Central India holiday, journey through Chhattisgarh

Planet

1 Our environment responsibilities start right from the office. We have a policy of using eco-friendly goods and paper, plus we reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. We print our office documents on both sides of the paper to reduce paper consumption. We try to keep our marketing materials at bare minimum by using modern electronic communication for marketing purpose. We also work to minimise energy and water consumption in our offices, and we encourage our partners to follow similar waste management and energy philosophies.

2 We operate with small group sizes which not only maximises interaction within the group and guides and local community but also minimises the impact on environment.

3 In this tour we have used home stays, lodges and hotels which are safe, comfortable and operated in a sustainable way. We specifically pay attention to the lodges and camps, located around national parks for their waste disposal and eco-tourism policies.

4 Local resources such as water and electricity are often in short supply and tourism can put pressure on these services and supplies which can in turn reduce the supplies available to local people. In order to mitigate this, we make every effort to impart information to travellers to help them act responsibly in order to minimise tourism impact on local resources.

5 We believe wildlife tourism can be an important conservation tool if used responsibly. Travel to national parks and wildlife areas brings positive economic benefits as entrance fees contribute to the maintenance and conservation of local flora and animal species, while visitors benefit from the educational aspects of the area and take away with them an increased awareness of the need and place for conservation. Equally important tourism helps the local communities living around these reserves by providing jobs and helping them realise the importance of the forest.

People

6 Group size plays an important role and we keep the numbers low to minimise negative impacts on the environment and to ensure that the interaction with the guide is more on a one to one basis. The guides we employ on this tour are locals who know about the sites thoroughly. In this tour you will be meeting with many guides from different areas sharing real experiences from their own lives and insights into family life, influences and beliefs, thus providing you with a deeper understanding of the places you visit.

1 We believe there are two fundamental factors in creating a successful and socially beneficial holiday: slow travel and placing value on local knowledge. All our guides on treks in the hills are local herdsmen (yadavs) or farmers; they not only know the best routes and the food and medicinal uses of every plant and tree, but also whether it is worth a diversion to see a leopard footprint, to bypass a village where private ceremony is taking place or drop in on one where a baby welcoming party will enjoy the presence of some extra guests. It enables real relationships to be established between guests and host nationals. We ensure that there are multiple languages speakers on all our tours to avoid cultural faux pas and to enrich the exchanges between everyone. Our guides ensures that same villages are not visited by foreigners more than once in any month and that all supplies are brought along so no strain is put on the local resources. We encourage guests to bring small but useful presents; jumpers or shawls for children (central Indian winter nights can be bitterly cold) and fresh fruit and vegetable for longer stays (50% of Indian people do not even eat one fully balance meal a day).

2 All our accommodation providers employ the vast majority of their staff from local villages and encourage the learning of English, interaction with guests and opportunities for promotion. The also support the education of the children of their staff and their health needs.

3 We are associated with Aakanksha School in Raipur (Chhattisgarh), an extraordinary institution that helps under-privileged children with special needs reach their full potential. This non-profit making organisation teaches children basic self-help and vocational skills, helping them fit more easily into society, and where possible finds them work placements. It has an outreach project that works both to assist families with special needs children in rural areas, and to educate villagers in an attempt to challenge prejudice. We not only helps the institution financially but one of our founder members, works there as a volunteer. We encourage any guests who have some time in Raipur to visit the school.