Karakoram highway vacation in Pakistan

Planet

The northern part of Pakistan, deep into the Karakoram Mountain range is all about huge landscapes, awe-inspiring scenery and natural beauty. We have plenty of walking built into this trip to be able to enjoy the scenery in a responsible way, on two feet and alongside our local leader who will teach us about the complex eco-system of rivers, glaciers, mountains and wildlife.

We have banned single-use water bottles from all of our trips, and as the water is not drinkable in Pakistan, we encourage all of our guests to bring along a refillable filtered-water bottle, to ensure water can be topped up anywhere along the journey without having to resort to using a plastic bottle.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our UK Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.

As a company we support Cool Earth. Protecting rainforest is one of the most effective actions to tackle climate breakdown. Cool Earth work with indigenous communities empowering them to conserve their forest; keeping CO2 locked in

People

We have a wonderful opportunity to re-visit Pakistan after a long period of absence. On this trip we will travel to remote areas and visit local communities, providing some much-needed income to locals by eating in their restaurants and trying locally sourced and prepared meals, and by visiting markets with opportunities to buy expertly hand-made local crafts and products.

We stay in small, locally-owned and run guesthouses throughout, and a real theme of the trip is to learn about the country and the people in it. Our local leader is invaluable in this regard -giving a real insight into the local culture; from learning about the education system, the country's history and politics, to setting up opportunities for genuine interactions with locals.

We also partner with a small, locally-run ground agent that has committed to integrate sustainability into all its practices. They state they want to maximise the positive effect of tourism on host communities by training and empowering local people, and always looking to use local suppliers to ensure a fair share of the benefits.

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.