Responsible travel and Sustainable tourism
The privilege of travel has a counterpart in
properly considering our impact on the places and people visited. The
key notes of our policy are:
How to get there - to fly or not to fly?
The following Kudu destinations are
straightforward to access by train, ferry or car - Turin, Padua,
Venice, Budapest, Krakow, Genoa, Leipzig & Dresden, Stockholm, Lake
Orta, Graz, Trieste, Vienna, Apulia, Cremona, Wexford, Bath, Buxton,
Aix-en-Provence, Grafenegg and St. Malo.
Where there is no practical alternative to
flying, you may care to consider travelling ‘climate
neutral’ by making a payment to Climate Care’s carbon
offsetting projects. Please visit www.climatecare.org for details.
You may also want to consider booking your
flights through North South Travel, a flight tickets agency who operate
a campaign called ‘Every Flight a Fight against Poverty’.
Please visit www.northsouthtravel.co.uk for more information.
What to take with you
In many developing countries, things which are
easy and inexpensive for us to obtain are unimaginable luxuries -
books, maps, first aid kits, children’s toys, sports gear, pens,
radios etc. We support the ‘Stuff your Rucksack’ campaign
which links local charities to travellers willing to devote some
luggage space to these items.
Once you book a trip we will send you packing
suggestions and Responsible Travel tips - we all need to give serious
thought to remembering to bring a proper tough water bottle for
refilling (no mountains of plastic water bottles!), taking batteries
back home again for proper recycling, using bio-degradable soap and
shampoo in rural areas, and carrying along a cotton or hessian bag for
putting our locally sourced souvenirs in……
Special places to stay
For over a decade we have made a particular point
of taking Kudu guests to stay in some very special lodges, camps and
eco-hotels round the world. These projects lead the way in sustainable
development, providing training and empowerment for local people in
remote rural areas; demonstrating ‘best practice’
environmentally; and supporting local schools, crèches, clinics
and veterinary services.
This is a win-win situation - our hosts benefit
directly from the revenues generated; and Kudu guests find the
experience culturally enriching, often commenting on how they feel it
was a privilege to
stay in such special places and be able to
contribute.
Kudu guests were literally the first people to
stay at the Damaraland camp when it opened in northern Namibia 10 years
ago - a truly remote wilderness camp which is a partnership project
with the local Damara tribe, now wholly belonging to them after years
of careful training and community investment.
The first UK company to offer tours in Oman (7
years ago) Kudu was also the first to stay in the only hotel set at
7,000 ft high up on the Saiq plateau - an initiative of the mountain
tribes which brings employment and income to a very remote area and
coincidentally allows us to access the best walking in the country!
Kudu parties stay in 2 different village projects
in the Karpaz peninsula (a proposed National Park), both local
initiatives involving the restoration of traditional village houses and
the opportunity to participate in village activities - we have also
been involved with lobbying the government to save a local wetland
which is important for migrating birds.
Kudu travellers to India’s Western Ghats
stay in the multi-award winning Green Hotel in Mysore, a converted
Princess's palace (renovated and furnished using traditional Indian
crafts) where profits go to charitable and environmental projects in
India and staff are recruited from less advantaged groups.
Supporting specific projects
On many of our trips you will have the
opportunity to visit charities and projects which support the people,
the environment and the culture of the destinations, for example:
The Seenigama village project was first set up
post tsunami and is now extending its work to help re-build communities
in the north of the island - www.unconditionalcompassion.com
We have lunch in Vientiane in a restaurant run
by, and for the benefit of, rehabilitated street children and we
support orchid conservation on an eco-tourism trek into the Phou Khao
Kway National Park led by the villagers of Ban Hatkhay
We stay at the Africat Foundation, learning about
their work to save endangered cheetahs and leopards - www.africat.org
We support a school in the Cape Town township of
Khayelitsha
We very much hope that you will be inspired to
continue to support these not-for-profit organisations long after you
return from your holiday.
