Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
We operate this Ecuador mountaineering holiday in conjunction with an ecologically aware tour operator.
Our staff are local with an excellent knowledge of the area. Our guides hold informal talks to inform about and discuss aspects of local life. This helps understanding of the area and appreciation of the people who live there. We support the local economy by using local transport on this trip and always using locally owned and run accommodation and restaurants.
When trekking & climbing we buy fresh local produce. In preference we choose local over imported goods, encouraging the use of Andean products in our cooking. On our treks we minimize waste by using products with minimum packaging, leaving no litter and keeping all water sources clean, leaving camp-sites cleaner than we find them. Rubbish is carried out.
We support the Tourism Concern Porters Policy in Peru and are involved with the social project Huchuy Yachaq. We are happy to distribute your donations of much needed warm clothes and shoes to children through this organization - please contact us for details of how you can help. Volunteers are welcome to work on the project.
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 founder of this tour operator set up 12 years ago after working as a trek leader and writing guidebooks in South America. She decided to offer alternative track 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.
Listen to the podcast below:
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
