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Around the globe, we identify selected community projects that we can support through our trips. In Nepal our porters wellbeing is as important to us as that of our trekkers. We are founding members of the International Porter Protection Group (IPPG), which protects porters from mistreatment. The IPPG aims for porters to have insurance, medical care if ill or injured and access to adequate clothing, food and shelter.
In addition to pioneering working with local leaders and ensuring our guides and porters are always properly clothed we embarked on a even more rewarding challenge - to help local communities build several community lodges in villages near the trekking trails. There are now five lodges, owned and staffed by individuals and villages co-operatively, with profits helping to improve local education, such as funding teachers for the school. By committing funds to this project, we provided a safe form of investment and ongoing employment for many local people.
During the second part of this trip you visit Chitwan National Park. The villages around the park, have struggled with wild elephants and rhinos trampling their crops and mud brick homes during nightly foraging forays. There have been around 20 fatalities and some 200 houses are destroyed each year. In order to combat this problem, we have assisted with the purchase and installation of an electric fence that is harmless to the animals yet protects the villagers from rogue wildlife. We have currently set-up 24 kilometres of fence, with more planned.
This trip is focused on respecting and benefiting the local people and the environment of this country. On this trip you will be lead by an experienced local leader passionate about their country's history, heritage and natural beauty that will help you to get 'under the skin' of their country and see it through the eyes of a local. This trip stays at locally run accommodation; we eat at local restaurants and travel on local transport. This ensures the financial return to the local economy opens up training and employment opportunities - and allows for informal and meaningful interaction between our travellers and local people.
We also offset our carbon emissions. We think that since it’s our tours that created the emissions then it’s our responsibility to do something about them; we don’t think it’s fair to simply transfer our responsibility to you. We work with Climate Care to use Gold Standard carbon offset projects (or accredited equivalent) to offset our emissions.
The maximum group size on all of our adventures is 16 passengers. Travelling in small groups ensures we make significantly less impact on the natural environment, as well as breaking down many of the communication barriers presented by a larger group.
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!
