Sao Miguel holiday in the Azores

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

The island uses geothermal activity to generate some of their electricity. We have one property currently that uses solar power and are looking to actively source more. This trip features use of an electric bus to take people from the car park to one of the tours. This helps to manage congestion and reduce carbon emissions from the many cars visiting the site

We can include tours that allow people to enjoy parts of the island by foot, cycling or kayaking rather than vehicle.
Electric bikes are available to rent in Ponta Delgada if you would like to have a more eco-friendly way to get around. The town is also small and easy to navigate, which means you can get to most places by foot without having to use vehicle transportation.

We can recommend restaurants that use locally sourced produce, reducing importation of goods and helping the local environment to thrive. Vegetarian and vegan meals are available on all full day activities and we can also recommend some wonderful plant based restaurants. One particular restaurant uses seasonal and locally sourced produce, obtained from the local market on the same day. In all hotels in Ponta Delgada they try to use locally sourced dairy, bakery and tea produce. Sao Miguel is home to the only tea plantation in Europe and the Azores prides itself on showcasing their creations. The wine is also made locally in their lava stone vineyards!

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

We can include a trip the geothermal area of Furnas where ongoing conservation has managed to restore the biodiversity of Furnas Lake and the wildlife in the area. The Furnas Lake recuperation project has reintroduced thousands of endemic and native plants of various species that were extinct or scarcely encountered in the landscape of the Furnas Lake, such as Picconia azorica, Azorean Juniper (Juniperus brevifolia), Portugal Laurel (Prunus azorica) and Buckthorn (Frangula azorica).

The Furnas Lake is still classified as a mass of protected water through the Furnas Lake Land Development and Watershed Plan (POBHLF), which aims to control eutrophication, aligning the uses and human activities with the protection and environmental enhancement of the watershed and thereby improve water quality. To implement the POBHLF wide expanses of pasture and some forest were acquired. In these areas, the sources of contamination of the lake were eliminated and currently follow a vigorous ecological restoration plan which will lead to a multifunctional forest landscape.

Tourism focusing on nature assists the Azorean people and its conservation efforts by educating tourists on the importance of the natural environment and how it might be best protected.

All our guides live locally and about 60% are native Azoreans. Those who accompany guests on the whale watching trips often have a wide range of advanced marine biology qualifications and are involved actively in research and conservation. Those who lead the land tours have standard tourism qualifications and further in house training. We have also personally set up training for the team with our UK based oceanographer who is an expert in marine conservation. He is due to give personalised training in early 2025 and this will assist the team in communicated ways in which guests can contribute to ocean habitat restoration.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

Our favourite hand picked hotels are either entirely or part owned by local families from the Azores. Some historical buildings have been purchased by local people and lovingly restored into hotels that we now use for our guests. Wherever possible we will recommend these hotels over and above large international chains who have moved into the area.

We maximise local economic opportunities by ensuring that at a minimum 60% of our guides are local and Azorean, all guides live locally to the areas we visit year round. We include visits to the oldest tea plantation in Europe which is family owned. We also visit local vineyards and recommend locations where visitors can purchase local produce or artisan creations.

We try to actively discourage people from contributing to the housing problem in the Azores by not staying at Airbnb style accommodation, which is often owned internationally and sits vacant during the low season. This has driven local property prices above what local Azorean's can afford and we try to educate people on this situation so they can avoid contributing to the problem. We instead offer both apartment and hotel style accommodation which is owned by those who live in the Azores and support the local economy.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

90% of our tour operators live in the local community year round and 60% are native Azoreans.

The boat company and land tour operator we use ensures they pay their staff well above the minimum wage and recently implemented new policies to improve the quality of life of their staff.

We have a number of hotels that have been audited and checked for their accessibility criteria. We have a holiday specifically for those with extra requirements and our dolphin and whale watching trips to sea are suitable for those with disabilities. Our staff in destination are brilliant at assisting those with low mobility and the boat can be suitable for wheelchair users who can weight bear.