Local economy and culture:
Almost 80% of the people living in the Shigar Valley are directly or indirectly associated with the tourism industry. Trekkers therefore have a positive impact on the local economy when visiting the valley. We employ Sherpa’s from the valley, providing employment to the locals. We also have the opportunity to meet their families. Some trekkers wish to make a small donation for the education of the children of these families.

Accommodation and Meals:
You will spend 6 nights in hotels with en suite facilities and 14 nights in full-service camps. By camping for a large portion of the trip, we drastically reduce our carbon footprint by saving on energy. Each camping site is owned by a particular village on our trail. A tax for pitching tents is paid, which goes directly to the village community for programmes such as building work. Where meals are included, fresh produce from the local communities is used to make plentiful food. Meat (goat and chicken) is bought directly from the local community, which in turn encourages locals to farm animals so that they can sell meat for trekkers. We refuse meat from animals hunted in the Central Karakaorum National Park. There is an opportunity to visit the old bazaar in Rawalpindi, where we can buy fresh vegetables, fruit and spices from the wholesale market. Clients can sample some of the street food available here too.

Activity:
Few vacations have as little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents as a walking trip. Erosion on and adjacent to popular paths is a growing problem in certain places and therefore our trip leaders encourage clients to stick to advised routes in order to minimise this. We do believe in leaving no more than footprints, although we hope to have a positive effect by engaging with locals and using their businesses in order to buy dried fruit, shawls, locally mined stones and caps. Our local partner encourage clients to take extra care with their waste management due to the limited resources in the area to clear rubbish. Our local staff on the trek therefore ensure that we leave no trace.

Water:
Water is a really important issue with walking trips and whilst we must stay hydrated, it is also vital that we have a system for providing clean water without causing lots of waste with plastic bottles. Lack of recycling is already a massive problem in Pakistan so we suggest that instead of repeatedly buying bottled water, guests should re-fill a singular bottle. Water is boiled and placed in a water container overnight, allowing it to cool for the next day.

Group Size:
This small group tour has a maximum of 16 participants, meaning that we have a low impact on the communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people.

UK office:
It all starts at home so we have first worked at reducing our carbon footprint in our UK offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.