Monthly Archives: June 2011

Eco Travel

Eco travel is a sustainable travel which is based on the idea of experiencing the balance of nature rather than upsetting it. Our earth is incredibly beautiful place full of rich ecosystems. But over the time the greenery is disappearing and plants and animals are going extinct gradually. That is why our tourism industry practices responsible tourism and foster awareness among the travelers. Eco travel aim at traveling with out disrupting or harming local culture or climate or damaging the ecology of that region. Preserving the natural luxuries, forest life and saving the environment around us is what the eco tourism all about.

Eco travel is a new concept of traveling, typically defined as travel to destinations where flora, fauna, natural heritage are main attractions. It also includes to enhance the cultural integrity of the people and also supports the program the minimizes the adverse effect of the traditional tourism on the natural environment.

Preservation of cultural, biological and historical resources along with sustainable development are some of the related field of Eco travel. Many well known personalities from different fields have been engaged themselves in formulating and developing ecotourism policies.

In today’s tourism industry eco-tourism is a fast growing industry. Not only in India but it has been getting importance from global market also. While going for an adventurous travel tour like camping, trekking, birding etc we should keep in mind not to create any mishap or disturbance in the life cycle of nature.

Each and every part of India is a collection of eco regions full of natural sightseeing locations. Even the majestic Himalaya alone offer many world famous eco sites, which offer activities like trekking, wildlife viewing, camping, fishing, orchid viewing, glacier viewing, birding, mountain-biking, nature walk and etc.

Active Travel

There seems to be a whole vocabulary for those who sell travel. Active travel, adventure travel, leisure travel, eco-tourism. Do you really need to know what it all means? Not really. In the grand scheme of things you define your own travel style, and it may change from day to day.

You may go to an island and choose to sit on the beach one day, and go scuba diving the next. You may spend a day in the spa that resort has down in a palm grove and go bike riding the next. You’re active one day and quiet as a slug the next.

But if you are signing up for a tour, you should find out what that particular tour operator means when they say active travel. In general, an active tour will focus more on travel and transportation that requires physical activity… walking or cycling as opposed to riding along in a van or bus.

Most tours that fall into this category have a lot of outdoor activities.

OK, you say, but you can do a lot of walking if you’re sightseeing in a big city.

You’re right, even museum tours or garden tours can give you a workout, but active travel sort of indicates that you will be outdoors and biking or hiking or rafting or even horseback riding.

Some companies spell it out for you pretty well… they’ll tell you the activity level that will be required for the whole tour…

Will there be a lot of hiking or walking? For how many hours or how many miles or kilometers. Will there be lots of stairs or hills to climb? They may even have a “scoring” system all the way from easy to difficult… of course, you need to know what their definition of easy is!

A trekking company, for instance, might say Level One, or Easy is 3-5 hours of walking up to six miles a day with low altitude…. While Level Four or Strenuous is 5-8 hours of hiking in mountainous terrain at higher elevations.

Will you be staying in hotels? Or mountain huts where you share a bunkhouse arrangement with other travelers? Or will you be camping…. sleeping in tents? Your tour operator should give you an idea of the type of accommodations you can expect from rugged or spartan to luxury. You could be going on an African safari in the middle of the Kalahari, but if you stayed in a tent at Jack’s Camp, you would definitely find yourself reveling in the luxury category… and still be active in your travels.

You may even find that you relieve more “workaday” anxieties and frustrations with active vacations than you would just sitting on the beach, eating and drinking the night away. Activity is good for you, and sometimes it leaves you just a little tired and more relaxed at the end of the day.

Brochures may use the terms active or adventure travel interchangeably. We think of adventure travel as a little more of a reach…. something that is more apt to get you a little out of your comfort zone. Active travel doesn’t necessarily do that…. but it may make you break a sweat.

And what’s wrong with that?