What “eco-tourism” means to us?
The word eco-tourism is used around the world in many different senses. Sometimes in a correct way but more often not…
We find that eco-tourism is not only tourism that takes place in a natural environment but it is also respecting the environment that we are entering. It can be forest or ocean, but also local communities or traditional villages. Every new place we travel to has to be understood through local knowledge and respected before we even put foot on the ground. All activities on our tours are selected to have these values in mind. We respect and know the places that we visit and moreover, we only leave footprints. We do not create additional garbage and certainly do not leave it at the place we are visiting. We believe this should become the new way of traveling to help fight global plastic pollution and create more sustainable travel. The tourism sector is a major plastic polluter and this is our modest way to do something about it from our side.
Why is plastic harmful?
Plastic is harmful to every living creature on this planet therefore we need to start acting and change the way humanity is (mis)using plastic. In Indonesia there are almost no regulations regarding avoiding or recycling plastic so we need to take action ourselves. With these values in mind, we want to make travel more environmentally friendly and also motivate the local people to not provide plastic to tourists anymore.
So how do we make our experiences more sustainable?
- Minimize waste (avoid packaging, using reusable food packaging):
– Avoid hotels with plastic pollution (plastic bottles and other amenities we didn’t ask for).
– Provide drinking water from big recyclable bottles (20L). We always request our guests to bring their own refill bottles.
– Avoid plastic cutlery, straws, and other potential garbage at restaurants & cafes.
– We always bring our own food containers in case something needs to be bought and we need to avoid the plastic the seller gives.
– We support and work together with organizations that fight plastic pollution locally.
- Educate guests about the environment through our activities:
– We inform our guests about the garbage situation in Indonesia and explain how they can reduce garbage themselves.
- Collaborate with local NGO’s that are active in nature conservation, waste management, and humanitarian actions:
– SwaraOwa (primate conservation)
– Gardu Action (humanitarian action)
– SokoIndigo (textile natural dye community)
– Jatimulyo & Purwosari (bird conservation)
- Take public transport when possible:
– We take the train whenever we can. The trains in Java are very comfortable and it’s the only island in Indonesia that has such a decent train network.
- Work with local partners, including guides, restaurants, catering service, guesthouses, transportation service::
– We use local partners and we make the bridge between their services and the expectations of our guests.
- Introduce local wisdom that once were the principles of living in tune with nature:
– Offer activities that go really deep into the history of the place where some local wisdom is really isolated and not spread publicly anymore.
- Avoid mass tourism and focus on “hidden gems”
– we try to stay away from the tourist path when we can. Obviously, this is not always possible but when we do join the tourist activities we make them special and unforgettable for you.