Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Environment:
Our company was set up to help raise funds for a river foundation. This doesn't restrict our support to any other organisations in destinations where we offer holidays. This is not necessarily in the form of donations, but by being part of the wealth creation and providing social benefits (Quantifiable, visible for our travellers) that we have carefully incorporated into the Responsible travel itinerary.
Being one of the pioneers of Responsible Tourism in India, our company works closely with government authorities, industry stake holders and communities to promote Responsible Tourism in the state.
We advise cooperating hotels to use the 3R policy: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. For our transfer we use regularly tuned cars and we promote walking tours in cities like Delhi to reduce pollution and congestion of traffic.
Community:
Most of the properties we recommend in this holiday are locally owned, but as in many cases the final call is with the guests on where they choose to stay. However, we are working with many owners to maintain their properties responsibly.
Since our holiday involves visit to local communities and villages, we ensure that our guests are briefed thoroughly on the cultural background, for eg certain do's and don'ts like practicing responsible photography are made available before they go on our holidays. Our activity partners are not show pieces for tourists, but hosts who work with us with dignity. Most rural area visits lead you to optional visits to local schools and interaction with villagers. For most guests, these visits are eye openers to understand the resilience of local communities who live with minimal resources.
While visiting the Bishnoi and Rabari villages, the community will be thrilled to welcome guests from different parts of the world and you would be directly contributing to their livelihood by allowing them to be your hosts. This trip covers some popular destinations, but we have tried to include places like Chandelao, Siana, which gets lesser tourist traffic in Rajasthan. By including less popular destinations, we hope to equalise the tourist cash flow to some extent.
Our interpreters have travelled to other destinations we offer as holidays in India. They spend time with other communities to understand how they are part of the growing responsible tourism initiatives run by our company.
We promote responsible shopping in Rajasthan - buying local handicrafts directly from the artists, thereby ensuring that the artist gets his worth. We promote home stays so that the benefits go directly to local people. What better way to learn about the Rajasthani culture than to stay with an ordinary family enjoying home cooked food.
We organise workshops that provides an opportunity to not only learn their craft but also understand their social environment. One of the off shoots of these workshops is responsible shopping where travellers can purchase products directly without paying middle men who make unreasonable profits at the expense of the real artists.
We work with the Kalakar Vikas Samiti, a small group of traditional artists who make a living out of art and handicrafts. Most of the hotels and restaurants showcase Rajasthani artists and except for a visual contact, there is real no connection with the artist. Our holidays give you an opportunity to understand where they come from, their art and culture. You can visit them in their houses and villages during the trip. This ensures that they don't compromise on their dignity and perform just for the sake of making a living. Our involvement with the community ensures their capacity building, training on social skills and building networks of artists in different parts of the Rajasthan so that the benefits of Responsible Tourism is spread across the state and not restricted to certain tourist places.
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!
