Family vacation in Burma

Environment

Most of our tours to Burma include a visit to the Green Hill elephant home in the colonial hill station of Kalaw. This is an environmental project that has been specifically set up to protect the local ecology and maintain the local environment through the replanting of trees in the forest where the home is located. In addition this elephant home teaches visitors about how to care for the local ecology.
Where possible we use small locally owned hotels that have been built and furnished using locally sourced materials.
We encourage the use of local transport (where appropriate), for example the (somewhat rickety!) train that runs from Yangon to Mandalay.
Our UK office is run as environmentally as possible. The majority of our staff either walk or cycle to work and we operate a primarily paper free environment. We do not produce brochures (which often leads to a lot of waste) but market our tours exclusively on the internet.

Community

Our tours are run in a way that maximises the interaction with local communities. Families are generally accompanied by a local guide, who will provide them with a detailed understanding of the local culture and ensure that they understand how to behave in an appropriate manner, for example removing shoes at the entrance to temples. The guides will also arrange visits with local families and, if appropriate, to a local school. Our travelers love this as it provides an excellent opportunity to teach their own children about the local way of life and explain that not everyone has quite so many material goods!
Our tours are run in conjunction with a (small, privately owned) local partner that is staffed exclusively by Burmese people. We endeavour to use small hotels where possible which not only ensures that money is retained by local communities (as these are usually staffed by local people rather than foreigners) but also usually provides a better experience for travelers.