Travel’s Future: Making Plans With Environmental Consideration

More people today are seeking ways to see the globe while lessening their environmental impact. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to strike a balance between sustainability, cost, and convenience. RoutePerfect simplifies this by including environmentally friendly travel choices into its scheduling process, enabling users to make ethical decisions with little effort. It guides guests towards environmentally certified hotels, low-carbon transportation, and immersive cultural events using cutting-edge technologies and a dedication to sustainability. Whether your vacation is family or a lone excursion, the platform guarantees that every path fits your ideals and preserves first-rate experiences.

RoutePerfect provides customised advice highlighting Paris’s environmentally friendly travel choices for anyone looking for a trip planner for Paris. Travellers may ethically enjoy Paris’s beauty and culture by exploring eco-certified hotels and carbon-neutral transportation choices.

Eco-Certified Collaborations for Responsible Travelling

While selecting environmentally friendly lodging and service providers might take time, RoutePerfect streamlines this process by only dealing with eco-certified partners.

RoutePerfect’s method ensures sustainability by:

• Every hotel, tour operator, and service provider, including LEED, Green Key, and EarthCheck, are evaluated for sustainability compliance.
• Partners must demonstrate active environmental activities, including waste reduction, renewable energy usage, and ethical sourcing, verifying their commitment to green practices.
• RoutePerfect prominently shows sustainability credentials, enabling passengers to make informed decisions.
• The platform prioritises local conservation project partners and responsible travel agents for community and conservation support.
• RoutePerfect makes responsible travel easier than ever by ensuring all listed hotels and businesses satisfy high environmental standards.
• We offer reasonably priced green travel without any compromise.

Travelling sustainably shouldn’t have you spend more. RoutePerfect ensures that ethical decisions remain easily available by combining affordable planning with environmentally sustainable travel.

How RoutePerfect Juggles Sustainability and Cost:

• With the exclusive Booking.com rates, RoutePerfect offers reasonable rates on environmentally friendly hotels and experiences as a reputable partner.
• The platform emphasises low-impact, reasonably priced travel choices, like shared transportation and high-speed rail.
• Travellers can see how their decisions support environmental initiatives, including carbon offset schemes. 
• Sustainable dining and activity filters help users locate environmentally friendly excursions free of hidden expenses and locally owned restaurants.

These characteristics give visitors first-rate experiences while ensuring their travel fits sustainable values.

Green Travel Awards for Ethical Choices

RoutePerfect’s membership program offers special benefits to environmentally aware travellers, enhancing the value of sustainability.

• Selecting carbon-neutral hotels, green transportation, and conservation events increases travel points for members who make environmentally friendly decisions.
• Members of sustainable travel guides receive well-chosen choices for environmentally friendly locations, ethical travel advice, and best practices.
• Priority booking for tours that emphasise conservation provides early access to environmentally conscious, low-capacity outings.
• Points can be applied to help community-based tourist projects, marine conservation activities, and reforestation projects.

RoutePerfect guarantees that choosing wisely is beneficial and satisfying by including prizes in sustainable travel planning.

Low Impact Carbon-Smart Travel Scheduling

Travellers are becoming more conscious of their carbon footprint, and RoutePerfect offers ways to reduce it.

• Intelligent Tools to Minimise Your Carbon Footprint: Real-time carbon calculations let users make low-impact decisions by estimating emissions from activities, hotels, and transportation.
• AI-powered Recommendations: Optimised route planning helps reduce pointless travel between sites, increasing productivity.
• Support for Certified Climate Action Programs: Travellers can balance inevitable emissions by supporting certified climate action programs using integrated carbon offset options.
• Eco-Mode Mobile Assistance: It highlights walking trails, bike rentals, and public transportation choices from eco-mode mobile assistance in every location.

These tools help one design a travel plan that prioritises sustainability without compromising comfort or fun.

Real-world Events Supporting Local Communities

Sustainable travel supports local businesses, helps preserve cultural legacy, and lessens environmental impact—RoutePerfect links visitors with significant, low-impact experiences.

• Community-Based Travel Projects: RoutePerfect highlights tours and events directly benefiting local communities and artists; therefore, it promotes responsible travel.
• Eco-Conscious Wildlife Travel: Suggests moral encounters with animals that highlight environmental preservation over entertainment value.
• Sustainable Dining Guides: These link foodies with sustainable markets and farm-to-table restaurants.
• Designed Low-Impact Attractions: Suggests parks, historical sites, and cultural hubs with the least disturbance for visitors.

Through these carefully selected experiences, RoutePerfect guarantees a favourable impression and enables visitors to interact more closely with the locations they visit.

Why does RoutePerfect represent the trend towards environmentally friendly travel?

RoutePerfect is at the forefront of providing ethical travel options, as sustainability becomes increasingly important for global travellers. The platform’s eco-friendly tools and alliances let tourists see the globe in a way that helps the earth and people.

How does RoutePerfect lead the environmentally friendly travel design?

• Eco-Certified Accommodations: Guarantees that every stay supports ethical travel.
• Smart Carbon Tracking: Let guests track and lessen their impact.
• Reasonably Priced, Environmentally Friendly Choices: Offer practical means of sustainably getting about.
• Exclusive Sustainable Rewards: Encourage ethical decisions with great travel advantages

RoutePerfect turns responsible travel from an abstract concept into a simple, accessible reality by including sustainability in every element of trip preparation. 

Join a rising group of environmentally aware adventurers discovering the planet while preserving its future.

The post Sustainable Travel Planning: How RoutePerfect Supports Eco-Conscious Journeys appeared first on Green Prophet.

In 1866 a group of 157 men, women and children of the Christian Lovers of Zion left Maine and traveled to Israel. Their mission was to develop the Land of Israel and prepare Israel for the establishment of a Jewish nation in the Promised Land. Christian Zionism is an ideology that, in a Christian context, espouses the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land.

Read Also: Israeli’s most sustainable hotels 

Today one of their landmark sites in Jaffa is home to a luxury hotel, the Drisco.

The Drisco is situated in the American Colony in Tel Aviv-Jaffa and includes 42 rooms and suites decorated to reflect the magnificent history of the hotel, first opened in 1866. In the hotel there are original murals from the year 1925, a bar, a rooftop facing the beaches of Tel Aviv, a gym, rooms for indulging spa treatments, a nurtured garden etc.

The global organization Relais & Châteaux chose the Drisco to be part of its collection of unique hotels, and 340 Michelin star restaurants around the world.

Relais & Châteaux was founded in 1954, and since its foundation the organization promotes a large number of luxury hospitality properties and culinary traditions, enhancing their prosperity, and acts for the preservation of local heritage and surroundings of each property.

Each year, more than 500 requests to join Relais & Châteaux are submitted, less than 2% of them actually get to join the prestigious organization.

The Drisco includes an elite restaurant the George & John restaurant, led by Chef Tomer Tal, which was graded among the 50 best restaurants in the Middle East, according to “50 BEST” (2022 to 2024).

The post The Drisco Hotel in Tel Aviv built by American Christians joins luxury association appeared first on Green Prophet.

After getting off a tiring flight, no one wishes to look for cabs. Imagine finding a taxi waiting for you right when you get off your flight. You can have just that with a professional airport shuttle service. These services make sure that you are picked up on time and dropped at your desired location.

But how do you find a professional yet comfortable airport shuttle service? Don’t worry we are here to help you determine how you can select the right service for you. Below is a list of things you can look for.

Reviews

You will need to contact a firm for these services before you get off your flight. However, you cannot choose just anyone as the firm you choose determines how comfortable your ride will be. To ensure your safety as well as comfort, do a little bit of research about the firm. Make sure you read reviews other customers have left.

Do not read reviews off of the firm’s site only, go beyond that as several firms filter the bad reviews out. If you find anything even remotely about a service, do not appoint them for the task. Also, make sure you read the safety section of the firm’s website carefully.

Vehicle type and size

The type of vehicle you will need depends upon your luggage and whether you are a single passenger or there is a group. Another fact that determines the type of vehicle is the level of comfort you are going for. For instance, if you are a single passenger, you would most probably go for a car. Along with that, you will also need to decide whether you want to go in regular cars or a limo. 

Therefore, you should think about these things beforehand. If you are traveling with a large company, you can go for a minivan or maybe two or three cars. You also need to keep in mind that your vehicle size and type will affect the cost.

Cost

While the prospect of arriving at your location in an SUV sounds thrilling, are you ready to pay for it? Cost is an important aspect of finding the right service for you. Most people do not wish to go for extravagant vehicles for shuttle services as it can cost a lot. 

You also need to check whether the firm you have chosen provides services at a reasonable rate. One way to figure that out is to compare the price with their competitors. Always remember to check whether the price you are paying matches up to the quality of the service or not.

Confirmation

Once you have found the service which is right for you, you can go ahead and book your services. Once that is done, you will receive some sort of confirmation. If you don’t, you should ask for it. If there is no such confirmation, the firm can deny you their services as you have no proof of it.

So, make sure you receive a confirmation email or message, especially if you are paying for the service in advance.

To know more about how to book a taxi shuttle service, click here.

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“From London to Israel without flying? Is that even possible?” Mostly, telling people about my ambition to travel overland to Israel was met with incredulity. Crossing borders in the Middle East is hardly straightforward, and the ferries that used to go from Greece and Cyprus stopped years ago, another casualty of ‘The Situation’.

But it is possible. The cargo ship company Grimaldi allows paying passengers to piggyback on their regular freight passages to Israel. For me, travelling by cargo ship was a way of minimising the climate change impact of my travel. At around 400 Euros (US$520), it’s more expensive than flying. But passage includes meals and a cabin for the week long sail. I booked trains from London to Paris, then onto Italy, where we would embark.

Traveling by ship, I thought, would be an adventure. Freight shipping is the great circulatory system of the real economy. Despite the fact that we rely on freight shipping for almost everything we buy, from jeans to oranges to iPhones, few people see the enormous ships which supply our consumer needs – and I was interested to have a window into that world.

Freight ship is not the most stress-free method of travel. Would-be passengers are warned that ‘schedules are subject to change due to cargo and weather. And a fortnight before we embarked, our sailing date was put back five times – as well as a heart-stopping phone call informing me that the ship we’d booked onto was no longer calling at Israel.

In the end, the agent managed to transfer our booking to a different ship that did sail to Israel, albeit several days later than planned and from the Southern Italian port of Salerno, rather than Monfalcone. The changes meant that we spent an extra few days hanging around Italian towns, eating pizza and sampling gelatos. But our anticipated two weeks in Israel shrank to just one.

My biggest concern was whether I will be able to hack a week on board without internet, phones, or anywhere to really go. Cargo ships are not set up for passenger entertainment: the booking information says that in addition to our cabin there’ll be a lounge, a dining room, and the deck. For a week, this was our world. I packed five fat books as defence against boredom.

Israel By Boat, Part II

This guest post was sent to us by Lianna Etkind, who lives in Brixton, south London, with her husband. 

The post How to Get to Israel by Boat appeared first on Green Prophet.

Seven months ago, a Tunisian university teacher decided to travel from Tunisia to China on his bike to help raise awareness of the human and environmental value of wetlands. Here is his journey.

I am a sucker for any cycling journey – although it doesn’t quite have the nostalgia of travelling by train, it certainly has fun and adventure. Whether it is cycling to Mecca from South Africa or cycling for peace, I am instantly hooked. So when I heard that a Tunisian university teacher and environmental engineering graduate had decided to cycle all the way to China, I had to find out more. Here is his journey so far.

Arafet Ben Marzou, left Tunisia around seven months ago on what will be a ten month journey to China. As part of his efforts to raise awareness of the importance of wetlands and the dangers they face, he is visiting Ramsar sites in the country he passes through. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

After crossing the Mediterranean sea from Tunisia to Istanbul, he then cycled through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and his is now in Xinjiang, China. Ben Marzou explains on his site, Wet Bike (fr), that he sees this biking adventure as his “struggle to preserve nature and share it beauty” and encourage the management and enhancement of wetlands.

Ben Marzou also has the support of local environmental organisations with the World Wildlife Fund Tunis Office remarking (translated at Global Voices): “This initiative’s message is mainly of a human and environmental dimension. Through this trek, he [Ben Marzou] will try to reflect on lakes and wetland areas, by sharing photos, videos and by getting in touch with local peoples and sharing their experiences…”

In his mission, Ben Marzou has faced a fair share of troubles which he shared on his facebook page Tabba’ani. At one point, the Pamir road which crosses through Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia was closed off due to clashes with Taliban and this seriously jeapordised the progress of his journey. His Tunisian passport also looked likely to create a bit of a problem getting through the former Soviet countries. Luckily for Ben Mazrou, help and hospitality on was hand and he was able to overcome all these obstacles to make it to China. Follow the last leg of his journey at Tabba3ni on facebook.

: All images and photos via Tabba3ni/facebook

For more cycling in the Middle East see:

Harrassmap Lets Women Cyclists In Cairo Report Abuse via SMS

Cycling for Peace as Israeli Arabs, Jews and Bedouin Kids Get Free Bikes

An Epic Journey To Mecca – By Bike! (slideshow)

The post Tunisian Teacher Cycles to China for Wetland Conservation appeared first on Green Prophet.

Park those alternative energy cars and hybrid vehicles, hot air ballooning is my new green travel of choice. Can there be a more magnificent place to try my wings than over the Cappadoccian landscape?
Cappadocia is a region in Anatolia, largely in the Nevşehir Province, in the center of modern day Turkey. Together with Göreme National Park, these rock sites form one of Turkey’s eleven World Heritage Sites. Centuries of volcanic eruptions coated the topography with layer on layer of lava and volcanic “tufa”, volcanic ash turned to rock. Nearby, Erciyas volcano is still active with occasional minor eruptions.

Wind and water have sculpted the landscape into spectacular pillars and towers that could have sprung from the imaginings of Tim Burton or Doctor Seuss.  Grass covered plateaus crack open, exposing terrifyingly craggy innards.  Soft mounds of tufa look like melting ice cream. The variegated earth is set against unflinchingly blue skies. All perfect for a hot air balloon ride.

Sometimes, lava and tufa combined to create “fairy chimneys”,  pointed tufa formations topped with lava capstones, reaching 40 meters high. It’s a geological scrapbook that illustrates our planet’s evolution.

Over the ages, people have worked within these rock formations to excavate caves.  Homes, storage cells, places of worship and safe havens from invaders remain from as far back as the 4th century.

But I think I’ll save that archeological back story for another time.  Come fly with me, instead.

We arise in the dark. A  4 am pick-up drops us at a nondescript catering hall where a hundred other sleepy balloonists have gathered.  My kids aren’t quite convinced. While everyone picks at a breakfast buffet (butter carved into giant heads of Greek gods and – confusingly – a crocodile), or swallows coffee to wake up, the pilots check in with the flight controller and weather bureau to chart wind patterns and select a launch point.

Predawn flights are the norm, in part to exploit beautiful sunrises but mostly to utilize stronger morning winds. We’re assigned pilots, and we’re off to the fields with Barış.

In the dimness, we spot a few early starters, floating slowly above the hilltops.  An enchanting sight in the quiet morning chill.  We spot semi-inflated balloons arising from the fields, like slow-waking elephants.  They silently swell and bump bellies. All we hear is the low whoosh of the gas jets, we see shots of illumination as their jets flash flame in the morning twilight.

Our van stops in an empty field.  Barış explains that he’s a lone operator, preferring to set up apart from the crowds.  (Après trip, I watch balloon mishaps on YouTube.  His choice to steer clear of the crowd is sage).

His team unloads the basket (twelve people will hop in).  They unfurl the balloon and crank up the gas jets. The crew steps inside the volume – the enormity of the balloon is surprising – they attach ropes and make adjustments.  It’s remarkably like race prep for a sailboat.

We climb aboard, to a serious safety talk.  And a few more blasts of the jet, and we’re quietly airborne.

The pilot can make the balloon travel vertically, the winds do the horizontal work.

We fly frighteningly close along the upside slope of steep hillsides,  Barış clearly in control.  Reaching the plateau’s table top, we’re slapped in the face with mindblowing vistas across the entire valley. Everyone is slack-jawed.

The sun rises, painting the skies pink and gold before pouring on brilliant blue.

We fly over farmland.  There must be forty varieties of fruit grown here.  Cherries and apples, peaches and grapes, pumpkins and olives.  Barış offers to scrape apricot trees so we can snatch a few, but everyone’s eyes are glued to the white folded terrain just ahead.

The shadows at play in the creases of tufa are riveting, but there are no brakes on balloons, so we float on past to the fairy chimneys.

We’d explored these formations the day before (on foot), but to see them from a birds eye view is a whole ‘nother story.

The intricate carvings are clearer: archways framing rectangular holes which are doorways to pigeon hotels.  They’re everywhere in the rocks.  People for centuries have collected pigeon droppings to use as fertilizer, a source of phosphorus for Cappadoccian farmers since antiquity.

Our flight lasted about two hours, but the ride was timeless.  We sailed to a remote field for our descent, a happily soft landing.

Our feet on the ground, I think part of us stayed aloft. Barış celebrated another safe journey by cracking open some bubbly wine, spiked with tart cherry juice. We clink glasses, realizing that back in the real world, we’d just be getting off to work.

My family vetoes fancy-pants holidays.  We’re more attracted to active ski trips or city crawls. I doubt I’ll ever hop a cruiseline, but this unique balloon excursion was worth the extra bucks.

We used a company called Kapadokya Balloons. I absolutely recommend them (and what’s not to like about their choice of Bobby McFerrin for website tunes?), but there are loads of others to choose from.  TripAdvisor and the like can give fuller comparisons, but prices and experiences will be comparable.

Cappadoccia may be the “land of beautiful horses”, but it’s best seen on the fly.

The post Hot Air Ballooning over Turkey’s Cappadoccia appeared first on Green Prophet.

Even Green Prophets need to get out of the Middle East once and a while. Although you can find the world’s most perfect sand and beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea in Sinai, or pristine beaches in the Gulf, sometimes we just want something a little different. This February we took one of our beach holidays to Thailand for a month. As best as we could we looked around for resorts that catered to the green traveler and found a few that fit our fancy. We’ve already featured our slow boat ride from Bangkok, and the luxurious hotels on Koh Kamui like Zazen. After leaving Samui, we decided to go to the quieter island of Koh Phangan. Note to readers: Phangan is only quiet a week before or after a full moon party. So plan a trip around the full moon if you want to avoid the crowds. My parents love to party so they took off to the full moon while we chilled back at the resort.

Getting to Green Papaya is a bit of adventure. And that’s what makes it extra fun. Once you are there, tucked away on a secluded beach, you can be almost sure that most full moon partiers won’t find you except for the occasional one that gets shipwrecked or lost.

After an hour drive from Hadran Beach (Full Moon Party Headquarters) we wound up a dirt road to be greeted by the Green Papaya sign. Since traveling to Thailand, I’d be promising my mom an Avatar experience, sites with lush green vegetation, overgrown flowers, butterflies galore, and Green Papaya helped me fulfill the promise. 

Run by a Thai-French couple, green consciousness is built into the woodwork and personality of Green Papaya on Haad Salad Beach. Looking for green travel or not, you may not notice the difference. But my interview with owner Mr. We, helped me see some of the features that he chose to build into Green Papaya for the sake of sustainability. Traveling to his resort is worth it just to meet this character. Zen-like and smiley, Me We is the last person you’d expect when you think business and resort owner. This is probably while the staff on board are happy to work for him. They keep it real. No fake smiles or extra kapunka’s that aren’t deserved.

Now onto the green aspects of Green Papaya. If you want to stay at Green Papaya, it is advised to book well ahead especially during high season, Christmas time and two weeks after, and the Spring Break zone. Returning customers, many Scandanavians, book early and request “their” rooms. Some even staking out the walkway with their native flags. Obviously they are very passionate about their resort.

We stayed at a large family villa in the back of the resort. Not beachfront real estate, but cozy and private. My father who loves western style ranches says it was one of the nicest places he’d been to. The expansive open-air patio connected the two large rooms, tastefully decorated with Thai hardwood, and clean linens. A large outdoor shower and bath makes family clean up time for toddlers really fun. But it could just as romantic for couples sharing the space.

Mr. We

Now here’s Mr. We’s green version of his story as told to Green Prophet.

Mr. We’s father lived in the jungle in Chumphon near the Burmese border. Come summer time Mr. We would head up to Northern Thailand and the jungle where his father worked on a rubber and fruit plantation, and it would became his playground. He never ever lived in a home with cinder blocks or concrete like the ones found in Bangkok. So when he decided to build a resort he knew it had to include aspects of what he loved from jungle life. His partner and wife Elodie from France, he says, helped him connect even more to the natural environment and for his green principles to grow stronger. These are values they transmit to their two daughters aged 12 and 9.

Green Features Checklist at Green Papaya beach resort

Water heated by solar thermal units.

Fresh water collected from shallow wells, a costlier and more ecologically friendly way of trapping water, says Mr. We.

They don’t use a gas guzzling automated pump for water. They use a gravity system, one which is less energy intensive.

Pest control: Mr. We brings in biological control and green solutions from Koh Samui to protect against cockroaches and mosquitoes. Both kinds of insects are rampant everywhere  in Thailand. Fish in the ponds and pools are put in place to eat mosquito larvae.

They use natural syrup to trap insects, not sprays.

Mr. We invested in wood and costlier shingles (most roofs on the island have tin plating) to make the rooms more insulated which is better for air conditioning costs, and use. Also he has increased the slopes on the buildings’ roofs to reduce thermal radiation into the rooms.

A special system for helping him control power consumption at the resort not only saves energy, but money in his pocket also, says Mr. We.

Green Papaya is a lovely lost paradise surrounded by other low-key places to hang out – places within walking distance. Not far up the road are yoga retreats, a reggae village, and some good honest to goodness eats. It has been open 10 years and peaks from December to March. The resort includes 20 rooms, and 22 units.

The rooms are spick and span clean, modern, and spacious. The gardens surrounding the rooms and villas are a delight. You can get there from a main ferry pier by taxi for about $10 (always haggle in Thailand!), and once you do rent a car or moped for getting around. The fisherman’s village at the top of the island is a great treat, as are elephant rides, snorkeling or diving adventures nearby.

Mr. We says he has made it purposefully difficult for travelers to get to Green Papaya, and he is trying with all his might to cool the island off a bit from its brazen party image: “The people who really want to come will come,” is his motto for running the resort. He eschews resort owners who give out beers for favorable reviews on Trip Advisor and hopes to make anyone who’s stay doesn’t meet their expectations that much better the second time around. But honestly, our stay at Green Papaya was absolutely perfect. We’d go back, especially for the flowers, the butterflies, the Japanese-style dining boat, and Mr. We.

::Green Papaya

The post A P­erfect Beach Holiday at Green Papaya in Thailand appeared first on Green Prophet.

When Omar Samra isn’t running one of the few genuinely eco-friendly and socially responsible tourism outfits in Egypt called Wild Guanabana, he climbs mountains. Big ones. He was the first Egyptian to summit Mt. Everest in 2007 and by the end of 2012, if he secures the necessary sponsorships, he will also be the first from his country to reach the top of the world’s seven highest peaks – including the formidable Mt. McKinley in Alaska. If you’re aren’t already impressed by the man who graduated from the London School of Business but eschewed a life of high finance life for something more soulful, maybe this will help: all of Samra’s journeys are carbon neutral.

The last of seven

Hoda Baraka from Egypt Independent, the artist who brought the colorful wonders of Nubian life to the attention of greater Egypt, reports that Samra is currently seeking sponsorships for the last of the seven peaks in North America.

He reached the top of Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica in January last year, and the highest peak in South America, the 22,841 foot Mt. Aconcagua the year before that.

In 2009, Samra climbied to the top of Indonesia’s Carstensz Pyramid and in 2008, a busy year for the tireless entrepreneur, he completed both Mt. Elbows in Russia and Tanzania’s famous white-tipped Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Climate change in high places

Throughout his journey, however, Samra has been attuned to the effects that climate change is having on the pristine environments that he has so successfully conquered. Kilimanjaro, for example, has been losing its icy tip as a result of higher temperatures and scientists say its only a matter of time before it disappears altogether.

And officials who run Denali National Park in Alaska, of which the 20,320 foot Mt. McKinley is a central feature, has limited traffic to just 1500 climbers a year in order to prevent widespread environmental destruction of the majestic mountain.

“What we do is calculate the carbon emissions resulting from the expedition itself, which include flights, power consumed, transport and accommodation and this gives us the total amount of CO2 emissions,” Samra told Egypt Independent.

Carbon credits

And then when they have purchased enough credits from the market to offset their emissions, the credits are retired and a certificate is issued that declares the expedition carbon neutral.

Although many environmentalists see carbon credits as another way to justify excess consumption, Samra hopes that his carbon trades will support existing and encourage more green projects throughout the world.

Partnering with Dubai-based “Advanced Global Trading,” the publicly-visible adventurer believes he is spreading an important environmental message.

He is the second true adventurer with ties to the Middle East and North Africa region whose personal goals intersect the greater environmental good. The first – David de Rothschild – built a boat out of plastic and sailed it across the Pacific.

In the meantime, Samra hopes to eventually join an elite club of roughly 25 people around the world who complete the “Grand Slam,” which includes submitting the 7 highest peaks on each continent, which is well within his reach with just one mountain to go, and skiing to both the North and South poles.

:: Egypt Independent

images via Omar Samra’s personal Facebook page

More on travel and nature in the Middle East:

Balyolu: Turkey’s First Honey-Tasting Tour

Is Troubled Egypt Ripe Enough for Eco-Tourism?

David de Rothschild Talks Adventure and Plastic With Green Prophet

The post Egypt’s Hottest Mountain Climber Goes Carbon-Neutral appeared first on Green Prophet.

British ethical tourism pioneers ResponsibleTravel.com has celebrated its tenth birthday by announcing its biggest ten sellers over the last decade – and Middle Eastern destinations top the list. Responsible Travel offers hundreds of holidays across the world and its birthday announcement also included the news that it has sold over £100 million in ethical tourism holidays via its website since 2001. But its most popular package of the last ten years has been the Egyptian family-oriented ‘feluccas and pharaohs’ ten-day tour, which includes train travel to Aswan, felucca boat travel on the Nile and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Also in the top ten is a beach guesthouse holiday in Turkey, near to a popular nesting site for Mediterranean turtles.

ResponsibleTravel.com spokesperson Krissy Roe commented that “It’s encouraging that despite recent upheavals, it is an Egypt-based holiday that tops our 10 year charts. This particular holiday remains a bestseller in the eyes of responsible travellers. Egypt as a destination has everything – fabulous culture, beaches, diving, history and hospitality. When done well, tourism in Egypt can celebrate all that the local cultures and environments has to offer.”

“Through thick and thin, Egypt consistently makes it into responsibletravel.com’s top destinations list. It is a credit to the fantastic tourism ventures that we work with there that it continues to bounce back,” Roe continued. She also emphasised that as well as the Egyptian and Turkish destinations which appeared in its top ten, ResponsibleTravel.com sells tours and accommodation in a range of other Middle Eastern countries including Yemen, Palestine, Oman, Iran and Syria.

ResponsibleTravel.com is a portal website which allows holidaymakers to choose from a wide range of small tourism operators around the world, with nearly 4,000 holidays offered by over 1,000 different suppliers. All are, according to the company required to “maximise the benefits to local communities and environments” and range from independent tour companies based in the West to individual eco-lodges run by local families or single-day tours offered by indigenous groups. Many of the trips offer local benefits, including income for schools and clinics, support for the preservation of local and indigenous cultures, or promotion for environmental projects.

As part of its ten-year celebrations, Responsible Travel founder Justin Francis announced that it would be offering a new service to local, ethical tourism providers around the world, allowing them to build and manage their own webpages on the larger ResponsibleTravel.com website. The service will, according to Francis, be available to “accommodations, day trip operators, guides, restaurants serving local or organic produce, craft markets, museums [and] parks” and will, the organisation hopes, grow the range on the site to over 10,000 tourism providers. The service will be available to providers within the growing Middle Eastern eco-tourism sector.

ResponsibleTravel.com also founded the Responsible Tourism Awards in 2004. Since then, the prizes have received over 10,000 nominations; entries for the eighth round open in late April.

Read more about ethical tourism in the Middle East:
Could all-inclusive holidays harm Middle Eastern small business?
A Whirlwind Guide to Palestinian Guesthouses
Bike tourism grows in Middle East

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