Pantanal wildlife tour in Brazil, Jaguars and Amazon
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Our travel partners, accommodation, service providers and ground agents are all carefully chosen to ensure their commitment to the environment, most being quality, family owned businesses – reflecting the unique character of the places, the abiding hospitality of its people and the remarkable spirit of its wilderness.
Where possible, we use lodges which support local projects for the protection of the wildlife and local communities which rely on tourism as the principal source of income. Cristalino Jungle Lodge is part of an area of Private Primary Rainforest which preserves 24,000 acres. The lodge helps to support, preserve and fund research projects in the region, through the Cristalino Ecological Foundation in partnership with Fauna & Flora International. The lodge itself undertakes many initiatives to reduce the impact of tourism on the region including recycling, composting, water treatment, use of organic produce where possible, use of non-motorised transport where possible and finally staff training on the management of a region such as Cristalino.
An unavoidable consequence of travel is the emission of carbon dioxide into the high atmosphere and while Steppes Discovery takes measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its holidays, regrettably it is not yet possible to make them carbon neutral. In order to offset these emissions we give £10 per client to Rainforest Concern. Rainforests have a central role to play in the slowing of climate change and yet we are removing forests from the planet at a faster rate than they can grow back. Rainforest Concern supports projects that look to preserve the forests that we have rather than replanting new ones, working to safeguard biodiversity and local communities and in so doing mitigate climate change.
Community
Cristalino Jungle Lodge, together with the likes of Kew Gardens, supports the Cristalino Foundation, a non-profit organisation in the Alta Floresta region. The main projects are focused on the buffer zones of the Cristalino State Park and are dedicated to the promotion of environmental awareness and the sustainable use of the region's resources. The lodge also operates the 'School of the Amazon', a serious education program to increase the environmental awareness of participants and promote real-life educational experiences. This is focused on two groups, international students and of course local school children who are able to spend a day in the jungle and to take as much as possible from the experience.
There is also a significant and highly important project to educate locals on the wildlife of the region and to prevent the killing of jaguar, particularly in the Cristalino State Park buffer areas.
In 2012 we celebrate 15 years of spectacular achievement as pioneers in the field of nature travel. We have raised significant funds in support of the world’s leading wildlife and conservation agencies, researchers and experts, and increased awareness of travel and conservation through newsletters, lectures and consistent media coverage. Furthermore we have voluntarily spearheaded collective action campaigns such as Travel Operators for Tigers in South Asia.
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