St. Vincent day tours, waterfall walks
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We generally take small groups into this area, and limit cruise ship passengers, to avoid a negative impact on the environment and the communities, as well as providing better interaction between our guides and their guests.
Guides encourage guests not to litter, but will pick up trash from their group and others in reusable bags along the trails and beaches. ‘What you carry in, you carry out’. They also inform visitors of the fragility of coral reefs; no touching or anchoring near them.
We attend workshops and support all government wildlife preservation and conservation policies and are government custodians to Polly, an indigenous and endangered St. Vincent Parrot, (Amazona guildingii), born in captivity.
Community
In our on-going effort to help the local economy and individual entrepreneurs, lunches (sandwiches or rotis - spices, potatoes, meat and/or vegetables in a flour dough), are made primarily with local products (the bread or dough, meat, etc.), with fresh fruit snacks from our organic orchard or roadside vendors. The water comes from Vincentian springs, and it and the soft drinks are bottled on the island. The rum punch uses alcohol made at local distilleries, plus fresh and other tropical fruits.
In keeping with our stance of responsible tourism, our guides are local Vincentians, frequently from Leeward communities, who have extensive knowledge of the flora, fauna, culture and volcanic nature of the area. The guides outline to visitors ways to reduce negative impact on the environment, and they carry reusable bags to pick up litter left by others.
Primarily we use locally grown and manufactured products. When not supplied from our own organic orchard, we buy fresh fruits for snacks from roadside vendors. We encourage visitors to buy locally made souvenirs and use locally handcrafted walking sticks for the hiking tours. This season we will implement the use of locally made coconut bowls, forks and spoons.
We aim to give visitors insights into the history and culture of our people and encourage tourists to attend local sporting and cultural events. We provide in-house manual and regionally certified training to local guides.
