Guatemala and Belize tailor made vacation

Planet

Black Rock Lodge's passionate commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable operation is evident in every aspect of your stay. The electricity for the beautifully situated, riverfront cabins is supplied by a custom hybrid system consisting of micro-hydro and solar power and they practice energy conservation throughout the Lodge. 100% of water use is supplied by a nearby mountain spring and the Lodge is able to reduce water use through the installation of water conserving appliances. In addition, all of the wastewater is processed through "constructed wetlands" which use plants and natural aerobic bacterial activity to more completely clean the water, leaving no water contamination at all.

Mata Rocks – The Mata Rocks Resort has a policy that it only will employ and train local Belizeans at the hotel. The property also founded a beach clean-up campaign in conjunction with another hotel earlier this year. Twice a month the staff and management from both hotels collect litter along the beach and on the local streets.

As a company, we too are committed to supporting a wide number of responsible and ethical initiatives, including environmental projects, community tourism projects and education programmes. We encourage our clients to visit many of these initiatives such as wildlife sanctuaries and co-operatives.

People

Through client-specific notes in our tailor-made itineraries, we continue to actively recommend restaurants, shops and other local businesses so that the community is directly benefited. Most of these have been discovered by our country specialists and include craft shops that ensure tourist money is fed back to the individuals who produce the crafts, and restaurants which train local street children.

We promote environmentally friendly tours and accommodation in a number of destinations. We prefer, where possible, to use smaller, locally owned ground agents. Not only does this ensure that it is the host community who are managing and benefiting from the local tourist industry, but we also believe that our clients will have a better trip as local agents have a much more intimate knowledge of the region.

For the same reasons as above, we always use local guides and drivers. This not only provides crucial employment and income for the local community, but also increases the authenticity of the client’s trip.

We favour ground agents who have an awareness of responsible tourism policies and strong environmental commitment. Responsible practice is one of the principle criteria during the selection of new suppliers, and ethical initiatives form a fundamental element in our ground arrangements.
Where available we recommend our clients stay in ethically responsible accommodation, such as eco-lodges that aim to preserve the beauty of natural surroundings.