We are now members of muchbetteradventures.com

We are delighted to have been accepted as one of the early members of muchbetteradventures.com, a carefully selected community of fantastic adventure providers who have a strong ongoing commitment to sustainability.
You can see us featured as part of their local travel directory, which puts you in direct contact (no commission) with handpicked active holidays, tours, courses and accommodation. The site also provides travellers reviews, the resources you need to book a low carbon journey, and have started a collection of community built guides to each activity or sport, where users are invited to share their favourite spots, useful info, ideas and inspiration.
Since going live a few months ago the site has grown quickly. Muchbetteradventures.com aim to build the widest and fairest selection of responsible adventure travel and equipment choices that outdoor lovers have ever seen, and bring support to many important conservation and community development projects around the world.
You can help us to benefit from this site by leaving a review of us, and by spreading the word to your friends.

The socialtours RT audit is out!

Finally, the RT Audit report for 2009 is done! We have a record of the successes of the initiatives we have been working so far in terms of responsibility. This excercise has also helped us bring out some of the dirty laundry and helped us learn where we can make improvements.

Feel free to download a copy of this report, have a read, make comments / suggestions. We are welcome to feedback and / or criticism. There is one thing we know. This will go a long way in us living up to one of our important company values - continued excellence.

It has been exhausting, the biggest learning being that even a small, young organisation, committed to responsibility, has a difficult time making the nescessary adjustments, required for systems to be put in place for the collection of data to cover indicators of social responsibility. Reaching here, of course, is tremendously fulfilling though!

We are committed to do this excercise on a regular basis, measuring how we fare based on standards that we set for ourselves!

:: Read the full report here

Green Circuit Launched at WTM

Press Release
London, 11th November 2009

Launch of the Green Circuit

“I hope initiatives like this also start in other parts of the world ”, said Fiona Jeffrey, head of World Travel Market, as she launched the official website of the Green Circuit, www.thegreencircuit.net

Raj Gyawali of socialtours.com in Nepal initiated the Green Circuit through a dialogue between specialist tour operators throughout the Indian Sub-continent. The key partners are Socialtours.com in Nepal, Help Tourism in North Eastern India, Grass Routes in Orissa, East India, The Blue Yonder in Kerala and Ecosphere in Spiti Valley, Northern India. Each tour operator, is an expert in their respective region and specialize in deep rooted community based responsible tourism initiatives.

Asit, Sandeep, Fiona, Gopi, Ishita and Raj Photo: Steve Dunlop

Now this is unusual and worthy of attention, because in South Asia most tour operators offer packages all over the country without having even set foot in the places they sell. However with the Green Circuit you have a unique collective of operators dedicated to ethical and sustainable tourism at a grassroots level. The accountability is much higher because they live, breathe and work in the very same communities they conduct their tours. In every instance responsible tourism lies at the core of the companies ethos and is reflected in their initiatives. Responsible Tourism is their reason for being and it’s what unites them to form the Green Circuit.

The Green Circuit is literally an eco-tourism loop that circles the Indian subcontinent. Made up of individual tours with a definitive focus on natural and cultural heritage; each tour (handled on the ground through respective operators) links together to explore the subcontinent's astounding diversity.

This is a really refreshing approach. Rather than competing against each other as traditional tourism businesses often do, the Green Circuit partnership exemplifies an invigorating spirit of collaboration. Each tour operator in the Green Circuit is a committed expert in their chosen field and offer unique tourism product specific to local environmental and cultural conditions. Each tour is the result of years of research and hard work. I’m not talking about long hours in an air-conditioned office here; these guys literally ‘walk the talk’ braving basic infrastructure and mind-boggling bureaucracy to create inclusive eco-tourism initiatives. This willingness to work together on the Green Circuit can only be the result of confident transparent operations and clear focused intentions. For partners of the Green Circuit this and their united approach to responsible tourism is something they share. Drawing strength from individual specialities, it’s only natural they collaborate on the Green Circuit to further develop, share and promote responsible tourism in the region.

And the benefits really are manifold. The Green Circuit creates a great learning opportunity as operators share advice and ground level experience. A lot of theory on responsible tourism already exists, but actual documented accounts and practical tips from the grassroots is rare, at least as far as the Indian Sub-continent is concerned. While each operator will have indigenous solutions for their respective areas, there is always scope for different perspectives to shed light on common problems. The Green Circuit opens a dialogue between operators traditionally isolated by geographic distance and a conscious decision to focus efforts on the field. It provides a perfect platform to share experiences, develop ideas and grow collectively.

Apart from helping each other the Green Circuit was really conceived to present travellers the very best eco-adventures from the Indian Subcontinent. Tapping into the Green Circuit links travellers to a trusted independent network. What impresses me most about the Green Circuit is the recognition granted by one responsible tour operator to another. That each operator finds faith and sincerity in the other’s work is a huge vote of confidence that speaks volumes about the integrity behind the Green Circuit and the circle of trust uniting each responsible tourism partner.



Contacts

info@thegreencircuit.net

www.thegreencircuit.net
www.socialtours.com
www.theblueyonder.com
www.grassroutesjourneys.com
www.helptourism.com
www.spitiecosphere.com

Green Circuit Celebrity Launch in London!

Green Circuit, an idea mooted by socialtours - Nepal is now a partnership between 5 responsible tourism operators in the India Sub continent. Social Tours, Grass Routes, Ecosphere, The Blue Yonder and Help Tourism are coming together to provide a unique network of responsible holidays in the subcontinent.

Green circuit proves the fact that tourism industry can work together and complement each other, rather than competing with each other other. Green circuit features various destinations covering Nepal, Eastern and Western Himalayas, West Bengal and North Eastern India and South India.

We welcome you to join us at the official launch of Green Circuit at World Travel Market - London. Fiona Jeffery - Chairman of WTM and Just a Drop, will launch the initiative on the World Responsible Tourism day on 11th November 2009 at the stand of International Centre for Responsible Tourism - India (AS4600 / 03).

The paradoxes of being Nepalese

I was hoping that I would not write about this incident, but thought it best to record it, while it is still fresh in my mind. Have a previous post also that can be linked to this one, as that also are incidents which bring mixed emotions...

also read: a nation of contrasts

So, we are visited in Ghana by a Nepalese adventurer, Lok Bandhu Karki, who is cycling around the world and is somewhere in the middle of his trip (57 countries in 4.5 years so far). His target is 113 countries in nine years. So when some of our Nepalese friends here decided to call him for dinner and also invited us, we were naturally excited. What an adventurer. Big rush. Nepalese friends got together for the dinner.

Mr. Lok Bandhu comes in the door, in his daura surwal, with a big traditional Namaste and a folder in his hands. All is well so far.

Then expectant ears over drinks and dinner only heard, from this adventurer, a call for financial support, and we realise that the big folder is not a record of his experiences but a record of the letters of appreciation and the money that he has received so far, 40,ooo + dollars in all. He was not here to meet fellow Nepalese, and tell them of his travels and adventures. He had only come here to ask for money and wanted to pressure Nepalese around the world, whereever he went, into 'pushing' him forward financially, as he, according to himself of course, was a messenger of peace and brotherhood, and was distributing leaflets to this effect all around the world.

What a letdown! What does one do in a situation like this? Just another of those situations.

Would not have even written this blog post, but after 'begging' up 1345 USD from the Kofi Annan Center in Accra and the Indian Association, our messenger of peace and harmony wrote us a text message, saying that this was the city where he met the worst Nepalese so far! That after one of us put him up in his house for three days and gave him 160 USD for his visas (not to mention the Red Label bottle he emptied), one brought him to his house for dinner and also contributed about 30 USD, and me (stupid me) in my infinite "useless" wisdom, offered to build his online presence and support him doing that through facebook pages, twitter and blogs, for the next four and half years of his travels. Oh and yes, I did not give him any financial 'push'!

OK, me being me, I also gave him a little piece of my mind! Just told him about this very dilemma in my mind!

So, am still confused, am I proud of him or not?