Archaeology tour of Eastern Turkey

Planet

We ensure our guides are mindful about protecting the environment in which you travel, and they do a fantastic job of promoting having a minimum impact to the environment whilst travelling. We ask you to be vigilant about disposing of your waste and recycle where possible. During your trip you will be asked if you have any waste to dispose of when it is a suitable time in the itinerary. This ensures we make it as easy as possible for our travellers to be eco-friendly whilst traveling.

We strongly advise all travellers to bring a reusable water bottle - this is an easy way to save plastic waste and is detailed in our ‘What to bring’ trip notes for all trips to all destinations. Your guide will remind you where and when you can fill up your re-usable water bottle.

Although this itinerary contains three internal flights we have considered these necessary for the logistics of making this tour possible and beneficial to local communities. As a responsible tour operator we do our best to reduce air travel where possible due to the effect on the environment - however sometimes the benefits that remote communities receive would not be possible due to the bad road conditions and great distances involved.

We run only small-group tours, mainly to accentuate the experience for paying clients, but also to minimise the ecological footprint we leave behind. Regular tours consisting of no more than 4-5 means that transport needs are much reduced, and carbon emissions therefore limited.

People

As regular travellers, one thing that never ceases to amaze and inspire us is the kindness and generosity of local people, often people who have very little to their name. We firmly believe that they are who make these places special should and that they should benefit from our visit. Therefore, as first preference, we use local guides and locally-owned lodges, shops and eateries. We do our best to ensure that the benefits of our tours reach as widely as possible into the communities where they operate. We also support a small portfolio of charities and local grassroots organisations.

To illustrate our commitment to community-minded travel experience, in Van we take small groups to interact with at a Turkish Van feline centre and a weaving centre. Cats are integral to social cohesion in eastern Turkey. For centuries these beautiful animals have been exalted for their many qualities. Their fame and popularity is the glue that keeps small rural community working in compassionate animal breeding. We also watch weavers make kilims, perhaps the most universal and enduring symbol of rural Turkey.

In Turkey our ground handlers use local drivers and staff, who ensure that all supplies are purchased locally for all journeys. Our belief is that all operational costs should go directly into the local economy wherever possible. Improving employment opportunities in remote regions is a powerful tool in tourism and something that goes right to the heart of our responsible travel ethos.

Owing to the very nature of an archaeology tour, interaction with local communities is more limited. Nevertheless, local economies are enriched by the very remoteness of certain historical sites, in particular the cottage industries that spring up around them.
Believing strongly in investment in the local country level, we enjoy long-term partnerships with locally-based organisers, who in turn rely on a workforce recruited from grassroots level. Depending on the tour, we will always include marginalised communities either in active employment, or to provide paid services to our clients.

This tour visits destinations that would be difficult to travel to via road or train, and the communities that live there welcome the off the beaten track traveller with open arms.