Yunnan Meili trekking vacation in China

Environment

Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while traveling.

The environments we travel through are fragile. It is our responsibility as visitors to minimise the impact of our presence. We are careful to minimise our impact by making sure all rubbish is carried out of the area and have banned the use of plastic bags. Instead we provide you with a biodegradable bag for your picnic lunches etc which you can return to us for re-use. We are careful to follow only developed trails and paths so we avoid any damage to local vegetation or thus add to the problems caused by erosion.

All travelers are provided with our award-winning 20 page Responsible Travel Booklet which outlines our environmental guidelines and practices and will provide you will clear details on how you can play a vital part in reducing your impact on the fragile environments and cultures around the world.

The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely.

Community

Yunnan is one of the most culturally & geographically diverse regions of China. During this tour you will visit remote villages, such as the Moso matriarchal society as well as enjoy a delightful trek in the pristine Meili mountain range near the border of Tibet – both experiences are uncommon and devoid of mass tourism so care needs to be taken to preserve the integrity of the region. You will also be introduced to the land, people and the culture of the Khampa region of Tibet in a manner that is both personal and participatory.

You will be accompanied by a local guide, native to this region of China, who will heighten your experience by maximising cultural exchange during your visits to smaller communities which do not see a great amount of tourism. Your guide will direct you to where you can purchase local goods to support the community and more importantly advise you on the “do’s and dont’s” of this particular part of China to help you maintain sensitivity to the local customs which vary greatly from other regions of China.

We will stay at locally owned accommodations and eat meals from locally grown produce, which is in excess so we are not taking away from the community. Your trek employs local people who have the opportunity for another source of income other than agriculture. By using these services your money is directly benefiting communities who do not usually see tourism and provides them with extra revenue streams other than farming.