Sustainable Tourism

As professional tour guides we understand “the responsible tourism” We have a deep respect for the preservation of local communities and the environment. We are determined to keep our footprint small and guided by the principles of sustainable tourism as well as choosing to support local businesses and communities. We avoid activities which involve a potential damage to the environment and local culture and we insist on using a trekking staff that packs out all of its garbage, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
We hire local people for a number of services and we limit the size of our groups to minimize environmental and social impact and will ensure that our traditions and environments are preserved.

How can you help us to support our sustainable initiatives?

• Learn a few words of the local language, Quechua and Spanish
• Throw your garbage into bins and not onto the streets.
• We encourage our passengers not to hand out money or candy to the kids we encounter along the way (we encourage postcards from home, school supplies or photographs instead).
• Try to leave as much excess packaging at home (film boxes, anything plastic) - so your hosts do not have to deal with your garbage
• Please bring rechargeable batteries rather than disposable batteries. Batteries are incredibly toxic and may not be disposed of properly.
• Try to be conservative with resources such as water, food and energy, as you may be depriving local people of these very valuable resources or making a negative impact on their environment Please do not throw any toilet paper down the toilet. There is usually a basket/ bin located next to the toilet, where you can dispose of your toilet paper.
• Please buy locally made crafts and other products, so that your money goes directly to the community
• Do not be tempted to buy souvenirs made from wild animal products
• Please ask before taking pictures, especially of people. People will usually ask you for some money. We recommend that you give something else instead of money such as a souvenir from your country (nice pencil, calculator, a toy, tooth brush etc.) Please do not give candies to children as the dental hygiene in the Andes is not very good. Instead of candies bring tooth brushes, which is a perfect gift for them.
• When you get back home please send us a feedback and let us know how you think we can reduce environmental impacts and increase benefits to our local communities.

Giving Back
We are involved in a number of social projects within the communities, we give a percentage of our profits to our social and environmental projects, but we prefer not to exploit the communities that we help by posting pictures or videos on our website. We strongly believe that community support needs to be provided with honesty, decency, and not as a form of publicity as most of the travel companies do; instead we will keep your email addresses in our database and send straight to you pictures and videos of our works.
While large and foreign travel companies generate huge economic returns through the use of natural and cultural attractions regulated by the Peruvian Government, the native Quechua people hardly get benefits from the resulting tourism. We know that Quechua people and their culture are the major attraction for tourists. We are 100 % local tour outfitter and we are aware of this issue but we don’t want to take advantage of our people.

How do we support our people?
Our support is focused in the environmental education which includes helping the local farmers develop better crops with sustainable techniques and methods in order to improve their lives. Socially we help by giving them the opportunity of trading their crafts and artworks to fair prices with no middle man so where possible we hire local staff and suppliers as well as to purchase local products; at the same time they have a chance to interact with people coming from different societies who also are eager to share their way of living.

Want to support true locals? CHAKANA ADVENTURE TRAVEL is the right choice.