Morocco 2027 solar eclipse, various tours

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

We feel it is our duty and responsibility to respect local customs, support local communities, respect the natural environment, and protect animals. We strive to provide tours that, not only offer our guests unique experiences and different cultures, but also positively contribute to the destination. This is achieved through our support of local people and their communities & aiding provincial projects wherever we can.

To be able to access the rural areas of this tour, we do tend to use private transport, however, if we have smaller group numbers, there may be times where we can use comfortable public transport such as to and from Marrakech and Essaouira. This bus service allows you to interact with local people and see beautiful views of villages and landscapes whilst giving back to local organisations.

Meals that are supplied are usually sourced from local butchers and fruits from markets or farms and we recommend certain street stalls and shops.

To help with our carbon footprint in our UK office, we have a plastic, paper, cardboard and printer ink recycling system and also purchase recycled ink cartridges and toners. We moved away from sending paperwork to and from Morocco a few years ago and instead created more shared online services such as our feedback forms.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

We are serious about the environment and are aware of the devastating damage and the overall impact that plastics have on our planet.
In an attempt to reduce single use plastics during our tours in Morocco, we have partnered with ‘Water to Go.’
‘Water to Go’ products are reusable BPA free bottles with a built in 3-in-1 filtration system; the filter removes 99% of microbiological contaminants meaning you can drink any water source safely. Our customers will receive a 25% discount on any ‘Water to Go’ product.

Our transport provides a rubbish bin for travellers to use that our guide/driver can dispose of at certain points throughout the tour or we request that travellers keep hold of their own waste until we reach a suitable disposal location, usually in larger cities.

Working with our destination partners, we ensure the animals involved in our tours are provided with the best possible care. Adopting industry animal welfare standards (ABTA guidelines) and following the advice of animal welfare experts, ANIMONDIAL and the NGO SPANA, we prioritise animal welfare protection and encourage our guests to respect animals.

We provide advice and guidance on all matters concerning individual animal welfare and species protection. ANIMONDIAL works with travel businesses to help them better manage their impacts on animals and the natural environment.

We encourage our customers to use SPANA’s Holiday Hooves guide and we discourage our customers from engaging in the following exploitative practices:
*Businesses that keep wild animals as pets
*Feed or touch wild animals free roaming in the wild
*Engaging with animals used for begging purposes (snake charmers, monkeys on chains, etc).

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

We employ local guides and drivers with extensive knowledge of the areas we travel to but also contract local specialist guides for some of our city tours who share our company values on caring for the environment.

Although our guides speak multiple languages, we provide our customers with a language translation sheet so they can talk to the locals should they wish to build a relationship and they also take part in trying on local dress and getting a feel for their traditions.

During this tour, we take our customers to a local Berber carpet co-operative and many of them go on to purchase goods knowing that they are helping these local families. We also provide cooking lessons in a family home and other Berber family visits. The support from these visits has helped build new toilet blocks for their extended families.We do try to encourage our customers to buy products from the locals rather than purchasing imported goods or buying fake items.

Our Association in Ait Ouham is coordinated by our tour guides for the Berber community in the Atlas Mountains. Their main goal is to help alleviate the poor infrastructure in schools and around the village. We also supply staple supplies during the winter months to the village.
One major project we are incredibly proud of is the building of a bridge over the river running through the village.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we and the local authorities worked hard to help provide tap water to 120 families, using clean energy (solar panels) to pump water from the villages’ well.