Responsible Travel goes far beyond donating to charities. For us, these practices pervade what we do every single day. Our COO & Co-Founder, Florian Keller, explains.
By: Jen
8 min
What does responsible travel with Enchanting Travels mean? Florian Keller, Enchanting Travel’s Chief of People, explains.
As we humans roam, footprints are always made. Enchanting Travels believes in lessening the impact of travel and ensuring that we act responsibly so that we can ensure our world is enjoyed for generations to come. As a responsible travel company, practicing responsible travel pervades what we do on a day-to-day basis, as we are committed to ensuring that the experiences we offer to our guests benefit the host communities and local and national economies, and have a minimal impact on the natural environment.
If you don’t know us well, then this is the time to discover how Enchanting Travels operates.
What is Responsible Travel with Enchanting Travels?
For us, responsible travel goes far beyond giving donations to charities and embraces four key commitments:
Supporting local economies and positive aspects of travel destinations
Promoting local community participation and respecting positive cultural traditions
Respecting and supporting the environment through good environmental practices and engaging in conservation efforts
Educating and supporting guests, employees, partners and local communities in Responsible Travel
Responsible Travel in Action
There are many examples of these four key commitments in action, however here is just a taste of them
Treating our own staff well – showing respect at all times, ensuring a safe and conducive work environment, paying a fair salary, providing medical insurance, offering learning and growth opportunities
Procuring from small local companies, and selecting high quality local hotels over multinational chains
Choosing local partners that treat their staff well and have ethical and environmental policies in place
Supporting charitable community projects and providing an income stream for them through procuring guest gifts
Supporting local charities near our offices with team volunteering days
Being an active member of conservation projects such as TOFT
Promoting travel destinations that rely on tourism after a natural disaster
Providing guests with information on how to be more considerate travelers
What is TOFT?
Enchanting Travels is proud to be a member of TOFT, a unique international campaign advocating and supporting responsible tourism and India safaris, as a way to save the tiger, India’s wildlife and wilderness areas. When the forests are not protected, neither is the wildlife, yet funding of wildlife conservation in India is grossly insufficient. An intact tiger skin can make $50,000 on the black market, while one Ranthambore tigress generated $130 million in direct tourism revenue in the 10 years of her adult life.
Tiger in Ranthambore, India
Time to tempt you with vacations focused on Responsible Travel
Kenya
Ol Pejeta Conservancy has a well-established and intensive rhino conservation project and is home to the last Northern white male rhino!
Recommended Route: Nairobi (1) – Laikipia (3) – Masai Mara (2) – Fly Camp (1) – Masai Mara (1)
What is the highlight of this responsible vacation?
Baby rhino in Ol Pejeta
Every single property on our Kenya route hires individuals from the local community. Like many of our considerate safari camps, each one of these properties are also built with local materials and are not permanent structures, meaning they won’t do any long-term damage to the environment. Our partner Asilia who provides the Masai Mara and fly camping experience is involved in targeted local conservation projects such as its Twende Porini (Let’s go to the bush) four day camps were primary school aged children from local villages can learn about conservation, grazing, land and water use, as well as given career advice. The fly camping experience has a minimal environmental footprint as it is just you, a local guide, small tents, and cooking over an open fire. In Laikipia, our partner Ol Pejeta Conservancy has a well-established and intensive rhino conservation project and is home to the last Northern white male rhino!
What better way of celebrating Malaysia’s natural beauty than spending time helping the local community to plant trees that can be enjoyed well into the future?
Recommended Route: Kota Kinabalu (1) – Abai, Kinabatangan River (1) – Sukau, Kinabatangan River (1) – Danum Valley (3) – Kota Kinabalu Beach (3) – Kota Kinabalu (0)
What is the highlight of this responsible vacation?
This vacation considers appreciation, preservation, and expectation! What do we mean by that? Meet a community of ethnic people, the Orang Sungai who are native to the state of Sabah and live along Kinabatangan River. Regardless of the modern world, the Orang Sungai continue to live out their age-old, wise traditions. During this trip, you will be appreciating all of Malaysia’s natural beauties, and what better way of celebrating this than spending time during your vacation helping the local community to plant trees that can be enjoyed well into the future?
What is the highlight of this responsible vacation?
Our accommodation partner in Manyara, Isoitok Camp, literally blends in with its natural surroundings and all the staff are from the Maasai community next door, and the camp provide water to the community. In Lake Eyasi, you can experience truly authentic African cultural encounters when you stay with our partner Kisima Ngenda, as you experience the daily life of the few remaining hunter/gatherers of the Hadza peoples, as well as their pastoral nomad counterparts, the Barbaig.
The most people who can appreciate Esteros del Iberá, the greater the motivation to preserve and conserve it.
Recommended Route: Buenos Aires (2 days) – Argentina Night Bus (1) – Esteros del Iberá (3) – Argentina Night Bus (1) – Buenos Aires (1) – Puerto Madryn (2) – Buenos Aires (1)
What is the highlight of this responsible vacation?
Heading to Esteros del Iberá is a dream for those who treasure and wish to support protect the natural world. In the 1990s, American conservationist Douglas Tompkins saw that this fascinating Argentinian wetlands was in total decline due to farming and human development, therefore he decided it was time to protect it, through buying large quantities of land and setting up the Conservation Land Trust (CLT). Since then, part of the land has been declared a National Park, and the end goal is to donate the land back to the country once all of it is assured of receiving the same status.
Right on the edge of the area, Tompkins built a gorgeous lodge, called Rincón del Socorro, as a way to bring discerning visitors in to understand and appreciate this fragile landscape. For Tompkins, the most people who can appreciate Esteros del Iberá, the greater the motivation to preserve and conserve it. There are so many landscapes to discover here – from the malezales – vast temporary flooded grasslands to groves, forests and woodlands.
This has created an amazing opportunity to observe wildlife in their truly natural habitat, such as the anteater, pampas deer and tapir, as well as the rare maned wolf and the river offer. Bird lovers can witness many rare species, including the large stork, jabiru. From the lodge, you have the choice to discover the region by boat, hiking or horseback
What is the highlight of this responsible vacation?
Nepal suffered hugely from the earthquake of 2015, considered one of recent history’s worst natural disasters. Just as the world began to think that the worst was over, yet another major earthquake hit the country a month later. Thousands of people lost their homes and livelihood as the earthquakes paralyzed the nation.
Within just a few months, the country’s rescue and restoration efforts were already paying off, and many of Nepal’s beautiful UNESCO World Heritage sites and major roads were re-opened after being declared secure. A country that is dependent on the income from visitors, Nepal is a safe and welcoming destination for you to visit. On this vacation, you can visit SADLE, an NGO in Kathmandu that is run by the Nepalese people. SADLE aims to teach an array of handicraft skills and provide employment opportunities to those less privileged, including leprosy and polio patients. You will have the chance to visit the organisation’s own shelter for the elderly and a school that boasts 600 pupils!
We love to create truly tailor-made experiences for our guests that are both sustainably and socially conscious. If you have an idea for a responsible travel vacation in mind, let us know!
If you have any ideas or wish to comment on Enchanting Travels’ Responsible Travel commitment or receive a copy of our policy, please email Florian Keller at florian@enchantingtravels.com
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