Nepal Red Panda and Bardia NP tour

Planet

In Nepal (as with everywhere we travel we apply all the same ethics and principals set down by Tour Operators For Tigers (TOFT) to all the tiger safaris. By being a member of TOFT we use only TOFT approved accommodation, so you can be assured that the food you eat is locally and responsibly sourced as is the furniture, fuel and other resources used by the accommodation. We are regularly in talks with the park commissioners and other local authorities and help to build sustainable practises.

CARBON REDUCTION

Being a TOFT member we reduce our carbon on our Tiger Safaris in partnership with them. By using CARMACAL, a specialized carbon-calculating tool. We measure emissions across 25 transport modes, evaluate individual flight footprints down to aircraft types, and analyze over 550,000 global accommodations. All of this is done to make sure that our chosen itinerary, transportation and accommodation reduce cabon the most.
TOFT also uses satellite data and Google Earth mapping alongside the global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol to calculate nightly carbon scores for wilderness lodges. These metrics are independently audited to ensure absolute transparency, so when we select lodges which have their Pug Mark rating we know we are reducing carbon as much as possible.

Some of the measures taken by the accommodation in Bardia to reduce carbon include cntinuous tracking of year-on-year electricity consumption to locate operational inefficiencies; using active room signage, checklists, and staff training to ensure air conditioning and lighting are turned off in vacant areas. As well as hardware upgrades such as mandatory transition to low-energy LED bulbs and sourcing highly rated energy-efficient appliances (such as 5-Star BEE rated units in India).
These smaller steps go hand in hand with TOFT'S larger policies such as replacing fossil-fuel power loops with solar water heating and solar pathway lighting adapted to remote wilderness environments.

Another key element of carbon reduction from TOFT and on display on this trip is Habitat Preservation as a Carbon Sink. Acting on the concept of "Tigernomics," proving that protecting tiger habitats legally safeguards old-growth forests. This directly serves as a massive carbon sink. Scientific data confirms that enhanced forest protections within Indian tiger reserves have successfully prevented over 1 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions by averting forest loss.

ENVIRONMENT & WILDLIFE

In Nepal we actively supporting the Crocodile, Vulture and Turtle Breeding Stations inside Bardia National Park, which aims to reintroduce Gharial, vultures and endangered freshwater turtles back into the Bardia National Park and has already seen success in Gharial reintroduction programs.

We also keep a record of all the tigers and other rare wildlife we see on each tour and record the environmental factors, this data is used by ourselves but also given to the researchers who work out of each of the national parks. As well as multi-national organisations like Panthera and the World Conservation Society. All the information collected in invaluable as the knowledge of the dwindling population of tigers is under such a threat. We also donate our pictures to the researchers to aid in their photo identification studies.

The wildlife is of course of the upmost importance to us on this tour and all other tours run by us. All pictures and videos which we take of wild red pandas are handed over to the RPN for their ongoing studies. This helps to keep tabs on the individuals in the area and further understand the behaviour of the species; as the red panda is still far from understood completely, every sighting is invaluable to conservation and research efforts. We also actively campaign against poaching and the illegal fur trade worldwide; we are also keen to report any abuse of the environment or wildlife that we see to the local authorities. The tour also supports efforts to stop poaching and deforestation by employing forest guardians and by donating to their work. We also help support programmes that increase the sustainable use of bamboo (living large tracts of the red pandas food intact) and we also help support their work to make sure that the red pandas ecosystem is better understood and that the local people use the environment in a sustainable way.

With all of our Nepalese trips we also directly contribute to charitable organisations working in Nepal, which include children's hospitals in Pokhara and community programs in the outskirts of Chitwan where they are focused on setting up many women's handicraft initiatives, local schools and also local community gardens. All of these projects and many more are supported by our clients whenever we stay here and make bookings with this lodge.

All our fees go either directly to the forest guardians, red panda trackers or the RPN and therefore to their on going work to protect and conserve the ecosystem here.

Throughout this trip we use as many locally produced and sourced foods as possible, by doing so we minimize waste as most of these locally produced products have less packaging that mass produced products. All waste we do create during the trek is taken back with us to the city so they can be recycled effectively. In fact nearly everything we consume along the way is locally produced in the villages that we pass through. Leaving next to no waste from packaging.

For water conservation we reduce washing of bedding and towels by encouraging our clients to use the same towel for the duration of their trip, so to reduce water usage in cleaning them regularly. Where washing has to be done when on the trek we use the rivers (not machines) and do not use any chemicals.

As we after often in the eco camps and small independent guest houses we are well off the power grid and so solar power is crucial for our trips. All of the camps and guest houses we visit use solar power as their primary source of energy and water heating.

We only use one vehicle on this trip, we minimize the amount of driving on the trip, most of the movement on the trip is walking.

All of our local suppliers in Nepal are pioneers in establishing eco tourism, they work hard to introduce eco friendly practices such as employing local people, using local products and also saving water and energy as well as being as sustainable as possible. In Nepal our suppliers are involved eco tourism at a government level and are key in establishing eco tourism to some Nepal's most remote rural communities.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

On this trip the local community benefits massively, mostly directly through the employment of locals as guides and drivers and also by staying in locally owned accommodation and eating locally sourced food. The red panda part of this trip is run in conjunction with the Red Panda Network and their work with the local community is wonderful.

By shifting the local economic focus from resource extraction to habitat protection, the network provides critical livelihood incentives, such as funding community forest restoration and offering hospitality and homestay management training. Residents, including former poachers and marginalized families, are directly employed as Forest Guardians and nature guides, earning stable incomes by tracking wildlife, managing eco-trips, and conducting anti-poaching patrols. To further reduce human dependence on the local bamboo forests, the network equips households with improved, energy-efficient cookstoves and sustainable herding resources. This community-centric model ensures that protecting the endangered red panda directly enhances the financial independence, safety, and overall well-being of the Dobate community

Bardia is also an active contributor to the large communities in the Terai, like other national parks in Nepal, there is a genuine feedback of finances from the tourism here to the local people.

This is stopping the area around the park and the buffer-zones not being too heavily developed. Traditional ways of life are still common practice here because the money distributed from tourism to the local people is very good (around 30-50% of the total revenue finds its way to the local people). It is initiatives such as this which are helping Nepal achieve increasing numbers of rhinos, elephants and also tigers!

Also by visiting these remote rural areas we actively encourage employing the local village people as porters, guides, drivers and accommodation staff as well as spending time to understand and observe their traditional ways of life.

Throughout this trip we have opportunities to purchase local crafts as well as seeing how they are produced. We will be traveling through communities that produce local crafts and products for their traditional uses as well as tourism. It is the hard work of our suppliers in Nepal that are encouraging the local communities to produce such crafts to help stimulate their rural economies and also to help educate our clients on their local culture.

When traveling we give all of our clients the opportunity to contribute and participate in local traditions and activities. We are at the mercy of local people and the local communities when off the beaten track in Nepal. So it is crucial we make sure that we have a great relationships between our clients, guides, suppliers and the local communities. By bringing supplies (such as medication, school supplies and solar chargers) from the towns to these rural communities we help to secure a strong relationship through eco tourism.

All our guests are encouraged to embrace and understand Buddhism and the daily lives of the local people, we find that this is the best way for the local ethos and culture to embed itself into foreigners and as a result the awareness of the area and its people becomes more ingrained in the mindset of tourists.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY & DIVERSITY

All of the people employed as part of this trip are from Nepal and many of the drivers we employ are from the local communities we are visiting for wildlife which in this case are indigenous Tharu people (the local guides who take our clients into Bardia).

We work hard to provide a genuine pathway from driver to guide, by helping educate English speaking as well as providing coaching and informal training on guiding techniques. We also donate equipment which can help in this progression in the form of binoculars, field guide books and torches.

This trip, like all of our trips, is LGBTQ+ friendly.

There is a good amount of hiking on this trip and particularly when up in the mountains around Dobate the terrain is not wheelchair friendly unfortunately..