Rajasthan photography holiday in India

Planet

Both our company and our location guides foster a deep respect for the environment. We visit many locations throughout the world and encourage sensitive and sustainable tourism with a 'leave no trace' policy. Despite Rajasthan being at the forefront of tourism in India, our company is aware that Rajasthan has many responsible tourism issues. We always advise our guests who have booked with us of many relevant issues

We encourage and welcome opportunities to discuss with our guests to ways that they can increase environmental awareness and dialogue throughout our trips. We consider it a huge privilege to be able to visit the world’s wild places and at all times we endeavour to respect local cultures, the natural beauty and fragile environment. At the beginning of the trip we advise and discuss issues such as appropriate dress, local religious and cultural beliefs, language and exchange, disposal and re-cycling of litter in wild places and local environmental issues. We use the rail network to travel wherever possible. This information is also available on our web site.

We travel in small groups often splitting into smaller clusters of two or three persons in order to reduce intrusion on local communities whilst photographing. With a few exceptions when we visit iconic locations, we tend to avoid main tourist areas, concentrating instead on the less visited communities thus economically supporting innovation and a responsible tourism economy. Our photography reflects the special access we have to some less explored locations that local people have shown us. We encourage an immersive approach to the practice of photography and firmly believe that exploration by foot with ample time to engage with place is key, to the success of our trips.

People

We have travelled and visited remote and less remote Indian communities for around thirty years and have our own strong family connections there too. We have financially supported several local Indian women and children particularly in areas pertaining to education. This is an area that we consider key to the responsible development of poor communities.

We are working alongside local guides whenever possible throughout our visit. Their knowledge of and respect for, the local environment is unsurpassed. We have worked alongside them for many years and their advice is always sought. Our aim throughout is to foster an attitude that promotes responsible tourism as a sustainable development in the countries we visit. We encourage our guests to understand how the education of women has been key to many social transformations in Rajasthan, for example sanitation issues. We engage with local hospitality, promoting interaction with our hosts and locals throughout this tour. We spend time visiting traditional villages and families who are engaged in local crafts that benefit the local economy.

In Rajasthan, we have known and worked with our location experts for many years and as such we get to visit places often unseen by other visitors to the area. We are often treated to insights of cultural tradition and ways of life that would normally have passed us by. Through fostering sound connections with our hosts and guides we are able to gain important knowledge about the locality and environmental problems. A particular highlight of this photographic trip is our visit to the Pushkar Camel Fair We believe that participating in cultural events such as this helps to engage with tradition and cultivates an awareness of heritage. However in relation to animal and human abuse we urge guests to bear in mind the following:

1. Elephant rides for tourists are particularly popular around Jaipur and the Amber Fort. We do not support elephant riding for tourism purposes.
2. During festivals in Rajasthan the ways in which elephants are often treated is unethical. We always avoid these events and point out to our guests why this is the case.
3. Camels are also sometimes used in processions for performance purposes and this use of animals for tourists’ entertainment is totally irresponsible and we endeavour to explain why.
4. Child labour and child abuse is common in India, Rajasthan is no exception. We encourage guests to confront these issues and tell them about Childline India hotline
5. We encourage our guests not to consider photographing extreme poverty just for the sake of a good image.
6. Guests are given tutorials and information before going out to photograph in communities on the most sensitive ways to approach locals together advice on appropriate behaviour whilst photographing.