National Parks of Cuba walking vacation

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

We seek to provide people with slow adventure travel itineraries consisting of walking, kayaking, hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, and more. Walking is a minimal-impact activity and offered throughout the entire itinerary. This tour is almost entirely human-powered. This not only gives a more intimate experience with the land, but it doesn't harm the sea creatures we treasure.

We try our best to choose paladars and restaurants that have vegetarian and vegan options available for travelers with a variety of dietary needs. From the minute you inquire about one of our tours we discuss what your dietary needs are and do our absolute best to ensure you are well fed, energized, and satiated throughout your adventure travels with us. Dietary restrictions are always communicated from our office staff to our guides on the ground to ensure our guests are well taken care of.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

This tour includes a stop at Zapata National Park. At the national park we spend some time with the director who shares about current conservation efforts in the park, and how tourists can help with those projects. Additionally, we visit the Jardin Botanico Cienfuegos, the largest botanical garden in all of Cuba. Here we meet with a local naturalist guide who walks us through over 2000 plant species housed in the gardens.

To save on energy some of the private homes we stay at on this tour have inverter ACs. Since water is supplied by the aqueduct every other day or so, water is not wasted.

Additionally, in an effort to reduce our impacts on the natural environment, in our packing list, we suggest that our guests bring a water filter to filter tap water. Otherwise we ask that guests bring a wide-mouth water bottle so we can dispense from larger water bottles and reduce use of single use plastic.

People

MOCAL ECONOMY

Most of the accommodations on this tour consist of Casa Particulars, which are locally owned bed and breakfasts. This aligns with our purpose of travel to Cuba - to support the Cuban people. By staying in Casa Particulars we are putting money back into local families rather than large corporations taking up resources and money from the local communities.

On this tour, we almost exclusively eat meals at paladars. Paladars are small, local, family-owned restaurants serving authentic Cuban food. We do this in effort to support the local community we are visiting and to give guests the opportunity to try a variety of local cuisine options, and to connect with the locals.

We are able to accommodate people with physical limitations, disabilities and medical conditions; please speak with our team ahead of time if you think you will require any additional assistance while on the trip.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

All of our group tours in Cuba are LGBTQ+ friendly. Everyone is welcome on our tours regardless of identity.

We only employ Cubans and most of the time when visiting specific natural areas or cultural homages, we require a local expert guide to educate us on the area.

All of our operating staff and guides get paid at least minimum wage.