Sri Lanka tailor made vacation, 2 weeks

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

Our Sri Lanka Explorer tour doesn't require any internal flights, instead you will be driven throughout the trip in one of our local partners’ modern and fuel efficient vehicles, which are checked before each tour. It also includes several low carbon people-powered excursions such as hikes and nature walks, bike rides, a train journey and kayaking in the backwaters.

As with all our vacations we aim to work only with accommodations that meet our minimum criteria, including saving water and energy, reusing waste water and food, sourcing their food locally and using renewable energy. We also provide tips on cutting personal emissions and environmentally sensitive behaviour to our guests before travel, including reducing plastic.


ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

This vacation includes several days staying near and visiting national parks, which supports conservation efforts through park fees as well as employing local guides. However parks can contribute to problems of overtourism in some cases, especially notable at Yala in Sri Lanka. By sticking to lesser visited parks and quieter areas of popular parks, we aim to reduce high concentrations of tourists that can overload fragile ecosystems.

Insensitive whale-watching cruises are also a problem on the south coast, with issues of overcrowding and poor boat handling. Therefore we work only with a small boat company that prioritises natural animal behaviour and minimising disturbance to the whales and their environment.

As above, we are careful about the hotels we work with and try to work exclusively ones with positive environmental impacts, as well as helping our guests to have a positive impact then they travel. A good example is the tented camp lodge near Yala, which is based on a “minimal land use” ethos and actively engages in tree planting and rewilding their property.

We work with a responsible kayaking company in Hikkaduwa, which invests 20% of its profits in water conservation, animal welfare, empowerment of less fortunate kids through educational grants and awareness campaigns to reduce reuse and recycle plastic waste for the people who live by the river banks. They also personally go out to clean waterways and remove toxic plastic pollution.

The village visit in this itinerary includes planting a tree and in addition, we donate £10 for every person we book to the World Land Trust, which purchases land around the world for reforestation and establishing protected reserves.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

One of the biggest ways this vacation supports the local economy is through a village visit in Sirigiya. This project brings economic opportunities and enables local families to generate income by guiding, preparing lunch and by sharing their traditional dances. One visit is enough to provide for a week’s worth of food for a family.

It also supports community development by funding improved sanitation facilities and the local primary school. Computer donations and the revenue generated for the school ($30 per visit) has helped them to improve their standards and achieve high grades compared to other schools in the area, with many children graduating to high school and 6 eventually selected for university.

We avoid issues of overtourism by limiting the number of visits to one per day and 10 per month maximum. The village works exclusively with our local partners, in contrast to many other places that host back to back visits daily.

We always use small local restaurants and foodstalls on our vacations, such as the family-run restaurant near Polonnaruwa, which typically offer more interesting and authentic dishes as well as putting money directly into the local economy.


EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

Our local partners are a Sri Lankan-owned company that employs local staff with decent wages and conditions. Also as often as possible we use accommodation owned by Sri Lankans and employing people from the local community, so that money doesn’t flow out of the country to international owners.

Cultural exchange and understanding is an important part of travel for us and we aim to increase understanding, respect and tolerance for both hosts and visitors. The village visit has been actively solicited by the village head man and community as a way to support their economic and cultural development and no tourist is allowed to visit without the permission of the village chief’s family.

This trip also helps to preserve Sri Lankan heritage by showcasing villagers’ traditional culture and expertise. The fact that tourists want to learn about this heritage helps to instil a sense of pride and ownership by the community which means that traditional farming methods, cuisine and music are more valued and more likely to survive.

OUR PARTNERS

Our Sri Lankan partner company is also deeply committed to responsible travel and aims to demonstrate this in all their trips in number of ways including:

- treating all suppliers fairly and paying fair wages, ensuring local people benefit economically from tourism by employing them as tour leaders and guides and using local restaurants and hotels rather than international chains
- regularly updating knowledge of local customs, habits and culture to respect local hosts and give them a good experience of visitors
- including costs for decent hotel rooms for drivers which are not always provided and upholding best practices for safe transport of guests
- inspecting and maintaining vehicles to minimise pollution and carbon emissions
- conserving resources e.g. minimising plastic water bottles, providing documents by email only, and advising guests on minimising their footprint
- community engagement through working with sports tourism charities, beach clean ups, school donations and promoting community cafes and shops.