Ecuador & Galapagos herping photography tour

Planet

In Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands we help the environment as most of the park and permit fees for trekking, walking, snorkelling and just visiting through the parks and reserves goes to help maintain the conservation efforts inside the parks and reserves.
We also look to employ local scientists as they conduct their research into the forests here. We also contribute and participate in as many studies that the local researchers are conducting as possible. On request we can also look to arrange specific tours that help researchers on their wildlife monitoring studies. On this particular trip we have world renown herpetologist specialists guiding the tour throughout. They have discovered and described many of the species we aim to see and they are the foremost experts in the regions we are visiting. We are helping to contribute direct to their ongoing studies, conservation and research.

All the lodges and resorts that we use on this tour are careful with their waste management and they are very aware of their ecological responsibility. The lodges all use sustainable energy sources and conserve water where possible. We also donate to the World Land Trust which is focused on purchasing large amounts of rainforest to protect from deforestation throughout the world but particularly in South and Central America.

Wildlife Promise:
By bringing people here with a professional herpetologists and local naturalist as well as local drivers we aim to showcase the environment in full but also to allow you to learn about the problems facing the ecosystems here and highlight the ways that continued development and human exploitation are affect the species and how cutting edge research is countering the problems as well as showing you examples of success stories. We also keep a record of all the great sightings we see on each tour and record the environmental factors, this data is used by ourselves but also given to the researchers who are working on many of these species. All the information collected in invaluable as the knowledge of some of the animals that live here are little understood. We also donate our pictures to the researchers to aid in their photo identification studies.

People

As with any of our tours throughout South America or elsewhere in the world we always employ local guides and drivers. We also do our best to employ as many local guides as possible, so that we can share the money from tourism around more than one regularly used guide. They have a much better local knowledge and also helps to bring in revenue sources to the local community. All of the hotels and lodges that we stay in make sure that all our resources such as food, drink and equipment is locally sourced. We also try and make sure that all the local guides that we hire and who work for the lodges, camps and guesthouses that we visit are from the local area. When in in Canade and Yasuni Reserves we be helping to support their ongoing research, conservation and ecotourism projects as well as their ongoing conservation and research work. We think that by employing local guides we have encouraging a future generation to follow this career. Many of the accommodations that we use are involved in community based projects and schools in particular. Many of the projects that are funded by people staying here are geared towards helping children in townships get better education and enhance their career opportunities in the future. We also encourage the purchasing of local handicrafts which are all created in a sustainable way and provide great unique souvenirs.