Andean Mountain Cat expedition, Chile

Planet

In Chile (as with everywhere we go) we carefully choose accommodation, suppliers and transportation that either minimise their effect on the environment or that help to contribute to its sustainable development.

CARBON REDUCTION

On this trip we stay in the only available homestay in the national park which is located in the key habitat of the Andean mountain cat. This homestay is locally owned and run and due to the remote nature of the building all of the food is locally sourced, the water is purified from the local springs and by using rainwater capture for washing. All of our waste refuse is taken back out of the park to the town to be recycled. Nothing is left in the park. The power for the homestay is provided by solar power which heats water for washing as well as providing all power in the accommodation.

Food is locally sourced where possible and vegetarian meals can be provided.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

The owner of the homestay has a good relationship with our local guides and also the few researchers who have studied Andean mountain cats in the past. So they help and provide sightings and local information about the cats and their prey to help build the knowledge base for this poorly understood species.

We also contribute to these studies by providing all of our camera trap images and data on sightings. All of which is crucial help for the ongoing conservation of the Andean mountain cat and other rare species in the area. On this particular trip our local guides have experience working with large and small conservation bodies such as Panthera or by supporting reserves where researchers are based, such as small cat scientists.

By bringing people here with a professional naturalist as well as professional local guides 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

LOCAL ECONOMY

On this trip both of the accommodation we stay at (the hotel in the town of Putre and also the homestay inside Lauca National Park) are locally owned. In terms of the Putre hotel, this is run by people who live in Putre and in Lauca National Park the owners are as local as they can get, they live inside the national park and have to live their lives within the conservation laws of Chile that govern Chilean national parks.

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. On this trip our guide and driver come from the Andean region of Chile and all staff in the homestay live within the national park.

This not just helps in supporting the local people with income direct from wildlie tourism but these local people often have much better local knowledge of the wildlife.

There is nor much around in terms of villages or shops for local souvenirs where we are spending the majority of our trip, but when in Putre at the start of the trip we have the opportunity to purchase locally produced handicrafts from indigenous people of the Chilean Andes.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY & DIVERSITY

All of the people employed as part of this trip are from Chile and many of the drivers we employ are from the local communities we are visiting for wildlife which in this case are indigenous Andean people. 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.

Nearly all of this trip is conducted from a vehicle, however some walking may be needed, to get closer to wildlife and this walking will be done on uneven ground and at altitude. So people with severe mobility issues will struggle, the trip is not wheelchair safe.