Central and Western India vacation, rural life

Planet

PLANET

CARBON REDUCTION

The biggest effort we make for carbon reduction is to encourage our guests to slow down! Two destinations during a two week vacation rather than three or four not only makes for a much nicer, much more immersive vacation but cuts car travel and possible internal flights.

We encourage guests to take at least one overnight train journey in place of an internal flight. This is 'rewarded' with a £20 donation to Frank Water Charity, made on their behalf by the company.

Our main accommodation provider on this trip fuels hot water using 'Gujarati Boilers' that are fuelled with wood scraps grown on the premises.

All staff are local and thus arrive on foot or by bicycle.

Walking and cycling forms the absolute heart of our trips. There is rarely a day in which these don't form some part of the day's activities.

While the majority of guests visiting Kanha stay 3-4 nights and do 5 or more jeep safaris during their stay, we encourage longer stays (a week or more) and fewer safaris (three in a week).

All guests are given notes before arrival, all first time guests are given a steel water bottle (bought from Frank Water thus also supporting their work), asked to minimise (and if possible remove entirely) any single use plastic from their packing.

On our cycle trips we carry two large (15 l) water carriers which we re-fill with filtered water so guests can replenish their camel-baks and water carriers. I personally supervise all shopping for daily picnic food and travel with cotton bags and steel tins so I can buy fruit and nuts and snacks loose.

I advise guests to take direct international flights where possible (take off and landing being a big fuel use).

Vegetarian and vegan food is available everywhere. Indeed vegetarian food is the norm.

All food is locally sourced.

All cosmetics (soaps shampoo etc) are made my a small women run organisation (Earthy Sapo) using locally sourced, organic ingredients, in recycled paper and card wrappers.


Environment and Wildlife

Our professional accommodation providers at Kanha have turned a plot of land that previously was environmentally damaging eucalyptus, into a well wooded haven for bird and insect life. The camp owners at Kanha have gradually felled the eucalypt, using it to build the shells for their tented accommodation and all their furniture (it is a marvellous mosquito repellent) whilst continually replanting mixed forest as they go. The accommodations provide alternative drinking water to the ubiquitous plastic bottles that now litter India (quite apart from the disposal of plastic bottles, it takes four litres of water to produce a single litre of drinking water).

We operate with small group sizes which not only maximises interaction within the group, guides and local community but also minimises the impact on environment.
We work with Frank Water a UK water charity (reg. 1121273) that works with NGO partners across India to improve access to safe water and sanitation. In our area, Kabirdham, FRANK works with Samerth, a local NGO, to provide safe clean water to an area that has suffered much due to climate change. We lead a bi-annual Cycle or Safe Water that visits Franks projects in Chhattisgarh: the 2022 ride raised £32,000 for Frank. And we arrange visits to Frank's projects throughout our season.

We believe wildlife tourism can be an important conservation tool if used responsibly. Travel to national parks and wildlife areas brings positive economic benefits as entrance fees contribute to the maintenance and conservation of local flora and animal species, while visitors benefit from the educational aspects of the area and take away with them an increased awareness of the need and place for conservation. Equally important tourism helps the local communities living around these reserves by providing jobs and helping them realise the importance of the forest.

People

We believe there are two fundamental factors in creating a successful and socially beneficial vacation: slow travel and placing value on local knowledge. All our guides on treks in the hills are local herdsmen (yadavs) or farmers; they not only know the best routes and the food and medicinal uses of every plant and tree, but also whether it is worth a diversion to see a leopard footprint, to bypass a village where private ceremony is taking place or drop in on one where a baby welcoming party will enjoy the presence of some extra guests. It enables real relationships to be established between guests and host nationals.

We engage with local NGOs which not only helps us to tread sensitively and with awareness but means we can use tourist income to support local projects.

We ensure that there are multiple languages speakers on all our tours to avoid cultural faux pas and to enrich the exchanges between everyone. Our guides ensures that same villages are not visited by foreigners more than once in any month and that all supplies are brought along so no strain is put on the local resources. We encourage guests to bring small but useful presents; jumpers or shawls for children (central Indian winter nights can be bitterly cold) and fresh fruit and vegetable for longer stays (50% of Indian people do not even eat one fully balanced meal a day).
We operate with small group sizes which not only maximises interaction within the group and guides and local community but also minimises the impact on environmen

All our accommodation providers employ the vast majority of their staff from local villages and encourage the learning of English, interaction with guests and opportunities for promotion. The also support the education of the children of their staff and their health needs.