Thailand adventure holiday, self drive Tuk Tuk

Planet

WILDLIFE

The treatment of Elephants in Thailand has rightly become a major topic of concern in recent years and it has been our privilege to work very closely with a local elephant home to support them as they have moved away from allowing elephant riding to the situation that they are now in where they are amongst the leaders in how to look after their elephants whilst still enabling visitors to learn about and see these wonderful animals. Thanks to our working together the home has been able to ensure that only small numbers of people visit the home at any one time, the welfare and health of the elephants is always put first and the 8 elephants who have always lived with them now are able to enjoy their lives. During our 11 Day Adventure we visit this elephant home and are lucky enough to learn about the journey they have been on, how they are slowly influencing others in the area, through collaboration and support rather than criticism, and to see how for ourselves how small homes like this could be a sustainable future for elephants that weren't born in the wild.

PLASTIC

Single use plastic is a huge issue globally and particularly so in Thailand where millions of plastic bottles are used and discarded daily.
Whilst access to clean water and remaining hydrated is vitally important - and we provide drinking water throughout the adventure - we are committed to removing all single use plastic water bottles from our adventures by the end of 2019. In addition, we work with all of our accommodation partners (owned and operated by people from the local area and community) to help them transition from the provision of plastic water bottles to glass bottles in rooms.

PARTNERS

All of our partners (we prefer the term 'partner' to supplier as it more accurately reflects the nature of our relationship) are based in the area in which they operate (not as common as it may seem!). All of the accommodation we use, whilst of a high standard, is owned by people living in the area and staffed with people from within the local community therefore not only providing local jobs but also ensuring that money spent on accommodation remains in the community itself.

People

OUR TEAM

We all live, work and play in Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand. Our staff are local to the region therefore able to give expert insight and advice throughout our adventures. All are passionate advocates of the beauty and culture of Northern Thailand and love nothing more than giving an insight into this part of the world to all of our travellers both through their own knowledge and also enabling conversations and shared experiences with the communities we visit.

We also use additional local guides when for trekking and rafting experiences allowing for even more local expertise and of course employment.
We ensure that all of our staff, and local additional activity guides, are paid a fair wage and are respected as a vital and integral part of our adventures. IN addition, we take the on-going training of our team very seriously, from our introductory two month training programme to on-going learning and skills development in all areas of our operations.

GROUP SIZES

By operating exclusively with small groups we are able to minimise the potential negative impact on local communities and maximise the positive impact. With small groups of this nature, and the number of guides accompanying each adventure, we are able to maximise the interaction between travellers and communities, provide translation allowing us to share stories and learning and also to work with our travellers to encourage the purchase of local food and products from the communities we pass through and spend time in.

SMALL LOCAL RESTAURANTS

We only use small local restaurants and foodstalls throughout the adventure not only delivering fantastic local specialities but also delivering sustainable finance directly into the local community.