The Travel Corporation’s soft-adventure brand, Adventure World Travel, has partnered with the TreadRight Foundation to establish a new product line of MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Journeys.
The program comprises an initial 10 new itineraries, each combining once-in-a-lifetime holidays with sustainability, conservation and ethical wildlife adventures at the fore.
“While shorter MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences have featured in itineraries across The Travel Corporation’s portfolio of brands, this new collection of dedicated small-group journeys offers guests thoroughly immersive adventures for up to 13 days – a response to growing consumer demand for more conscious, meaningful travel,” said Neil Rodgers, Managing Director of Adventure World Travel.
“If the pandemic has shown us anything it’s that our travel choices impact not just ourselves, but also the communities and environments we visit. In this way, travel can be a force for positive change – and we’re ready for it,” Rodgers said.
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Designed with the fundamentals of sustainable travel in mind, MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Journeys are all carbon neutral, feature sustainability-led hotels and practices, use low-carbon-emission transport where possible and a portion of the cost of each trip goes directly to funding the featured host organisations of the MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences. Plus, each small-group itinerary has been rigorously curated by The TreadRight Foundation to ensure it upholds The Travel Corporation’s five-year sustainability plan, which is aligned with 11 of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs).
“TreadRight’s mission is to ensure that travel has a positive impact on the people and communities we visit, that it protects wildlife on both land and sea, and that it conserves and cares for our planet,” said TreadRight head, Shannon Guihan.
“So when we were developing these 10 itineraries with Adventure World, we established a set of criteria to ensure each trip aligns with our mission, and that each wildlife encounter not only adheres to TreadRight’s Animal Welfare Policy, but is also endorsed by our longstanding partner World Animal Protection,” Guihan explained. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with this collection, as it puts into action TreadRight and Adventure World’s shared goal to directly give back to the wildlife and communities who are at the heart of travel and conservation.”
The first 10 trips departing in 2022/23 are wildlife focussed, but also include local community and conservation projects – from the Americas to Africa, to India and beyond. The collection includes:
Wild Yellowstone | 10 days
Explore the United States’ most celebrated national park, where guests learn about wolves and track them with local naturalist guides. Participants go behind the scenes at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Centre, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation and the Teton Raptor Centre – all local conservation highlights.
Wild Rwanda | 8 days
Support the Wildlife Conservation Society as they develop a model of community conservation and environmental leadership; guests enjoy behind-the-scenes access to the Dian Fossey Research Center for gorilla conservation, and spend time at the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project to learn how they’re supporting these critically endangered primates.
Wild North India | 13 days
Look for endangered wild Bengal tigers in Jim Corbett National Park; get involved with an assortment of local community and environmental programs in a remote Himalayan Valley and also at Chambal; and meet the friendly, rescued giants at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation Centre.
Wild South India | 9 days
Participants will enjoy daily wildlife activities in three of India’s premier wildlife destinations, including the Western Ghats and Kabini National Park, where you can look for leopards, tigers and more. They’ll also visit the Wildlife SOS Bear Rescue Centre, where more than 100 sloth bears have been given life-long sanctuary after being rescued from poaching and human-wildlife conflict.
Wild Sri Lanka | 11 days
On this trip, guests search for elusive leopard in Wilpattu National Park; join the Association of the Conservation of Primate Diversity at the Polonnaruwa Nature Sanctuary and tour their jungle facility, and stay at the Rainforest Eco-Lodge, which is central to Sri Lanka’s sustainable tourism strategy.
Wild Botswana | 10 days
Botswana has Africa’s largest elephant population – so where better to spend time with the Elephants Without Borders team and learn about how they work to reduce human-wildlife conflict? Spend time with the Wildlife Research Conservation Unit and learn about lions, and help researchers explore the great zebra migration in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park – from a helicopter.
Wild Namibia | 8 days.
Visit the world’s largest cheetah and leopard rescue-and-release program at the AfriCat Foundation; track wild rhinos with the Save The Rhino Trust in an unfenced environment, and visit the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to help the local wildlife team monitor the wild population.
Wild Costa Rica | 12 days
Help researchers monitor sea turtles and participate in a night-time beach patrol; take part in a Sloth Conservation Program where you can observe their natural behaviour, and get hands-on in workshops at the Margot Sustainable Ranch.
Wild Colombia | 13 days
Meet Colombia’s mysterious anteaters at a local conservation project; learn more about conserving the charismatic puma at the International Panthera Foundation’s ecological research centre, and visit the TreadRight sponsored Proyecto Titi – a conservation project dedicated to protecting the endangered cotton-top tamarin.
Wild Borneo | 10 days
Meet Dr Wong Siew, founder of the Sun Bear Conservation Centre, and learn more about the challenges these creatures face. Plant trees with the 1StopBorneo Wildlife Corridor Project (and possibly see pygmy elephants in the wild), and explore virgin rainforests in the Danum Valley and Sukau.
“All of these extraordinary MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Journeys are now available to book, so Australian travellers can now start planning their 2022/23 return to the world in a most meaningful and rewarding way,” Rodgers added. “We are excited to be working with TreadRight, local communities and all of our guests to help shape a new, more sustainable normal.”
See adventureworld.com/maketravelmatter-journeys/
All images supplied and used with permission.