Lake Titicaca & Peru highlights vacation

Planet

To minimize our environmental impact we limit our group sizes to 12 and use public transport for most journeys on this tour. We support the local economy by using trek support staff from local communities and local mountain and cultural guides who have an in-depth knowledge of their country. We use locally owned hotels and restaurants throughout. For the trek we buy fresh local produce. In preference we choose local over imported goods, encouraging the use of Andean products in our cooking.

On our treks we minimize waste by using products with minimum packaging, leaving no litter and keeping all water sources clean, leaving camp-sites cleaner than we find them. We are involved in ongoing training of our trek staff.

And we are planting trees as part of a reforestation project in Peru.

People

All our porters on the Inca Trail carry a maximum 20kg load, and are provided with tents and food. We pay and treat our staff fairly. On this trip clients have the opportunity to spend a night in the homes of islanders on Taquile, an informative cultural exchange for both parties, and of direct economic benefit to the community. Our guides hold informal talks to fully inform on all aspects of local culture.

Since 2006 we have been able to support the Huchuy Yachaq community project in the marginalised neighbourhood of Hermanos Ayar, on the outskirts of Cusco, with the help of everybody who has travelled with us. We donate USD 3000 a year to this community project.

The project has been set up by volunteer social workers and teachers to provide much needed social and educational support to the children and families of this neighbourhood. Children are encouraged to attend study and games sessions held each afternoon and participate in vacation projects. Our contributions so far have paid for educational books and games, tables and chairs, improvements to the structure of the basic community owned building and the addition of functioning toilets, materials for the children to take to school, school books, vacation programmes.