Armenia & Georgia hiking tour

Planet

Armenia and Georgia are countries which attract travelers by natural beauty. So, we take the responsibility to protect our environment and encourage travelers to do the same. We start it from our office by reducing energy and paper use. We replace old lamps with the new saving ones, try to avoid using printing materials and give all the information in electronic format. When the printed paper is needed we use both sides of it. For getting to the office we share cars to reduce carbon emission.

Both countries are reach for ancient architectural and natural monuments as monasteries, fortresses, caves, waterfalls, lush forests, alpine meadows and high mountains. These places are the most beautiful and fragile parts of the region. You can find many sites preserved by UNESCO, ancient monasteries, large vineyards, mysterious caves etc. During our “Armenia & Georgia Hiking Tour” tourists will visit Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park and Dilijan National Park which provide for normal ecosystem development, landscape and biodiversity conservation, as well as protection of historical and cultural patrimony of Georgia and Armenia.

Air pollution
Modern cars with low mileage produce only quite small quantities of the air quality pollutants, but the emissions from large numbers of cars add to a significant air quality problem. When designing “Armenia & Georgia Hiking Tour” itinerary we minimized vehicle use to taking travelers from the overnight point to the walking trail-head and to the next overnight point. This means there is asphalt road to the sight travelers are visiting. We chose walking the path with nice nature views grabbing the opportunity to reduce air pollution and providing fan at the same time.

Water
We strongly believe reusable bottles are very important for health and always encourage travelers to have them. Armenia is mountainous country and very reach in spring pure water. We in Armenia drink water from the tap and pour water from mountain springs. Mountains spring water is also drinkable and clean. To be on the safe side we advise travelers to bring drugged or metal filters to be sure water doesn't harm their stomach. This helps to minimize littering and plastic use in the country.

Energy
To minimize energy use we ask travelers not to leave lights, TV and air conditioning on when they are leaving their rooms for the trip. As far as Armenia is considered to be the sunny country with almost 275 sunny days a year we encourage regional hotels to use solar energy. If we know we will be selling the property (guesthouse/restaurant service) the certain amount, we prepay the service for the year in January. This helps people to have a big amount of money at once and buy solar cells to get energy and warm water without harming the environment.

People

Trails of this trip pass through the most hidden corners of Armenia and Georgia, so every single traveler can be very rare one and has a huge impact on local communities. Travelers stay in small family run guesthouses, eat in the restaurants, means they become part of the communities’ daily life. We always encourage travelers to respect local traditions, not to wear too open or have a scarf when entering monasteries. Small rural communities live within their rules, preserving old traditions like they lived hundreds of years ago. When taking traveler so deep to local life we believe it gives chance both to the tourist and local people to meet and understand each other's cultural differences.
Women in rural areas are very good at handicrafts and they sue scarves, socks like their grandmas and make many nice souvenirs characteristic for their area. We realize every traveler wants to bring home some souvenir and always encourage them to visit local markets, buy souvenirs and local products from stores.

Group size
Group optimal size is maximum 10 participants, as the routes are not designed for larger groups. This helps to have very warm and friendly atmosphere in the group. The small group also make the comfortable stay at the family-run B&B-s. This helps travelers to fill the whole authenticity of the area. Small groups don't cause negative impact either on the communities, not on the environment.