Cloudforest holiday to Manu National Park

It is our policy to carefully dispose of all waste in this environmentally sensitive area. All non-organic waste is carried out and organic waste is composted at the town of Atalaya or buried at a suitable depth. Sewage and waste is treated in filter beds. We are careful to practice responsible behaviour in this fragile environment. There is no hunting, no fishing, and no plant collection. There is control on boat size and noise pollution.

Food we eat is purchased in Cusco and we use food products with as little packaging as possible, and encourage cooking with Andean products. We cook with gas and use recyclable glass as opposed to plastic wherever possible. Water is carried in large containers we re-use,and we use re-usable Tupperware boxes for packed lunches and paper wrapping instead of plastic where possible. Staff are from local communities and are treated fairly and paid a fair wage.

Since 2006 we have been able to support the Huchuy Yachaq community project in the marginalised neighbourhood of Hermanos Ayar, on the outskirts of Cusco, with the help of everybody who has travelled with us. We donate USD 3000 a year to this community project.

The project has been set up by volunteer social workers and teachers to provide much needed social and educational support to the children and families of this neighbourhood. Children are encouraged to attend study and games sessions held each afternoon and participate in holiday projects. Our contributions so far have paid for educational books and games, tables and chairs, improvements to the structure of the basic community owned building and the addition of functioning toilets, materials for the children to take to school, school books, holiday programmes.

And we are planting trees as part of a reforestation project in Peru.