Lost City charity trek, Colombia

Planet

Carbon Reduction

We’re proud to be one of the few B-Corporation certified tour operators in the UK. Certified B Corps are a new kind of business, balancing profit with people and the planet. This certification recognises our ongoing commitment to operating responsibly across all parts of our business. As a trekking vacations, this trip is mostly human powered.

Environment and wildlife

In Colombia, the team's sustainability committee ensures that our groups travel in compliance with both our own standards but also the standards set by government regulations on sustainable tourism.

From an environmental perspective, that means continuous improvement is sought in the following areas; water usage, energy usage, waste management and the protection of flora and fauna. This might include monitoring and recording water consumption to the preventative maintenance of electrical equipment or reporting of the illicit trafficking in biodiversity.

Our pre-departure briefings will always cover ideas on ways to reduce waste and leave less of a footprint. Whether that’s advice to hire kit in-country, reminders on local rules for single-use plastics or suggestions on ways to replace bottled water.

We firmly believe that challenge events are one of the most worthwhile activities that a person can choose to do. They combine the exercising of the desire to challenge oneself, with fundraising for worthwhile charitable causes and discovering some of the world’s most treasured sites. As part of this, we believe that for any trip to be worth running, it should be carried out in a sustainable, ethical and transparent operational manner - from initial booking, to your return home, and we are committed to ethical and sustainable practices in all areas of our work.

People

Local Economy

We firmly believe that all challenges should be locally led, which is why our in-country teams are made up of local people with expert local knowledge and a genuine passion for the communities in which they are based. This also means that more of the money that you pay for your trip goes directly back into the local community.

Our team in Colombia work closely with local communities to increase the economic impact of tourism. The guides and support staff that you'll interact with should be from the local communities that you're visiting and they'll have received comprehensive training as well as a fair, living wage.

As part of the Sustainability Management Program that our team in Colombia have developed, the Training, Awareness and Information Program aims to promote the professional and personal development of all employees through training to improve their skills and competencies.

On all of our trips you should see how our teams respect the communities, their heritage, values and traditions.

All of our challenges have one thing in common: they're all designed to raise as much money as possible for some of the world's most worthwhile charitable causes, and our fundraising packages are built on an industry-standard 50:50 fundraising ratio with this in mind. We’re extremely proud to be part of a growing movement which helps to nurture the dedicated fundraisers of tomorrow for our partner charities.

We've helped our participants raise over £20m for charitable causes over the years and this is perhaps the most obvious example of how our business was created with purpose at its roots.

It’s not mandatory to fundraise so absolutely anyone can join our challenges. However even you elect to self-fund, we’d always encourage you to consider raising some money on the side!