Eco Tours is a category that is becoming increasingly important to businesses as well as consumers.  One firm, Natural Habitat Adventures, has made sustainable travel the heart of its corporate philosophy.  Working with the non-profit Sustainable Travel International, the company, since 2007, has made its office operations and the land portions of all of its trips, which focus on observing nature, carbon neutral.  The funds necessary to offset the carbon emissions are invested, through STI, in renewable energy, conservation, or energy efficiency improvement projects with positive results for the environment.  They also ask their customers to voluntarily offset the greenhouse gases from the air travel portion of their journey.  A single passenger causes CO2 emissions in excess of a ton according to Natural Habitat Adventures.  The cost to offset that amount is surprisingly low: around $23 for a flight across North America.  Customers can calculate their flight emissions right on the Natural Habitat Adventures site and pay the offset fee there too. It is then administered by STI, which says that 80 cents of each dollar goes to the projects and 20 cents goes toward their operation.

Natural Habitat Adventures offers intimate safari tours to view rare wildlife in small groups.  For example, a two-week eco tour to remote India to see rare tigers and one-horned rhinoceros.  The trip includes travel by jeep, elephant back and boat. While many short walks are necessary, the journey does not require that guests be very physically fit.  Other packages include China, Africa, and closer to home Costa Rica, Mexico and Alaska.

Calculate the carbon offset for your own planned trip with Natural Habitat's Carbon Calculator.

Want to book a trip with Natural Habitat Adventures? Contact our travel partner, Casto,  by calling +1-866-958-8687 or by sending them an Email