Myanmar tailor made tour, tea, temples & trails

Environment

With our Travelife partnership accreditation for sustainable travel, we operate in a socially and environmentally friendly manner at all times. Protecting nature and wildlife is really important to us, and encouraging our travellers to do the same is at the core of what we do. As a team of passionate wildlife-lovers, our Meaningful Travel Warriors understand the importance of animal welfare in the tourism industry and are committed to our journey to make the world a better place for animals.

Our local partners have responsible travel at the core of their practices too and alongside a myriad of other projects, they work incredibly hard to offset their carbon footprint. In 2015, they set about offsetting 100 tons of carbon through two tree planting campaigns and every year they plant mangrove trees to compensate their emissions.

We also do our best to help you reduce your footprint and this itinerary will see you travel predominantly by minibus, local train, and by foot.

In Bagan, you'll have full use of well-maintained bicycles and e-bikes to explore the vast plains and travel on one of the world's most impressive rail journeys by local train across the Gokteik Viaduct. You'll explore by foot with your local guide during your inspiring visit the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and by peddle boat through the enchanting waterways of Inle Lake.

During your visit to Myanmar, you'll stay in small-scale, independent accommodation from family-ran guesthouses in Hsipaw offering exquisite service to the wonderful lakeside bungalows stilted over Lake Inle, built from local bamboo and which are owned and operated by the resident Intha villagers. During your trek from Kalaw to the lake, you'll also have the opportunity to stay in the community lodge that are local partners in Myanmar have helped establish in order to help start sow the seedlings of sustainable local tourism.

When booking your international flights with us, we’ll also offer you the opportunity to reduce the impact they’ll have on the environment by putting you in touch with a leading sustainable energy project.

During your visit to Myanmar, our local guides will also teach you all about the conservation and preservation of its architecture and environment as you go and how you can help make a difference. In Bagan for example, your local guide will take you to visit some of the lesser-known temples. Not only will you feel more a traveller than a tourist as you avoid the crowds but by taking in some of the more unknown sites, we hope to minimise the human impact on the overall archaeological zone as it is dispersed far more evenly.

Community

Our local project is in support of a charity specifically aimed at changing the lives of thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children across Myanmar. They do this by providing education, medical care, housing, and food supplies. Established in 2008, they now also run a centre for 84 disabled children, have funded over 100 life-saving operations, built 26 schools, opened clinics, installed wells, supported orphanages and ran numerous feeding programmes.

Alongside our local partners, we are reaching out to a number of local villages and regions across Myanmar in order to ensure the increase of overseas traffic to the country is spread out and as many communities as possible are able to receive the benefits tourism brings. When you trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake, you’ll stay in a community lodge – partly funded by our local partners – who have helped bring a number of jobs to an underprivileged area.

We also provide every customer that travels with us with a handy guide explaining all you’ll need to know about the customs and culture of Myanmar, ensuring you arrive in country fully up to speed with all you’ll need to know.