Nicaragua holiday, Cobbled Streets to Coral Reefs

Planet

Making a difference to planet and people underpin our itineraries and travel philosophy, across destinations. Nicaragua is a particularly good example of this. As a hot spot for travellers who are keen to get off the beaten track and immerse in local culture in a meaningful and informed way, we have gone above and beyond to ensure that we maximise the positive impact of international travel in the locations that we offer.

One of our central USPs is that we work with locally owned, boutique style special stays as opposed to international chain hotels. This works twofold, by providing the traveller with a once in a lifetime experience full of authentic, local flair and also supporting the local community through investment in locally owned ventures and the employment of local staff. Many of these hotels and independent guesthouses also have policies to reduce their environmental impact. For instance when staying with local people at an authentically Nicaraguan homestay. Also during this itinerary your accommodation in Leon on the Pacific coast is one such place. You'll stay in a renovated convent dating back to the 1600s, although very little of the original structure was left standing, in the early 1990s when plans began to rebuild the convent as an hotel, and being as true to the original structure as possible. In the San Ramon community customers actually stay in their host family's homes, with their own simple rooms, to truly experience the real Nicaragua.

Carbon reduction policies extend beyond accommodation. As part of your tour package, you will also enjoy a range of excursions and activities that have been checked and vetted by our team. . All our trips can be made vegan and or vegetarian friendly on request and our helpful assistance travel with zoe can give specific food recommendations to accommodate more environmentally friendly choices.

In Nicaragua we support various local projects through an international NGO, Renewable World who support villages situated along the Rio Escondido River. Communities in the region are supported with solar energy systems that give them a clean, safe alternative to the burning of harmful chemicals, particularly in their homes. With the introduction of solar energy to the community, many children are now able to study at home in the evenings and small businesses, like restaurants, can operate and therefore provide increased income opportunities.

As a business, we are keen to practice what we preach. As a UK team, we recycle 80% of our waste in a closed- loop system, work in a b-corp office space, and are working towards b-corp status ourselves. We also partner with Earthly, a company that chooses nature based solutions to invest in the future of the natural world. This aims to protect, better manage and restore ecosystems while addressing global challenges. All of Earthly’s projects remove carbon, restore biodiversity and improve livelihoods. A £5 donation is added to each parties itinerary as standard.

We are a proudly nature positive tour operator. This is realised through our itineraries in multiple ways.

Due to the unique location in an immersive natural environment, our places to stay naturally bring the traveller into closer proximity with the environment, ensuring their reconnection to nature. This is an investment in their future interest in sustainability. Due to this proximity, we only use the most sustainable trips and excursions and this extends to your snorkelling trip in the corn islands.

Because Nicaragua is an alternative hidden gem excursion at odds with the main tourist trail in busier neighbour Costa Rica, this ensures the mitigation of environmental degradation in the local area. Our travellers will pay entrance fees to all national parks and similar spaces, helping to support the upkeep of these protected areas.

Even before take off, we offer tools to our customers to encourage sustainability, carbon reduction and caring for the environment both at home and away. These include 'zero waste while travelling: our top tips', as well as our 'make it meaningful policy' that promotes animal welfare (underpinned by our relationship Animondial, an animal welfare group), 0 waste (exemplified in our almost entirely paper free office), and a slower pace of travel. We’re serious about this animal welfare stuff and want to do everything we can to improve the welfare of animals in tourism. We’ve therefore teamed up with animal welfare experts, Animondial. Their vision is to minimise tourism’s impact on animals, natural environments and the people that depend upon them. They’ve helped us to improve the welfare standards of our trips even further and create long-term plans to support animals in tourism. Best of all though, we’ve worked together to create an [](http://animondial.com/animal-welfare-starter-kit)Animal welfare in tourism starter kit for small businesses, to help other travel companies improve their animal welfare standards too.

As a team, we believe that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with building stronger communities, which is why we have both lead and joined in with beach cleaning initiatives with surfers against sewage, and local community gardening initiatives.

People

Our trips aim to put positively impacting local communities at front and centre of our itineraries, as local interactions are what make our trips so fantastic.

We work with small, boutique style special stays full of authentic flare work twofold by offering you a unique experience and also supporting local business ventures and local employment, thus supporting the local economy. For instance [example]. During your trip, there is a wealth of local shops, cafe’s, bars and restaurants to visit and enjoy. This helps bolster the local economy further.

We maximise local economic opportunities further by using only locally owned excursion companies where you will meet and learn from expert local guides throughout the trip on excursions. Throughout our trips we use local drivers and guides so they can offer detailed knowledge of the areas you are visiting, enhancing your experience, as well as helping put money directly into the pockets of the local people. We encourage our customers to stop along the way at local restaurants, shops and stalls to buy food, drinks and souvenirs, whether using a driver or self-driving. In Leon a local bilingual artist teachers travellers age-old techniques of their craft so our customer can learn how to create traditional Nicaraguan art.

At home with the Nicos, included in this itinerary, is a trip that we are committed to supporting from a community aspect in the Matagalpa region. In the San Ramon community the main income earner is work on the local coffee plantations. During their stay, our customers get a real taste of what life is like in rural communities, learning about the day to day tasks and even get to help out in cooking!

One of the key aspects of our itineraries is that we work with local partners who are based in country in order to provide the most authentic insight into everyday life in the destination, and divert from the usual tourist trail (which is important when considering the mitigation of environmental degradation in tourist hotspots) but also supports the country's economy even before our customer has touched down as the local partner helps to develop their itinerary.

In Nicaragua we work with a local partner who are committed to sustainability within their community and to promoting responsible travel practices in Nicaragua. They choose to work with locally owned businesses, seek to provide tours that both promote the preservation of the environment and respect the cultural identity of local communities. They are active members of the rainforest alliance and have founded the initiative called Bosawas, through which they seek to highlight the importance of Community participation and sustainable practices in tourism.