Vietnam and Cambodia family small group tour

Environment

Travel is an opportunity to experience different cultures, meet new people, taste weird and wonderful foods and – for many – get close to wildlife you may have only seen in books or David Attenborough documentaries. We actively discourage the participation of travellers in any activities that exploit wild or domestic/working animals. On this trip, we visit the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity which is housed at the base of Kbal Spien Moutain. ACCB has a collection of animals that have been saved from trafficking such as gibbons, monkeys, anteaters, storks, snakes, giant ibis and turtles.

Water is a precious commodity in this part of the world. Our trained tour leaders are well versed in advising travellers on initiatives to manage water consumption. We encourage travellers to treat this scarce resource with the utmost respect. In our private vans in both Vietnam and Cambodia we supply all families with drinkable water, so they can re-fill their water bottles as and when they wish and also encourage them to bring their own one from home.

Community

An important part of travel is mixing with the locals and experiencing “real life” in the destination. On this trip, we visit Banteay Srei Butterfly Centre. The centre features a live display of the stunning variety of Cambodian butterflies. Rural families in the area are involved in the sustainable farming of the butterflies. They have been trained to understand the value of the forests and the importance of conservation.

We source produce locally throughout the trip, eat at local restaurants and encourage our travellers to purchase souvenirs from local artisans.

We have a foundation which was set up to empower travellers to have a positive impact on the communities they visit. Our foundation now supports more than 50 local, grassroots projects around the world. Over the past 15 years, the foundation has distributed over AU $5 million to projects tackling areas such as sustainable development, human rights, child protection, environmental conservation, wildlife protection, education and healthcare. On this trip we join our friends at KOTO for lunch. KOTO stands for 'Know One, Teach One', which trains street kids for careers in the hospitality industry. Our Foundation also supports an organisation in Cambodia called The Children's Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh, which provides free surgery and treatment to children. We also collect children's glasses that are then reconfigured and fitted by professional ophthalmologists. If you can help, please bring children's old spectacles and give them to your leader at the start of your trip.

This family trip has a maximum group size of 16, to minimise our impact on the places we visit. Over tourism is an issue we are very conscious of, particularly in Vietnam and parts of Cambodia where tourism is hitting high numbers.