Travel photography tour in Kerala, India
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Any flights taken by the professional photographer in the conjunction with this trip are carbon balanced, and we encourage passengers to carbon balance their own flights through a scheme offered by our ground operator. Our ground operator is seeking to be carbon neutral in 2010, which further minimises our effect on the environment.
We maintain a home office to minimise pollution from commuting and heating. We also have a comprehensive recycling policy and use energy efficient devices and practices to minimise our effect on the environment. All papers, plastic and electronic devices which can be recycled locally are recycled through our local council. We have a policy to minimise printing – especially for colour printing of photographs which uses a considerable amount of harmful inks. We favour low voltage light sources and actively switch these off when not in use. We also use individual switching to allow computer and other peripherals to be disconnected when not in use. All of our tour information and trip notes are supplied digitally, and we don't have a paper brochure.
As an comprehensive adopter of digital photography we have drastically cut the pollution associated with film manufacture, processing and printing.
Community
The professional travel photographer who will be accompanying the trip, is very passionate about the idea that photographers should travel sensitively and should have a positive effect on the places that they travel in. Passengers on this trip are encouraged to always act with respect for people, places, religions and cultures that they wish to photograph and especially to never 'steal' pictures. They are actively instructed in ways that they can interact with local people - and seek permission for photographs, which results in much more sympathetic picture, and a much better experience for all concerned. As we will be visiting many religious places information will be supplied as to how we can avoid causing any offence.
Unlike a lot of photography trips, we have relatively small numbers with a maximum of 12 people, which means that we can avoid swamping the people and the places that we encounter. There are times when these numbers will be divided, to further minimise our effect on locals, and to promote more positive interactions. The small group size also minimises our effect on the environment we travel through.
All of our land arrangements are provided by an operator who have a policy of using local guides, accommodation, and travel operators wherever possible. Although a professional photographer accompanies the tour, we also have a local leader for the entire trip, and sometimes employ a local guide to show us a particular place. This means that we can be sure of contributing to the local economy and providing work and support for local people. Where private transport is used, it is supplied by a local operator to give employment to local people and boost the local economy. We also support the local economies by visiting local restaurants, business and gift shops.
We are currently investigating a local community project to visit on the tour.
Our ground operator also sponsors a couple of local projects: Deepalaya started in 1979 to help children who would otherwise work and live on the railway platforms, bus stations and commercial complexes of Delhi. They establish education centres, provide hostel care and counselling, community health initiatives and a range of other projects to care for working children, street children, girls with no education, "differently-abled" children and run away children.
Another sponsored project in India is GOONJ, a unique initiative to provide clothes and other basic needs to millions of people - on the roads, in the remote areas, across the country.
We visit the Periyar National Park, which directly benefits both the ecology, and the local community in the area: To quote from periyartigerreserve.org:
“People oriented and park centered community based ecotourism is the hallmark of Periyar Tiger Reserve. These programmes are conducted by local people responsible for the surveillance of the vulnerable parts of the reserve. By taking tourists along, they are involved in the conservation of the forests of Periyar and some valuable revenue is generated for community welfare. People who once made a living by illegal operations in the forests have since become forest protectors and earn their livelihood through these programmes. Hence, as a visitor, when you join them in any of these programmes, you are directly contributing towards forest conservation and community welfare.”
Through our ground operator we support an independently run charity foundation which aims to put something back to the places we travel in, and supports a number of local charities and projects. Passengers are encouraged to support this foundation.
Passengers are given comprehensive information through the trip notes and the initial group meeting about the social and environmental issues about their trip. They are informed about the cultural and religious issues and how to avoid causing offence. This includes dress codes and interactions with local people as well as how to approach the religious places we visit. They are also informed about how to minimise the environmental impact of their trip, by avoiding plastic bags and minimising the use of bottled water.
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