Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Environment
This company has operated on responsible tourism values since its inception. From an environmental perspective, our initiatives extend from our company offices to our tours. A local green energy provider powers our head office and stores, we encourage cleaner transportation methods for staff, and purchase all supplies from a local green business supplier. Our office is as paperless as possible and our brochures use 100% PEFC certified sustainable paper. We offset emissions from all corporate flights and our marine vessel, and encourage our travelers to do so by providing an online platform through Sustainable Travel International.
Tour leaders provide travellers with information about local environmental issues in their respective regions, and provide suggestions of how we can best protect the local environment and culture. To reduce the amount of waste created on tours, tour leaders also encourage travellers to use refillable water bottles instead of disposable plastic, cotton tote bags, reusable batteries, etc. We also include destination-specific information in our guidebooks, which are provided to each traveller including information particular to the local culture and environment and tips on how to be a responsible traveller.
Low Impact Accommodation: Accommodations used throughout this trip are hill lodges, jungle camps and national park/mountain huts that are designed to have a low impact on their surroundings. On this trip we’ll be camping out overnight on Mt Rinjani. This massive volcanic cone is more than 6km across. In the base of the cone is the 'Child of the Sea' lake and nestled in its crescent shape is the 'New Mountain', a recent addition to the regions volcanoes and only 200 years old. Camping is a very low-impact style of accommodation because the structures are temporary! Camping means little to no electricity consumption, low water consumption and definitely no energy sucking air conditioning! This is a major contributor to the sustainability of a trip because other types of holidays where the majority of the trip is spent in a large foreign-owned resort that means very little income stays in the local economy and usually has a large impact on the natural area’s water use, energy use, waste production as well as contrasts with the natural environment.
Marine Environments and Island Protection: Learn more about precious the region’s marine environments by snorkeling or scuba diving amongst the breathtaking coral reefs and grottoes as well as dolphins and sea turtles that surround the coasts of Bali and Lombok. As more and more coral reefs become damaged around the world and many of the ocean’s creatures, such as several species of sea turtles, are threatened with extinction, it is that much more important to learn about how are actions on land and in the sea impact the marine ecosystems and what we can due to protect these essential resources. The Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok offer the best snorkeling and diving around. Life here is simple and slow-paced. There are no cars in Gili and here we shower with saltwater to conserve the limited supply of fresh water!
Community
Supporting communties is and always has been at the heart of our tours. We provide business opportunities to local people by employing local guides and tour operators. The majority of accommodation used on our tours are small-scale, locally-owned hotels. Our tours mainly use public transportation wherever possible and are small in size to keep our impact on fragile sites and communities as minimal as possible. We monitor the sustainability of our tours through traveller evaluations in order to allow for continuous improvement. We support the local economy and business initiatives by visiting locally-owned shops, restaurants, and markets on our tours.
Many tours incorporate community projects as a way of supplementing community income and supporting community development projects. In 2003 we founded a non-profit organization as a way for our travellers and our company to give back to the people and places we visit. We develop community projects around the world in the areas of health, education, small business development and environmental conservation. Funds are raised through traveller donations and fundraising. The company pays all administration fees which means that 100% of each individual donation goes directly to the community projects. Each year, we continue to support and develop new partnerships with more community projects and community-based tourism initiatives worldwide, in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Supporting local culture and businesses: On this trip you have the opportunity to visit Ubud, the cultural centre of Balinese life. It houses mossy temples, museums and art galleries and its artistic heritage stems from when the small kingdom became a Dutch protectorate in 1900. Surrounded by lush jungles, rice paddies, and rivers, it would be difficult not to be inspired. In the evening you can experience the Gianyr night market where you can try some local cuisine. Making choices to eat at locally owned restaurants and purchasing handicrafts are ways to help ensure more tourist dollars stay in the local economy - a vital way for tourism to make a positive impact.
When Bruce went travelling after University in 1989 he realised he had limited options: he could either go backpacking or stay on a resort. Returning to Canada, he set up a company that bridged the gap and offered young professionals an affordable way to immerse themselves in the culture of different countries. Bruce gave some of the profits back to the communities he passed through. Today he has offices in 38 countries and runs a travel foundation that builds projects all over the world; he is adamant that all staff adhere to his original business model of sustainability and happiness.
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!
