Galapagos conservation & photography holiday

Carbon reduction

Your holiday will help support local people and conservation. We must also reduce CO₂. Learn about the CO₂ emissions of this holiday and how to reduce them.

• For each traveller that goes away with us, we voluntarily plant a tree with our charity partners Tree Aid. Trees are planted in rural African communities and local people are taught how to sustainably use the trees to improve their economic situation - whilst also benefiting the planet.
• Where food is provided, it is locally produced and sourced, reducing food miles, supporting local industry and minimising single-use plastic
• As a traveller you will learn about the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, both pre-departure and through your volunteer project
• Accommodation is in the town so that volunteers can get around mainly on foot or in shared taxis. Volunteers travel in group transport to reach the project site each day.
• Where possible, and without jeopardising safety or quality, transfers are done on a shared basis to reduce carbon emissions

Environment

Wildlife and conservation
The Galapagos Islands are an amazing place to visit due to the diversity and beauty. Unfortunately human presence has impacted the biodiversity negatively, and the ecosystem is considered under threat. We work hard to increase biodiversity by clearing alien vegetation and replanting native species.
As we work, any rubbish that is found is also removed and disposed of.

Protecting the world
We are passionate about encouraging our travellers to be kind to the environment as they travel. Each participant receives advice about how to care for the environment whilst they are away. This includes water usage, how to avoid single use plastic, and electricity usage.

We insist that all participants bring their own water bottles when they travel with us, and clean free water is always available. We have even created a water bottle that can be purchased before departure and encourage people to use it at all stages of their journey including at the airport, on flights and whilst on their project. We are striving for all of our projects to be free of single use plastic.

Community

Meeting local needs
We work with locals throughout the community to ensure that volunteer presence will benefit a larger group of people. There is an education programme run in the local school to encourage youngsters to protect their natural environment and its biodiversity. This is run by our partner organisation, this is not part of the volunteer project.

Investing in the community
You will be staying in a local guest house whilst on this project. You will be self catering, and we encourage you to do your shopping in the local produce market. This market sells fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and fresh meat - all very high quality, locally sourced and packaged without plastic. If you are not cooking for yourself, you will be eating in local restaurants and bars, investing in the local economy.

Cultural sensitivity
We emphasise the importance of showing respect for local people and their customs in our briefing material. It is important to us that participants work well with the teams in the Galapagos, and we help them as much as we can with this. We get to know all of the people that go away with us, so that we know as much as we can about them to give them a warm welcome on arrival. Volunteers are made aware of religious and cultural differences to help respect and abide by these.