Sabi Sands safari in South Africa & luxury Mauritius beach stay

Planet

Responsible Travel doesn't mean having to compromise on the enjoyment of your trip or the quality of your accommodation. We feel strongly that we should directly benefit the communities we visit whenever possible through sustainable travel, environmental protection and social projects, without sacrificing comfort or character.

Whilst we recognise that a vital element of any vacation is relaxation, we do try to encourage our clients to be aware of the impact they have on their destinations. For each booking, we provide notes on cultural sensitivities and our local guides brief our clients upon their arrival. We hope this will help to ensure the sustainability of our destinations and improve the quality of our clients' overall experience.

Ethical considerations are also part of our research and development process and we encourage feedback on our practices. Clients are asked to comment and make suggestions on our responsible practices when completing their post-trip questionnaire. In addition to this, as well as visiting destination-based initiatives whilst on their educational trips, our country specialists are encouraged to help continually improve our responsible travel initiatives.

On this trip we visit the area of conservation of the Sabi Sands, which is a haven for wildlife. We ask that guests respect the wildlife and nature of this area, and we aim to preserve the area for years to come. The hotels we stay at on this trip, Arathusa lodge and Constance le Prince Maurice are small, and located in beautiful areas. Arathusa lodge only has 14 rooms, to minimise impacts on the environment, and is constructed from natural materials, allowing it to fit into the area, and not be an eye sore.

People

We 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, local schools, orphanages and co-operatives.

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.

Ethical practice is not just limited to the destinations we operate in. Responsible practice is exercised in our office with various measures put in place aimed at reducing, re-using and recycling resources where possible. We carry out dedicated responsible travel training sessions with all employees upon joining the company.

Hotels and transport are all sourced and staffed locally, adding income to the area that we visit on this trip.