Green Holidays

You might be dying to walk the Inca Trail – but you don’t want to actually die!

You might not believe that 1 in 10 serious mountaineers actually die every year from altitude sickness; so if they can be affected by this strange affliction – then what makes you think you won’t?

And as we all know – avoiding dangerous situations in the first place is not only the best way to keep your adventures as eco friendly and as people friendly as possible – but makes for a better holiday than having to call out the emergency services and spending a while in recovery or hospital!

First Steps:
The first thing to think of is whether you are at risk in the first place.

So if you are trekking anywhere under 10,000ft you are probably ‘OK’ – but when you start going above this height (places like the Andes, the Himalayas, Kilamanjaro and Mount Kenya) you should really know the symptoms of mountain sickness in yourself and your climbing friends.

This is expecially true if you are flying into this height from sea level, catching a train into the mountains or driving to very high locations as you haven’t acclimatised yourself to the different physiological challenges of less atmospheric air and the extra strains it puts on the active body.

The main thing to remember at all times is that altitude sickness can strike quite fast, may only have a few seemingly random symptoms, can affect even the most fit and experienced climbers or trekkers, and can and does kill people.

So take it seriously.

photo credit: discosour

How To Avoid It:
The best way to avoid getting ill from mountain sickness is ascending very slowly when at high altitudes – preferably acclimatising slowly on arrival.

Following recommended climbing ‘rates’ is also a good plan – at about 1,000ft a day – or as slow as your slowest walker. And of course this means after you have acclimatised to being at 10,000ft in the first place.

Not planning a ‘rush climb’ is another key factor, as most stories of problems are from people who ignored earlier symptoms as they felt that they ‘had to get to so and so before stopping’. As a result they pushed too hard and their bodies reacted badly.

And make sure you are planning for stops along the way, take frequent breaks and always know where your descents are incase you need to get lower. It is better to arrive healthy in 5 days than have to stop after 3 and get air-lifted to a hospital!

Some of the earlier symptoms of altitude sickness could be mistaken for something else, or ignored if people don’t want to ’cause a scene’ – but if you are at height, you should always assume that it is altitude related and consider stopping for the day or descending slightly until the symptoms disappear.

Bearing in mind the headache you get is your brain swelling up, and the cough is due to fluid flooding your lungs – I think anyone in their right mind should think about descending anyway!

If you took part in the recent RSPB garden count – you may well have started on your way to spotting the 270 birds commonly found in the UK.

So why not keep it up?

I have put together this series of informative posts to help you through all the easy species, first. Then there will be the ones that you need to go on a walk to see and gradually we will get onto the birds that you will have to seek out for yourself – like the elusive White-tailed Eagle or the niche dwelling Capercaillie!

There is nothing better sometimes than knowing what a bird is by just checking off 1 sign, like ‘it has a red stripe so it must be a ????’ or ‘it has yellow legs so will be a ????’ Sometimes once you know the general appearance of a bird ‘type’ like a sparrow, warbler or grebe, you can seperate the individual species by just 1 thing.

And these guides will not focus on all the latin names and scientific groupings etc; there will be no use of fancy ornithological words like ornitholigical, tertial tip or emargination. Just easy to use visual descriptions of the birds that you will see while out walking in the woods, wetlands or your own back garden!

But to start you off before we lose you in geese and gulls; we will list the top 5 birds that you may well have seen this week or have probably already seen at some point in your life!

Robin:
This one is easy to spot with it’s bright red breast – and you can easily pick them out in the snow as they are quite bold little birds and use human garden tools and furniture from which to spy their insect prey! And they will come close to humans too if you feed them…..

photo credit: fwooper

Blackbird:
Another common species that just loves to run around garden edges looking for food under leaves and garden waste. The males are black with orange or yellow bills and feet, where the females are browner in colour. You can spot them from their loud warning call as you scare them off…..

photo credit: Keith Laverack

Magpie:
A larger bird that has such distinctive colouring that you will know when you have seen one. Their black and white plumage and their flap-flap-flap-then glide flight pattern will have you ticking off this species in a flash!

photo credit: goingslo

Pheasant:
If you live near the countryside or walk your dog in the fresh air, then you will no doubt have seen a rather handsome brown bird with a perfect white collar around his neck, large red wattles and nice long tail feathers – this is your male pheasant. Females have the same long tail and also frequent large country gardens, footpaths and cultivated fields but don’t have the fancy head! They both fly off clumsily and noisily when you get too close!

photo credit: gerrybuckel

Mute Swan:
I used to live on a canal and could see these all day long – but if you live elsewhere they aren’t difficult to find on any large body of fresh water, like a river, canal, lake or in a local nature reserve. Out of all the swans in the UK, the Mute Swan is the easiest to identify by its bill alone (handy really as all 3 common swans are totally white); it is the only one that has an orange bill which has a large knob of black on the top where it meets the eyes.

photo credit: TossMyPancake

So, if you have already seen these ones, then join me for the next 5 real soon – and make sure that you have seen these all again outside and that you know them inside out – as many other birds look very similar to them but for one or two small details. So only when you know these well can you learn some of the others coming on the list!

Grab your camera and document your journey if you like – it can make your travels more memorable.

See you soon…..

And if you want to know more about the fancy terms and descriptions used to identify birds, please look for my Bird Identification Guides – Technical Data series.

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We all think that all ‘green’ and ‘eco’ travel definitions are around about the same: but no!

A friend of mine recently got a book called ‘The Ethical Career Guide’ out of the local library only to be surprised by what was in there.  There was no mention of conservation or the environment, and global warming was not even touched on.

Why?  Well ‘ethical’ always refers to working with people to create equality as well as supporting communities and cultures – it doesn’t really have anything to do with the natural world.  So an ethical holiday isn’t necessarily a green holiday or even eco friendly!

So I have put together a simple definitions article for the main words we use to define our holidays and travel so you can be sure to focus on the best one for your requirements and prefered areas of interest.

Ethical Travel:
“Travel to any location that includes offering respect and courtesy to local people, as well as thinking about the long term effects of your actions for the communities that you visit.”

So for example, ethical travel would include supporting the community you visit financially by using local services and buying local goods – and at a reasonable price.  It would also look to not exploit natural resources – or local people, and includes not offering gifts or money to ‘begging’ children but to the places that will benefit the children most, like schools and local groups.

Responsible Travel:
“Travel to any destination in the world – including cruises, luxury villas, skiing and volunteering – can be ‘responsible’ if they can prove that they care about the people they come into contact with and their culture as well as their surrounding environments and it’s wildlife.”

For example, if you travel to a ‘responsible’ African safari lodge, you would expect it to be run by or employing local people and spending some or most of it’s profits and time on helping protect the surrounding wildlife for the future. 

It doesn’t matter if you have to fly across the world to get there and only stay for 3 days (although longer stays can help communities more) - it is what you are supporting while you are there that counts.  And if it is a big step away from mass tourism – it is ‘responsible’.

Eco Friendly Travel:
“Travel to destinations with the intention of reducing your overall impact on the environment, including the avoidance of many of the usual destinations, modes of transport and travel products.”

For example, we know that flying creates higher than average emissions and cruises create more than their fair share of waste – so the eco friendly traveller would try to travel using other means, or would use these modes of transport more wisely by staying in the destinations longer or choosing a more eco friendly company to use.

Eco friendly travel would also include not using products that can damage or put undue stress on the environment they are visiting, so would try to use biodegradable toiletries, wash clothes less, eat local foods rather than expect locals to import things 1000′s of miles in, take all rubbish home with them if no recycling exists and not buy products made from endangered resources – or animals!

This type of travel would also look at certain destinations that are being overcrowded or exploited with the end result of the area/destination/beach/local community being degraded, overused and ultimately destroyed.  Mass tourism destinations would be among the places to avoid, although something could be said for keeping all the ‘sun-seekers’ in one place!

Green Travel:
“A type of travel that includes both using modes of transport which reduce or limit the environmental impact of getting from A to B as well as limiting environmental damage while preserving natural resources and reducing pollution and excessive waste.”

Although quite similar to the Eco Friendly Travel definition above, Green Travel really focuses on self control while travelling – enough sometimes to not even travel in the first place!  Eco Friendly looks at still taking a trip but looking for less damaging alternatives – whereas green travellers might look at taking a different trip entirely.

Walking through fields or woodlands off the main footpath wouldn’t really bother any other type of traveller – but a green traveller would think of the potential for localised damage – for example trampling on rare plants or invading areas used by courting mammals and birds.

The Result:
Well, as you can see there is a fair amount of overlap with these definitions, but some are more social and others more environmental.

Yes – the 2 are sort of linked up anyway as if the community are supported they will take better care of their environment, however many travelers want to see the direct link to their personal beliefs and their actions.

For example an eco friendly traveler would take pride in buying all the most chemical-free, animal-friendly, waste reducing and natural products they can to take with them to visit a local community - whereas a social traveler would take more pride in helping a community to support themselves for the next 20 years whether their shampoo was biodegradable or not!

And a responsible traveler wouldn’t mind flying in to a remote mountain lodge on the other side of the world to support a 5* business built up, owned and run by local people – whereas a green traveler would possibly choose to go camping 1* in a nearby woodland with their local scout group teaching them simple field-craft techniques for free!

So, it is your choice really as to which of these you choose to be like when planning your next vacation, because sometimes they will take you to totally different places!

Stay in the amazing Torres del Paine EcoCamp and experience the rush!

With this amazing experience you can camp in relative comfort in Patagonia. The rooms/tents/domes are a neat half-way between comfy hotel rooms and a standard tent and are based on the traditional tribal Kawesqar huts resembling an igloo – and perfect for deflecting the high winds that sweep this area.

You can stand up in them and they are right on natures doorstep – but you don’t have to eat on your knees (although you can if you want too) and you won’t ruin the location with a giant obtrusive building with added energy requirements……

And these structures can (and are) moved regularly to allow the grass and plants to recover and regrow without showing signs of continued human destruction!

The Camp:
There are different types of dome available depending on your needs, group size and you budget!

Suite Domes- Have double or twin beds, chairs and units – and are heated with a low-emission wood stove. The electricity for each unit is generated with both a micro-hydro turbine and solar panels. All units also have a private bathroom, composting toilet and food waste facility.

Standard Domes- Also have 2 twin or a double bed, and have clear holes in the roof of the structure so you can see the stars! These are slightly smaller in size as they have no private bathroom facilities. Toilets and showers are available in separate units which are of a high standard.

Group Domes – There are also 2 giant domes for all visitors: 1 for cooking and eating, and the other (at nearly 20ft in diameter) for relaxing and socialising.

The Resources:
Basically, they make sure that they are as little known as possible! They don’t advertise on site as their site does move slightly with time and the tents are completely removed in winter.

They use natural resources and renewable energy as much as possible, and try to create as little waste as possible, by ordering in bulk and less often to reduce transport waste and excess packaging.

They separate all waste – and even feed their organic waste to a neighboring pig-farm! They also have only composting toilets on site. They are also working with the CarbonFund to be carbon neutral.

Food is prepared in bulk by the staff and eating is a group affair to make sure that all the resources and energy are reduced, rather than spread out through the evening.

The Experience:
You can wake up here with a perfect view of the magnificent Torres Del Paine National Park outside of your room. The domes look absolutely amazing at night – and are very impressive inside.

There are a number of trips on offer around the great Patagonian wilderness, and can be aimed at either the mountaineering, the sight-seeing, the natural formation, wildlife, or just peaceful trekking here and there.

Guides can arrange for trips further afield – but if you are based here – it seems a shame to take day trips to other places and miss out on this wonderland!

And If You Needed More:
This adventure firm won the National Geographic ‘Best Adventure Travel Company’ award for the 2nd consecutive year, and is listed in Alistair Sawday’s Green Places to Stay, Rough Guides Clean Breaks, The International EcoTourism Society (TIES) and was even mentioned by USA Today.

However, it is a shame that these locations are so expensive that they restrict the eco trip to just those who have so much money that they could pay for us all to go on vacation in a normal campsite for a month or 2!

At around $1400 for only 3 nights in the eco-camp (1 night elsewhere) and 3 days trekking per person, not including flights to the country or transfers to the site, it certainly isn’t cheap! At least all meals are included!

But, wow – what an experience! Go to EcoCamp Patagonia to see more…….

Top Tips for Responsible Tourism

For my first article for Green Holidays and Adventures, I chose to kick off with 10 tips for responsible tourism.  This way I can show you the standards of my eco credentials, and so that you can make sure that you are on the right track when you are preparing to set out on your holidays.

All of us know the basics of a polite society and what is expected of us in certain situations, yet many people fail to apply them when holidaying abroad.   It is therefore important that the not-so responsible travelers amongst us need to remember is that they are only visiting beautiful or interesting destination around the world because we think they are better than a holiday close to where we already live.

So why would some people think it a good idea to overwhelm these destinations with our western ways and assume that a) they can cope with everything we throw at them, and b) that they will stay the same for the next time we visit!

I know it won’t be ’the end of the world’ if you throw that one piece of tissue down the toilet (even though you know that the local people there use a bin) and the hotel will not have to close down if you leave one or two empty plastic cosmetic bottles at the hotel, but multiply that by the 1000′s of visitors to that one resort every year, where everyone ’just’ does one little thing ‘un-green’. The sewerage there may well block up or spew metres of waste material into local rivers – along with that small town having 3000 empty plastic bottles to bury in their landfill (or just outside of town if they haven’t got a specific site for rubbish).

I don’t even want to frighten you with the math if every holiday resort in developing countries have this mess to clean up. It won’t leave the community much pleased either!

So, follow these simple steps to keep your destination eco friendly, green, clean and beautiful.  Ensuring that others can still visit in years to come and get the same experience as you – or better.

1) Research your destination in advance.
Be familiar with local customs and appropriate verbal and body language for your visit and wear appropriate dress when around town and in other people homes. Be aware of your presence in public places and during festivals, etc.

2) Learn the local language.
Even if you can only manage a basic grasp of their language, you will find that you will not only enjoy your travels more, but communication will be easier and you may well get a better holiday out of it. Even if the people you meet there can speak English but you are struggling to order your drink or food, they may still appreciate your efforts enough to break the ice.

3) Always respect people.
You cannot expect everyone you meet on your travels to like you or to offer you a requested service or even their time – they are not paid employees of their country. They are also not part of the landscape, so make sure you check if they want you to take their photo while they sit on a bench, or tend to their land before snapping away and asking them to do your bidding.

4) Use local services at all times.
Why book with a hotel chain when you could stay in an actual home with a family who know the destination you are visiting inside-out? Do you book accommodation with a company that sends your money straight back to the U.S or UK rather than re-investing it back into the community you visiting? Think of a local grocer back home losing his livelihood and store because everyone uses the nearby superstore.

5) Buy local produce from local people.
If you are going to the effort of visiting a certain town, you obviously like what it has to offer. So make sure you buy something from there. This way not only will you encourage better tourism from that community, you will actually be helping that community to stay on the map. Mingle with the locals and barter for a gift you know is keeping that town what it is.

6) Check credentials for tour operators and when booking trips.
If you are going to rely on someone to take you through the local environment, to a distant mountain or jungle, make sure that they are responsible too. This is not only in terms of limiting damage to flora and fauna, but also that they are well known in the area and can offer you safe, reliable and community friendly travel. And why have someone from a different country talk you through an environment, when someone who grew up there could make the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

7) Offer appropriate tips.
It is essential that if a guide, waiter or porter is offering you a better than average service and it is clear that they have made whatever you were trying to do effort free and worth that bit extra, make sure you tip them well. If you have a choice of people to buy a product from and one of them has bothered to learn your language – reward them individually for their thinking. Not only will it make their efforts worth while, but it will encourage this high service to all the travellers who follow you there!

Never knowingly encourage the killing of endangered animals or delicate environments.
If you plan to buy a delicate piece of coral or a highly carved piece of turtle shell or ivory – where do you think they are going to get more from? It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if the kill another animal, they can sell more. If noone buys a product, regardless of what it is, shops will eventually stop selling it. You don’t see stores selling half-eaten bagels, do you?

And, this is what makes it all the more sad to see these products readily available in tourist destinations – somebody out there is actually still buying them…….

9) Don’t litter. Ever.

10) Wash without waste.
When ever possible, use a shower instead of a bath to save precious water and the continued heating of it. In addition, try to travel with bio-degradable toiletries like your shampoo, suncream and soap powder. They all wash off us and our clothes into streams and rivers – so we need to make sure they don’t stay there too long. Supplies of these are readily available at many stores – and at a similar cost to regular products. Why not protect your own environment and use these at home too!

In fact all of these tips can help your own environment every day; tips for yourself should include using local services rather than chain stores, respect other people in your town or at work, use less water and don’t pollute that which you do use.

Another important things back home is – Why pay to be disappointed? Make sure you only pay for services that are safe, respect the environment where possible and offer a better than average service. If you don’t buy products or pay for services from companies that damage the environment, use cheap products, don’t complete their work on time and don’t benefit your living environment – they will eventually go bust or move away, hopefully to be replaced by a better one.

Remember, the choices you make at home and abroad do actually shape the environment you choose to live in or travel to. So make the right choice.

Hello and welcome to this new, fantastic blog about green holidays and adventures. It will fill your hearts with joy at the wonders of green living and traveling.

Not only can you now take your green holidays in style, but you can also take them on whichever continent you wish and at a reasonable price. And we are here to help.

This blog hopes to cover all the greatest ‘green’ destinations, the most exciting eco adventures, tips on finding the best green holidays for you, and advice on planning and extending your adventures wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Choices include underwater adventures, cultural community-living, wildlife-friendly safaris, reclusive rain-forest lodges, snow-covered mountain retreats or even just a great weekend away in your nearest National Park.

So, from here on in, there is nothing but great holiday ideas, tips for responsible tourism, helpful contacts and facts, facts, and more facts!