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Community
Rough Guide to India described our tours as “The most original, hands-on and ethical itineraries on the market” – we’re proud of this and like to think that the quote sums up our ethos neatly. When you take a tour with us, around 70% of your money stays in India – supporting the social/environmental work of our partners and the projects they support.
We feel particularly strong that guides should be local, giving you the opportunity to spend time with people local to the country, supporting their livelihoods and assimilating the local culture. All tour partners, tour guides and hosts come from the host country. In most cases, your guide is from the specific village in which you are staying. This may mean that your host has imperfect English – in some cases they are specifically recruited and trained from the local village – but we like to think that the benefits are worthwhile.
An example is the bullock cart ride in Periyar. Not long ago the riders of the bullock carts were part of a 24-strong gang who logged the reserve for sandal-wood. Just one sandal-wood tree can bring rich earnings for these people. Now, with the security of income offered by the bullock cart rides, they have become the forest protectors.
The ride starts in Tamil Nadu, over the border from Kerala. You'll travel by bullock cart through immaculately kept agricultural plantations - vanilla, mango, cotton, chilli, beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, guavas, papayas - past women harvesting grapes, herons and kingfishers, a herd of mountain sheep, and men on motorbikes. A quick picnic - before returning along the banks of the river, fringed by palms, and the sun-setting behind the mountains. Your guides driving the bullock cart can’t speak a word of English, but the pride you’ll see written all over their face is worth a million words.
Likewise, we choose locally owned hotels rather than international chains. Many of our guest houses – such as Colonel’s Retreat, Emerald Isle and Arakkal - are extensions of peoples’ homes and farms. In such places the whole family – and many of the villagers - are involved in caring for you.
Environment
In terms of transport – you’ll see from the itinerary that we’re keen to cut the driving and encourage guests to stay several days in any one place with a local guide (rather than continuously driving from one place to another), guests will participate in lifestyles that are themselves sustainable – you'll eat locally produced food (often growing in the fields adjacent to you), use local transport, cook dinner with your host, and visit local environmental projects.
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!
