Laos tour in a small group

Planet

When travelling in a country such as Laos that has very few tourists, there is an additional responsibility on us as a company and on our clients visiting the country to do everything possible to minimise our impact.

We visit a village where locals use scrap metal from exploded bombs to make items such as spoons and bracelets to sell. Not so much recycling as re-using and showing the resilience and resourcefulness of the local population.

We do everything possible to reduce our waste while travelling, using local cafes and restaurants. We also work extremely closely with our locally owned suppliers to inform and educate their staff about a range of issues, including litter and waste disposal, and the recycling of material. Clients are advised to bring their own water bottles rather than purchase plastic.

Wherever possible we use environmentally friendly local accommodation. If this is not possible we make every effort to alert the management of the accommodation in question to ways of improving their service with the environment in mind. Many of the hotels and lodges we use are in extremely remote areas and are therefore almost entirely self-sufficient, using local sources of food, labour and construction materials.

People

Our very small groups and limited departures in Laos means that our impact – both cultural and environmental – on the areas that we visit is small and truly sustainable. All of the guides we use are local, and most have been working with our local team in a full time role for a number of years, rather than just as seasonal jobs.

We visit and support The Lone Buffalo Foundation, a special project offering young people free English courses, taught by a native speaker. Meeting foreigners (with different accents!) to practice English is a special event for students and helps to overcome their shyness of speaking in public. LBF encourages some of their students to study for careers in tourism, so this gives them the perfect chance to chat with you and start to develop their tour guiding skills!

All of our trips include visits to local markets, craft shops and fairs. As well as being good for the local economy this gives travellers to the country a real feel for the life and culture of Laos.