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To
travel to adventurous destinations is a privilege: the opportunity to
work closely with indigenous communities is a revelation: the experiences
you earn and memories you return with will become part of who you are.
“Giving something back” is at the heart of VentureCo's ethos and our objective is to work in partnership with responsible travellers to achieve a mutual exchange between the traveller and the host community. VentureCo’s ethos can be summarised thus:-
We travel responsibly
More than having a neutral impact on host environments and indigenous human communities, we strive to have a positive one. The following ten points combine to create a distinct style of doing things, our ethos, which is encapsulated in the phrase “Responsible Travel”.
VentureCo is carbon neutral using the "futureforests.com" calculation. This means we plant sufficient trees every year to cancel the CO2 emission we create by flying groups around the globe. We introduce money directly to local communities by engaging local guides and staff wherever feasible. We only use locally owned hotels and guest houses, so accommodation fees go to local people, not hotel owners who live in the west. It is our policy that as much of the content of an itinerary as possible is sourced locally rather than in Europe. The VentureCo office has a comprehensive re-cycling policy for paper, cartridges, containers etc.
We create local jobs
VentureCo
deal direct with local people: the language schools we use are owned by
local residents, and they are paid directly. Where a project requires
skilled work, we contract a local person and we pay them directly. The
accommodation is locally owned and the food is purchased locally, in local
currency.
A large proportion of the money you pay us is spent in-country. There are no middlemen, no European holding companies and no expatriate shareholders involved. This means that the flow of funds goes to host communities, where it’s desperately needed, rather than western bank accounts.
We work with sustainable development projects
An
awful lot of aid projects fall short of the mark. Perhaps their objectives
are unrealistic, some are improperly planned and others may be under-funded
or the victims of corruption. I am also disheartened when I see project
staff driving about in brand new 4X4’s. That’s the negative side of projects
and it can make you feel a little cynical.
Our projects are not particularly glamorous, they are hard work and often involve a lot of “non-cerebral” manual work! However, we take great care to make sure they are wanted by the host community, achievable within our timeframe and that they have legs. That’s to say, we are only on site for a few weeks, yet the project needs to be able to continue having an effect for years after we have moved on. That’s the hard bit! A combination of in-country project managers who have the necessary integrity, our annual evaluation and the opinions of returning Venturers mean that we achieve sustainability.
Safety conscious
Our aim is to strike the happy medium between genuine adventure travel and prudent risk-taking. All our projects take place in destinations that are unpredictable compared to the UK. Our task is to create inspiring overseas experiences and temper them with advice from our in-country contacts, project managers, information from our own recces and of course current FCO advice. The boundaries are constantly changing, but we strive to be equal to the challenge.
Competent leaders, well-planned projects and sound UK back-up are the foundation of providing a safe travel environment. We also carry out risk assessments, equip leaders with a satellite phone and retain regular contact with teams in the field. We have written documents titled Safety Policy and Standard Operating Procedures, so that if an incident occurs that requires professional, emergency action, we know exactly what to do to turn a crisis into molehill.
Our People
Our
leaders are one of our greatest strengths. Individuals are trained in
the hard skills of outdoor leadership, and selected in the first place
for an intangible quality that we call “role-modelability”. The whole
VentureCo organisation is passionate about what we do, and the way we
do it.
Back home, the Warwick office is staffed by experienced travellers and expeditioners: we are people-orientated, and the company is small enough to take a personal interest and professional enough to be efficient.
We have first-hand experience of the following countries:-
- South America: Peru, Ecuador & Galapagos, Chile & Easter Island, Bolivia, Argentina & Patagonia, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay.
- Central America: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Antigua.
- Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tchad, Nigeria, Republic of Central Africa, Gabon, Cameroun, Zaire (DR Congo) Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
- Asia: India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo.
- Round-the-World destinations: USA, Hawaii, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji.
So if you want first hand advice on any aspect of round the world adventurous travel, just call us, or chat to us at one of our London Open Days.
Our local contacts
Over the years the people we deal with overseas have become personal friends and the relationships with people who run the language schools, projects and remote mountain huts are on-going and valued. The network that has evolved is of immeasurable value because it means we can make things happen, even in the remotest areas. When things go wrong, it’s a good feeling to know that not only do we have good emergency procedures in place, but we can call a tried and trusted person on the spot to assist. It’s like a vast extended family.
Contingency Planning
Political unrest and civil disobedience are facts of everyday life in many parts of the world. In the political world borders close and presidents are overthrown; in the physical world landslides, el nino and earthquakes do happen. We have procedures in place that allow easy communication between leaders in the field and the UK. We have a rehearsed plan known as the Major Incident Plan which is a set of procedures of how we anticipate a major incident would be resolved. It’s all about preparation and expecting the unexpected. We don’t claim to be infallible, but in an emergency we strive to react briskly and appropriately.
