Rajasthan 15 day tour

Planet

We promote excursions which foster a more sustainable tourism and we commit to maintaining small-group sizes for the excursions on your trip, in order to limit negative environmental impacts in accordance to the carrying capacity of the visited site.

We are trying to keep the extra unneeded waste to a minimum in your tour through our “bring it in, bring it out” policy for litter and rubbish such as food packaging and recycling wherever possible.

We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible. Moreover, we do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travelers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

During your time in Delhi, we will include a cycle rickshaw ride, which reduces our carbon footprint and will also give you the opportunity to meet and interact with the local people. For your city explorations, we will always give preference to slow, possibly non-motorized forms of mobility, such as city walks or bicycles. If motorized forms are unavoidable, we make sure that vehicle sizes are as small as appropriate and proper licensing on vehicles and certifying to national emission standards are maintained.

For your tour we have chosen responsible resorts like the Ranthambore Regency, a family-run hotel located on a private estate made up of woods and farmland, with total comfort while keeping the native surrounds and environmental friendliness in mind.

Another hand-picked hotel for you is the Ramada Resort in Udaipur. The hotel is designed in a way which does not disturb its natural surroundings and emphasizes on greenery in and around the resort. The resort uses solar system panels to conserve electricity, eco-friendly battery operated golf cars for the guests, and the resort structure itself is made from kaya stones, which are locally available, temperature controlled stones. Other initiatives include a Sewage Treatment Plant, where the used water of the resort is treated through various stages and then used for horticulture. Wet garbage is collected, treated and used as manure in the many lawns at the resort, and a rain-water harvesting system collects and stores the rain water which is then put to further use.

Through this trip you will also contribute to the preservation of precious ancient monuments, knowledge and Unesco World Heritage sites. You will visit the Red Fort for example, demonstrating the exceptional results achieved in planning and architecture. You will also contribute to the maintenance of the most significant, most comprehensive, and best preserved stone observatory in India, the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur.

Wildlife
By visiting the Ranthambore National Park, you will contribute to the preservation of an outstanding example of tiger conservation in India. The park has a rich diversity of fauna and flora - species list includes 300 trees, 50 aquatic plants, 272 birds, 12 reptiles & amphibians and 30 mammals.

Our local partner for your safari is part of the TOFT (Travel Operators for Tigers) campaign, a ground breaking voluntary initiative to support Indian wildlife conservation efforts more effectively. Visiting the park will directly benefit the campaign, which has been able to help nature training programmes, run workshops, advise parks and businesses, run eco-rating audits on lodges as well as putting funds into local environmental and community projects on the borders of parks. You can also make further donations if you wish, which will go towards the project.

Our tour guides receive special training in how to leave a lower impact on the nature trips and in regional conservation projects. To support TOFT and the protection of wilderness areas and tiger habitat, our guides are actively promoting the campaign´s practices such us not disturbing wildlife, keeping a safe distance to wildlife, reducing production of disturbing sounds, prohibiting feeding, avoiding litter at all times, using water sparingly and not polluting with harmful detergents, avoid being intrusive when taking photographs, dressing appropriately and in subdued colours when wildlife watching, etc.

People

We make sure we only work with local guides that come from the very region you are visiting, giving back to their families and communities.

While many operators pay per day or per tour, our guides receive an hourly rate which allows a fair and fruitful reward for their expertise. We provide staff with written employment contracts and fair working conditions (e.g. overtime payment, national wage requirements, no discrimination, grievance mechanisms in place and no child labour).

Furthermore we ensure that our drivers do not more than 9 hours of driving per day and are provided adequate accommodation and do not drive at night (with the exception of airport pick-ups/drop-offs). After a driving period of 4.5 h the driver must take a break of at least 45 min.

For your souvenir shopping, we will take you to the local markets where locals of that very region craft their products to help keep the money earned in that very community. When we take you to local shops or markets we change the selected shops on a rotating basis. Also we make sure food stops are at locally owned cafes or restaurants and give customers recommendations on locally owned shop and restaurants, especially new start-ups.

We ensure customer awareness by familiarizing our guests with local history, culture, religions and traditions, by informing on culturally appropriate behavior, (e.g. dress codes for religious sites, taking photographs of people, language tips, etc.).

By staying at the Ranthambore Regency, you are contributing to a hotel which is currently supporting several regional projects - guests have the privilege of visiting any of the schools, villages and workshops supported by the hotel for a soul-searching cultural experience.

Through the TOFT campaign, your trip will benefit to the empowerment of local communities to become involved in wildlife tourism projects and initiate low impact and sustainable development, which helps conserve the parks and benefits the communities through employment and business opportunities.