Sherpa Heritage Trails is Travelife Partner Certified
The award is in recognition of the long-term efforts and frontrunner position of Sherpa Heritage Trails regarding sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Travelife, which has been established with the support of the European Commission, is the leading international sustainability certification for the travel sector. More than 35 international travel associations are promoting the scheme to their members including ABTA, The British Travel Association and PATA, the Pacific Asian Travel Association.
Sherpa Heritage Trails - Our commitment to responsible tourism
Our mission:
The Himalayas, with its ethnic cultures and special natural habitat, is a heritage to each and every one of us. We strive to ensure that every element of the organization conforms to a responsible tourism policy and continually monitor¬ing the social, economic, and environmental impact of our operations. Throughout all our programs we endorse responsible tourism. By staying and visiting local communities we generate economic benefits for local people and enhance the well-being of host communities.
Our responsible tourism policy:
Trekking staff and porter welfare
Respect local culture
Protect the children
Carbon footprint offset
Preserve nature & safeguarding forests
Support local communities
Give back to the local community
Trekking staff and porter welfare:
Sherpa Heritage Trails ensures safe, healthy, and fair working conditions for all our staff during all our tours, trekking & expeditions.
We offer our staff:
-An honest working wage, usually higher than the recommended wages by TAAN (Trekking Agencies Association Nepal).
-If necessary we provide proper clothing, shoes, and gear for all staff. Or we provide an additional higher wage for buying gear prior to tour departures.
-Medical insurance, and medical evacuation insurance. Free use of the First Aid kit.
-Our staff must have a minimum age of 16 years.
-We aim for a maximum of 25 kg carrying weight per porter. The carrying weight will never exceed 30 kg.
Respect local culture:
-We encourage our clients to encounter the local community. Believing that there is much to learn from each other’s culture. Of course, therefore, we ask all those traveling with us, to respect the culture and privacy of the local inhabitants.
-If you would like to take a photograph of a local, ask their permission first.
Protect the children:
-We strongly advise our clients not to hand out sweets, pens, balloons, or other gifts to local children. This encourages begging among children and their parents. If you want to help out, please donate your gifts to a local school. This will benefit more children as well as the local community.
– For photographing children you need the consent of their parents or their keepers. In order to protect children, we ask you to refrain from posting photos or videos of them on social media.
Transport and energy reduction:
-All our clients and our staff travel locally CO2-emission free. We offset the emission in a non-profit organization that invests in environmental projects to reduce the carbon footprint. We also encourage our clients to travel CO2-emission free from their home destinations.
– We prefer to use tourist buses for transport. If a tourist bus is not possible we use private transport. The company that arranges private transport regularly renews its vehicles to the latest models.
– In our office, we do not use air-conditioning or electric heaters.
– In our office, we conduct a switch-off policy for lights and computer hardware.
Preserve nature & safeguarding forests:
-We do not offer day tour helicopter flights or day tour mountain flights. These flights are air polluting, disturbing nature & wildlife, and annoying for trekkers who are enjoying the silent nature.
-If possible and safe, we offer filtered drinking water instead of bottled water. Single-use plastic bottles are a big waste problem in Nepal. With the use of water filters, you leave no waste of plastic bottles behind.
– At some high altitude locations, we brief the clients that water is scarce, and request them to minimize the use of water.
-We encourage all our clients to minimize their rubbish and to leave no waste behind.
-During camping trek we use kerosene stoves or gas stoves for cooking. We will never use wood for cooking. Cooking on wood means local forests are being cut, which means more erosion of the mountains with disastrous consequences.
-During camping trek we do not use an open fire for the same reasons as mentioned above.
– At the office: The solar is on the rooftop, office is on the first floor. When the hot water tap is turned on, a bucket is always used to collect the cold water, and used for other purposes.
Support local communities:
-During trekking and climbing we use locally managed guesthouses or community homestays.
-If possible we offer locally produced food to our clients.
-We encourage our clients the use solar shower and biodegradable soap.
-We encourage our clients to buy locally handcrafted souvenirs.
– We use locally owned and managed accommodations. We prefer to use accommodations that have responsible policies, regarding the use of towels, electricity, water usage, and use of locally produced food.
Give back to the local community:
Sherpa Heritage Trails supports Tashi Delek foundation in the Netherlands. The foundation supports and educates the local farmer community in the Solukhumbu region. Their main focus is agricultural knowledge, water efficiency and practical education. During the projects, the foundation encourages the self-sufficiency of the local communities. In 2018 a new practical school project was initiated for high school students. The students receive classes in English language skills and practical farming classes. With this educational project, Tashi Delek hopes to encourage young locals to live and work in their home region. This instead of leaving the Solukhumbu to the big cities or abroad for jobs.
