Our grading system explained
Pleased to achieve the AITO Project Protect Award
At the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) AGM this month, Mountain Kingdoms' Responsible Tourism Officer, Julia Sharpe, was proud to be awarded Mountain Kingdoms certificate for completing the AITO Project Protect programme.
For the project, we focussed on helping to reduce plastic waste by providing our clients with a branded reusable filtered water bottle - free of charge. AITO members were very interested in the scheme and keen to learn more about the benefits of these cleverly designed bottles.
There was also a climate change seminar as part of the day's programme and Julia found it encouraging to learn that many members are finally taking this very seriously and are actively looking at ways to reduce their company's carbon footprint. Mountain Kingdoms has published its Responsible Tourism Pledge and we have also signed up to the Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency body where tour operators can come together to find ways to make their businesses greener.
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2021 Photo Competition Winner
We had a superb shortlist of monthly winners from which to select our
travel photo of the year, but after much deliberation and debate our
winner was this stunning festival image taken in Ladakh by Chris Martin.
We all just loved the colour, movement and energy of the dancers, as
well as the technical achievement in capturing that moment. Chris has
told us how he did it...
'I was travelling with my American photo friend and we had hired a 4x4 in Leh to drive us to spend a couple of nights in Lamayuru. We were up at first light to walk up to the Monastery. We were lucky to be the only foreigners on site amongst a small group of local villagers. Suddenly out of a doorway in the courtyard came monks dressed in amazing finery. They then started to dance in total silence. The only sound was the swooshing of their garments ! It was quite eerie ! The dance went on for around ten minutes in which time I managed to acquire some interesting pictures.'
Many congratulations to Chris, his prize is £250 towards a Mountain Kingdoms holiday. We look forward to seeing what brilliant images he captures on his future travels.
Costa Rica and the Green Planet
Winner of the Earthshot prize, Costa Rica plays a starring role in David Attenborough’s new, ground-breaking natural history series due to its extraordinary bio-diversity and conservation credentials. Watch Green Planet on BBC1 on Sunday evenings to see some of the country’s amazing plants and creatures including millions of fungus-feeding, leafcutter ants that form an essential role in the ecosystem of Costa Rica’s pristine rainforest.
If you’d like to discover Costa Rica for yourself there is availability on both of this year’s departures of our Gentle Walking & Wildlife Costa Rica small group holiday.
December competition winner
Our final winner for 2022 is Chris Holland with this superb photo of Ama Dablam in the Everest region of Nepal. Not only has Chris captured the beauty of this magnificent mountain but the stupa in the foreground (with its slightly cheeky expression) adds real interest and character as well as a sense of symmetry and scale between the man made and natural worlds. Many congratulations to Chris who wins our last Water-to-Go bottle of the year.