainabale. HuchuyYachaq is the other main Peruvian charity we support by paying a for a full time teacher. A % of all our income goes to support those projects.
The Galapagos Islands are a very fragile environment and the arrival of more and more inhabitants to the islands, as well as tourist have an impact. Please try to minimise your impact:
Take a water bottle to refill, rather than use a new bottle each time;
Recycling your rubbish where possible, not leaving any behind;
Taking batteries back home with you – they cannot be recycled properly in Ecuador;
Saving water where possible; and
Saving energy by switching your lights off when you leave the room. Electricity on the islands comes from a generator, fuelled by petrol. For the same reason, please think about whether you really need to use your air conditioning.
The founder of this tour operator set up 14 years ago after working as a trek leader and writing guidebooks in South America. She decided to offer alternative trekking routes that no one else was doing, where you’re more likely to cross paths with local people. She maintains close personal relationships with her suppliers and is godmother to several of their children. Her small specialised team have really walked the walks and so know exactly what they’re talking about; they familiarise themselves with the hiking trails every year and believe the Andean way of life is well worth sharing.
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