Uchaw festival holiday in Pakistan

Planet

For transportation we use local transport companies and guides to minimise their travel thus avoiding unnecessary use of carbon emissions. We've kept the group small so that we can use transportation that isn't as harmful to the environment as the use of a larger vehicle would be. Where possible we also try and use public transport such as rickshaws or walking on foot as we think this is the best way to enjoy a country and to get an authentic experience.

We also advise our guests to take short showers so that the wastage of water is minimised.

All of our guides take bin bags with them to ensure that rubbish is disposed off in an appropriate manner and no pollution is caused or left behind. In Pakistan this is particularly vital because a bin isn't always readily available for our guests to throw rubbish in.

We are promoting the ancient heritage and natural landscape of Pakistan by visiting Baltit Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sites are chosen by the UNESCO committee and must "bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to civilisation", "an important interchange of human values" or be outstanding examples of major stages of Earth's history or ecological and biological processes in evolution. The entry ticket to this site enables the Agha Khani group to reinvest in the Fort and to ensure it is preserved.

We deliberately keep the group size to a maximum of 10 on this Pakistan tour, to ensure we minimise the human impact on the fragile sites and ecosystems that we visit.

People

Community: We work with the local community to ensure that the tourism we bring in has a direct impact on the locals, with a particular focus on females and promoting entrepreneurship among them. We have kept two days in the Kalash valley, so that the local businesses in the valley can benefit from their presence. We encourage all our guests to shop from them as this is an important source of revenue for them. For the majority of the itinerary the places that we take our guests to eat at are locally run cafes and restaurants to ensure they get the most authentic flavours and to ensure that local businesses benefit.

All the suppliers that we work with are local to ensure that we are creating job opportunities amongst them, hence all our ground staff are Pakistani. They know the country best and are the best brand ambassadors for the country. We encourage our teams to particularly focus on smaller business and home chefs because they are most in need from the income that would be generated from the tours.


Charity: We support the Shahid Afridi Foundation by giving £25 from every transaction towards the charity. The charity was founded by Shahid Afridi, a Pakistani cricketer in 2014 and aims to improve the conditions of the most destitute communities of Pakistan society, supporting the most underserved communities in Pakistan. It provides families access to better services in areas of Health, Education & Water along with promoting Global Peace & Goodwill via sports diplomacy initiatives. SAF has been successful in building hospitals, developing schools network and initiating water projects across Pakistan.

For the purpose of shopping and workshops we take you to local markets and handicraft workshops, so that these people can sell directly to you and get the bigger chunk of the profit margin.