Montenegro hiking vacation, Bay of Kotor

Planet

We want our vacations to be high impact in experience but low impact on the environment!

On our trip we walk and hike off the beaten paths. Traveling on foot produces no carbon footprint and also slows your pace down so you take in more of the nature that surrounds you. We are careful however, to ensure that when hiking the environments we pass through are not disturbed.

Walking tours on this trip visit National park Lovcen and the UNESCO protected Towns of Kotor, Kotor Bay area and Dubrovnik. They each have unique environments and rich ecological values, which visitors need to understand and help enforce. Working together with our local guides and companies we will continue to support local community efforts to maintain the natural beauty of these parks, keeping them free from all pollution and generating enough income from sustainable tourism. By including the opportunity to visit the National Parks on this vacation we are also contributing to their conservation through the entrance fees.

All of our guides know their surroundings very well and they provide our travelers with suggestions of how to minimize potential negative impacts to the environment and marine ecosystems. Our guides emphasize the importance of leaving the environment as it is, particularly in sensitive marine areas.

We encourage our guests to use re-fill able water bottles, since tap water is drinkable in Montenegro.

As a company we employ responsible policies such as recycling paper, ink cartridges, glass and cardboard; we minimize the use of electricity and conduct the vast majority of our correspondence and promotion via the internet and email, minimizing the amount of paper used for our activities.

People

In the last three years we have contributed to several activities as a part of UNDP ( United Nations Developing Program) and EU IPA programs to promote cooperation between Croatian and Montenegrin travel companies in specific areas for sustainable active adventures tourism.

We make special efforts to support the economy of our region such as the Bay of Kotor and the many small villages that we pass through in the Njegusi area, Lustica, Mt Lovcen and Mt Orjen. In rural communities we make sure we use their small restaurants, traders and shops ensures revenue generated from tourism is not confined to the larger cities and well known tourist spots. This is vital in establishing sustainable economies in these smaller areas

All our tour leaders are native to the area and have lived, travelled and worked in Montenegro for long periods. Tour-leaders are actually resident in Montenegro thus contributing full-time to the local economies. We make sure that we employ the guides in places where their expertise and local knowledge will enhance your experience and understanding of the historical context and on the environmental impact of your visit.

An integral part of real understanding and enjoyment of a region or country is eating the local food. Our walking tour includes two or three meals per day – the idea being that our guides aim to provide a guided tour to the regional cuisines as well as the sites and landscapes. We ensure that as well as locally run restaurants our guests are given the opportunity to enjoy the cuisine sold by producers directly.

Accommodation on this vacation is in, primarily, family run, small hotels or family run apartments. The food in the hotels is sourced locally and a large number of dishes on the menus are homemade in the local restaurants that we visit during our sea kayaking trips (and is produced organically where possible). Those are family owned restaurants that are supplied with fresh fish from local fisherman.