Malaysia small group holiday

Environment

Our Malaysia trip visits the Bukit Merah Orang-utan foundation in Perak, a centre that is dedicated to the care of these beautiful and gentle giants. The foundation rescue orang-utans from illegal possession or illegal trade and works to rehabilitate them before they are returned to the wild. Our visit here will help to provide funding for the vital work they are carrying out, whilst also increasing awareness of the centre.

Malaysia is a well- developed tourism destination and on this trip we try to explore it in less conventional fashion. Transport is a mix of public buses, ferries, boats, train and minibus so customers get a much more local experience and reduce the footprint left in the country.

Hotels are generally small and locally owned. A great example is the Belum Rainforest Resort, located in the Royal Belum State Park which covers a large swathe of northern Malaysia and is believed to be one of the oldest rainforests in the world, dating back over 130 million years. The resort offers a huge number of opportunities to ‘live a step closer to nature’. We provide nature trails, rafts to hire, kayaking and canoeing – all designed to allow customers to experience the rain forest in its natural state.

Whilst Malaysia’s islands are renowned for their pristine beaches we arrange cycling trips in Langkawi to allow customers to get away from the magnet of the beach and to explore in a sustainable way the beauty of the island.

Food is very important in Malaysia and we do not eat in our hotels but our tour leaders will take customers to local restaurants and the street food markets. We are eating authentic, local produce amongst a melee of stalls offering other local products to purchase. We ensure that our customers try ‘Teh Tarik’ a cappuccino tea made with foam and milk or the ‘steamboat’ a speciality of satay sticks cooked in a pot in the middle of the table and eaten communally.

Community

We explore the charming Dutch colonial city of Malacca on foot and include a visit to Villa Sentosa. This house-come-museum offers an insight to early 20th Century Malaysian living and is hosted by a third-generation family member of the house. The money from our entrance fee helps to preserve this small window into the past and directly benefits the local family that runs the house.

In order to really be a benefit to the local people in the areas we travel to, we use an entirely local crew, the hotels we use are locally owned and we eat out at a variety of small restaurants and street stalls, thus spreading their spending wealth. We also think this gives you a better experience as you get more personal service, get that bit closer to local life and are able to sample the best of the fantastic local cuisine.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our UK Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators. We acknowledge that air travel has a negative impact on our environment, so we work together with Cool Earth to offset carbon and protect our important rainforests.