Sustainable tourism
Our responsible tourism commitment
What we promise the communities we visit, the land we walk through and the people who travel with us — written down, so you can hold us to it.
Six commitments we keep on every trip
Not aspirations. These are the rules our trips are planned around.
Stay with families
Community homestays and locally owned lodges, at rates the hosts set.
Keep the money local
Guides, porters, cooks, jeeps and supplies are hired and bought in the regions we travel through.
Travel in small groups
Twelve people at most, so a village is visited rather than overrun.
Leave no trace
No single-use plastic, filtered water on every trip, and waste carried out.
Protect the people who carry
Load limits, insurance, fair pay and proper equipment for every porter.
Respect local culture
Pre-trip briefings on customs, dress and photography, and guides who explain rather than perform.
Sustainable tourism works with the mutual cooperation of Host communities and the Responsible Travellers
We do not run trips through communities. We run them with communities — agreeing routes, capacity and pricing with the people who live there, and publishing what we pay them.
If a village asks us to stop for a season, we stop.
Our Partners
Licensing bodies, standards groups and the co-operatives we buy from. Every one of them can be checked.
Our own project
Sharing Seeds
Our own social impact project: seed banks, kitchen gardens and school programmes in the villages our routes pass through, funded directly from bookings.
Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal
Industry body setting operating and safety standards for licensed trekking operators.
Nepal Tourism Board
The national tourism authority, which licenses and registers operators.
Kathmandu Environmental Education Project
Environmental education and responsible-trekking briefings for visitors and guides.
International Porter Protection Group
Standards for porter pay, load limits, insurance, clothing and shelter.
Sarangkot Coffee Co-operative
Eleven member households growing, processing and roasting coffee above Pokhara.
Commitments you can count
12Travellers at most in any group
0Single-use plastic bottles handed out on our trips
100%Nepali guides, porters and drivers
2020The year we partnered with Sharing Seeds
A traveller's code of conduct
Worth reading before you go — and passing on to anyone you travel with.
- Greet people with a namaste; a smile goes further than a phrasebook.
- Take your shoes off before entering a home, temple or monastery.
- Walk clockwise around stupas, prayer wheels and mani walls.
- Give to schools and projects rather than handing sweets or money to children.
- Stay on the trail, and leave plants, stones and wildlife where you find them.
- Use the toilets provided, and carry out anything you cannot flush or compost.
Travel with a lighter footprint
Ask us how any of our trips can be adapted — shorter drives, longer stays, more time in the villages.