Small group cycling holiday in Kerala, India

Planet

Accommodation & Meals:
This trip spends 5 nights in hotels with ensuite facilities, one night in a village homestay and one in a traditional houseboat. You will notice that our hotels employ locally and use local produce from markets in the area wherever possible. The hotels are waste and energy conscious and have their own policies like asking guests to turn off the power when leaving a room in order to save electricity. The village homestay is spread across a number of houses owned by different families. Here you can experience warm Keralan hospitality, alongside cooking demonstrations and dinner with the hosts.

Activity:
Few holidays have as little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents as a cycling trip. Erosion on and adjacent to popular paths is a growing problem in certain places and therefore our trip leaders encourage clients to stick to advised routes in order to minimise this. We do believe in leaving no more than footprints (or tyre tracks!) although this tour actively encourages guests to talk to local people, visit local cafes and restaurants, use markets to purchase traditional gifts and crafts and get a real impression of India.

Water and waste:
Water is a really important issue with cycling trips and whilst we must stay hydrated, it is also vital that we have a system for providing clean water without causing lots of waste with plastic bottles. Lack of recycling is already a massive problem in India so we suggest that instead of repeatedly buying bottled water, guests should re-fill a singular bottle where possible. Our local partner supplies 20 ltr containers in the support vehicle, for guests to refill their bottle with drinking water.

UK office
It all starts at home so we have first worked to reduce our carbon footprint in our UK offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies in place, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.

Group size
We operate small group tours that have a low impact on the communities we visit and we always ensure our operations do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. This allows us to stay in unique and characterful accommodation that would not have benefitted from tourism due to their limited size.

People

Local Craft & Culture:
We are keen to encourage guests to engage with the culture of India and to purchase local crafts and services where possible. Your local guide will be able to recommend the best of the area’s colourful and vibrant markets and small businesses and through our commerce, tourist wealth is more evenly distributed. Where meals are not supplied, our group leaders always encourage people to try local restaurants and street food vendors. They can make recommendations which will help boost small businesses and celebrate local specialties. Lunches are taken at roadside cafes, allowing us to sample typical south Indian dishes such as dosa or poori. There’ll also be plenty of tea stops along the way. In the seafood restaurant we visit in Cochin clients can even see how the food is made. There is an opportunity to receive an Ayurvedic massage whilst staying in the backwaters, and Varkala is home to a number of yoga schools. There are locally crafted gifts and souvenirs available by most of the landmarks we visit, as well as in the larger towns such as Cochin and Varkala. Your guides will be able to advise you on which to buy and which to avoid.

Charity:
For years we have been involved in campaigning for tiger conservation in Bandhavgarh. In late summer 2014 we teamed up with The Corbett Foundation, an Indian charity dedicated to conservation-oriented research. They have proved instrumental in enabling us to get the funds to where they are needed. Through this we have now completed the building of a community hall at Tala Village, solar pumps in the park for wildlife and staff in the dry season, bio gas plants and smart stoves for villagers and provided the salary for 2 full time teachers at the government school. Our work in India continues to be of great significance and most recently we have been able to purchase a 4 wheel drive medical vehicle and pay for outreach medical support. The student number has increased to 400+ students. Clients are welcome to donate items such as books, stationery, school bags etc.
Our local partner supports a school in Cochin. The students, mainly from poorer families, were finding it difficult to reach school and there was the danger of many dropping out. Our local partner supports the school in transporting these children to school and back. The cost of the van is met by their contribution.