Grazalema hiking tour, Spain

Planet

The Sierra de Grazalema is one of the most important places in Europe for bird-life. It holds the largest Griffon Vulture colony in Europe and we visit the feeding stations and see this magnificent sight. We also supply all our clients with a bird identification chart, that we encourage clients to use and we always carry binoculars for use of the group.
We visit local sites of architectural history - the lime kilns, ice pits and the ancient corrals that are still used to this day. These sites have formed the local landscape and we take great pride in telling our groups about their use and history. The villages we walk through all have traditions and cultures which we also enjoy telling our clients about and hopefully seeing.
We always supply one bottle of water and encourage people to refill and reuse the same bottle all week to reduce the waste and environmental impact the mineral water industry has on the world.
We always run a no litter policy, from apple cores to paper rubbish it all comes back off the walk with us.

People

We use local hotels run by local people in all the villages and towns we stay in. We use their restaurants and have built very good relationships with all the hotels we use. We always stop in a local bar or restaurant on route or at the end of the walk for a drink and we feel this continues the tradition of family run establishments which employ local people and keeps the economies in these small populations growing.
We use local guides to help our main guide with larger groups to make sure we have local knowledge and the best people in the local area are getting paid.
In every village that has a craft shop or market we will visit it and hopefully people are tempted to buy local products and add to the local economy.
This also keeps local crafts funded and encourages other to keep traditional crafts going.
All our clients receive a walk sheet which encourages people to use the Spanish language. Giving them the opportunity to ask for their own drinks and food, as everywhere we stay is traditionally Spanish and little English is spoken. We feel this gives our groups and the local people a better relationship and overall a better vacation experience.