Colombia holiday, Andes, Amazon & Caribbean
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comDeparture information
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
As with all our holidays, the accommodation you will stay at has been chosen to meet at least our basic responsible criteria, which includes putting in place measures to conserve energy and reduce water usage. The exact mix depends on the individual hotel, but some initiatives we look for are solar heating and lighting, using energy-efficient light bulbs, treating waste water and recycling paper, glass, plastic and food waste. Our hotels provide advice on how you can reduce your own environmental footprint while you’re in Colombia, for example by switching off air conditioning and lights when not in your room and reusing your towels and plastic water bottles. All the places you stay at buy their food locally, cutting down transport emissions and helping local farmers and some even grow their own organic food on site.
Before your trip, we will also send you information on some of the biggest environmental challenges facing Colombia, as well as our advice about how you can make your stay as green as possible. You can always ask your guide too - we have chosen our Colombian partner because they share our strong commitment to protecting the environment so if they don’t know the answer immediately they can always find out.
The Impacts of this Trip
It is essential for us that our holidays help to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods for Colombian people. We utilise local tours in all of our trips, making sure the money you spend is spread out evenly. These include the Bogota bike tour, all of your activities in the Amazon and the community experience in Cartagena, which all directly contribute to the local infrastructure
In line with our ethical policy, all the places you will stay at are locally-owned or responsibly-run and we ask that hotels employ people from the area in management positions and give them training. In addition, all our hotels must at least raise funds for local charities and projects.
Again, we particularly promote hotels and other accommodation that go that bit further to support local people, such as the Calanoa Lodge in the Amazon. The Calanoa Lodge work together with the local Mocagua Tribe and other local villages offering training and jobs as well as helping to develop a sustainable infrastructure within their communities. The ways they work with community range from providing materials for the local schools to offering grants to youths looking to further their education at University.
As with all our holidays, the accommodation you will stay at has been chosen to meet at least our basic responsible criteria, which includes putting in place measures to conserve energy and reduce water usage. The exact mix depends on the individual hotel, but some initiatives we look for are solar heating and lighting, using energy-efficient light bulbs, treating waste water and recycling paper, glass, plastic and food waste. Our hotels provide advice on how you can reduce your own environmental footprint while you’re in Colombia, for example by switching off air conditioning and lights when not in your room and reusing your towels and plastic water bottles. All the places you stay at buy their food locally, cutting down transport emissions and helping local farmers and some even grow their own organic food on site.
Before your trip, we will also send you information on some of the biggest environmental challenges facing Colombia, as well as our advice about how you can make your stay as green as possible. You can always ask your guide too - we have chosen our Colombian partner because they share our strong commitment to protecting the environment so if they don’t know the answer immediately they can always find out.
The Impacts of this Trip
It is essential for us that our holidays help to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods for Colombian people. We utilise local tours in all of our trips, making sure the money you spend is spread out evenly. These include the Bogota bike tour, all of your activities in the Amazon and the community experience in Cartagena, which all directly contribute to the local infrastructure
In line with our ethical policy, all the places you will stay at are locally-owned or responsibly-run and we ask that hotels employ people from the area in management positions and give them training. In addition, all our hotels must at least raise funds for local charities and projects.
Again, we particularly promote hotels and other accommodation that go that bit further to support local people, such as the Calanoa Lodge in the Amazon. The Calanoa Lodge work together with the local Mocagua Tribe and other local villages offering training and jobs as well as helping to develop a sustainable infrastructure within their communities. The ways they work with community range from providing materials for the local schools to offering grants to youths looking to further their education at University.
1 Reviews of Colombia holiday, Andes, Amazon & Caribbean
Reviewed on 12 Sep 2017 by Erin Turner
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
There were many highlights - Colombia is such a varied country it felt as if we had several holidays in one; experiencing the Amazon river, seeing pink river dolphins; our many excellent guides who all gave a different kind of insight into the culture, history, ecology, politics and wildlife of this remarkable country; the city of Santa Marta which is exquisite and charming, our trek into the Sierra Nevada hinterland, walking through indigenous tribal lands, crossing rivers, being drenched with tropical rains, and finally reaching the Lost City; sipping coffee overlooking the most beautiful luminescent sunsets reflecting of the ocean in Tayrona; and finally the happy engaging and delightfully helpful Colombians we met along the way.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Go for longer than 2 weeks if you can - there is so much to see, and travelling (even by air) means several days are spent in transit. We would have loved to visit the coffee growing areas and the Guahira (pronounced Waheera), learn some spanish...go extreme city/jungles/deserts/coast.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
There was a constant awareness of the need to preserve habitat, respect the dignity of indigenous people, look after the environment and benefit local economies.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Fabulous, thanks to Simon and the team for helping us organise a wonderful trip. When we got over being being picked up at airports by people holding placards with our name on, we relaxed into a real adventure, restful and energetic, with a great mix of different parts of the country.
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