sustainability efforts

  Small World Travel's mission is to educate families through travel. Equally important is the goal to support the environment and communities in these destinations. We do this by working with local partners and guides, supporting environmental projects, nature and local community projects.

You can learn more about these efforts in our sustainability stories below.

Carbon Neutral Travel

Small World Travel offers every client a calculation of the cost to offset the carbon emissions for their trip. Upon return home, every client is presented an opportunity to offset the cost of their emissions through a donation to a local environmental organization in their destination.

PROJECTS

the botanical ark

The Botanical Ark is about conservation through understanding, highlighting sustainable living in tropical environments. Alan and Susie Carle have spent the last 40 years traveling the world to collect seeds from rainforests and planting them in their tropical paradise to gain insight in to environmental and cultural factors that can lead to humans living in harmony with their environment. Staying with them is an eye-opening experience, learning about their quest, feasting on tropical fruits and delicacies, and gaining a greater understanding how people can co-exist with rainforests with a positive impact on the planet.

Cambodian Buddhism Association for Vulnerable Children

Cambodian Buddhism Association for Vulnerable Children (CBAVC) is a Cambodian non-governmental, non-profit organization established by a group of Buddhism monks from Wat Polangka in Siem Reap. The organization was founded in 2012 with the aim of improving access to education and health services for the most vulnerable children, women and disabled people in society.

Rhinos Without Borders

The inspiration for Rhinos Without Borders is a response to the dire situation that is facing rhinos in Africa. With rhino poaching at an all-time high, concerned conservationists need to be proactive. Great Plains Conservation and andBeyond, two leading conservation and tourism companies, have teamed up to translocate rhinos from South Africa in order to create new source populations in Botswana’s wilderness areas.

Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic

The Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic (BWRC) is a Belizean non-profit organization founded in 2011 with the help of a host of wildlife partners and friends. BWRC’s founder, Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, had for many years provided free medical care to wildlife centers and in the field without a clinic facility and only basic medical equipment. That was before a very special and severely injured monkey named Spartacus provided the impetus to seek funding to establish BWRC.

Turks & Caicos Reef Fund

The Turks and Caicos Reef Fund (a 501c3 organization) was established to help preserve and protect the environment of the "Beautiful by Nature" Turks and Caicos Islands, an environment that draws so many visitors to these islands and is critical to our economic and physical survival.

Me To We

ME to WE Trips to Kenya, Ecuador and India are designed with a deep respect for the communities and an emphasis on sustainability and giving back. Through deeply connective and immersive experiences in partnership with communities, our families have gained new perspective and understanding on global, social and environmental issues. They have also contributed to development projects, helping speed completion of projects that continue year-round, led by skilled local workers. These shared experiences on community-led projects have resulted in transformational outcomes for both travelers and community members alike, and have been part of our regenerative philosophy of leaving a place better because of the things we've done together, as true partners.

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Best known for our work to protect elephants, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) operates the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world. But we do much more than this.

Tourism Cares

Tourism Cares’ mission is to advance the travel industry’s positive social and environmental impact. We believe it is in our best interest to support the destinations we all depend on so that communities, travelers and businesses can prosper.

gorilla doctors

Gorilla Doctors is the only organization in the world dedicated to conserving mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer's) gorillas through veterinary medicine, science and a One Health approach. The life-saving work of our veterinarians is more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic and we appreciate your support as we continue to protect the health of these endangered animals.

Alaska Whale Foundation

Committed to conserving marine mammals and coastal ecosystems through research, education and direct conservation actions​.

JAFUTA BIOGAS PROGRAM

Renewable Energy

In most of sub-Sahara Africa and other developing economies around the globe, virtually every low-income home, farm and institution relies solely on wood-fuel and charcoal for cooking, warming water and other heating purposes. You can roll up your sleeves and get dirty by helping to install a biogas unit that will transform the lives of a family or community by:

-Eliminating in-house pollution from wood fuel stoves
-Eliminating the task of fire wood collection and
-Reducing the demand on forests for charcoal making and firewood

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

Bonorong is a Sanctuary for wildlife run by a passionate team of like-minded people. We’re a social enterprise: a little business with a biiiig heart. The skills and funds generated through the Sanctuary allow us to proactively address problems in our surrounding environment and communities.

footprint foundation

Through Our Footprint we support a diverse range of conservation, health and education projects across Kenya which benefit the wildlife, wilderness and local communities.

ARCAS

ARCAS is a non-profit Guatemalan NGO formed in 1989 by a group of Guatemalan citizens who became concerned as they saw their precious natural heritage - especially their wildlife - rapidly disappearing before their eyes. ARCAS’s main project sites are: Guatemala City, Petén, and the Hawaii area of the southern pacific coast.

Amigos of Costa Rica

Founded by CRUSA in 2000, Amigos of Costa Rica is a US based nonprofit organization whose mission is to support CRUSA in its commitment to fostering sustainable development in Costa Rica by connecting donors' values and resources
with vetted nonprofit solutions.

Fundacion Origen

Foundation Origen in Pirque, Chile was founded about 27 years ago by a local Chilean woman who wanted to provide a free high school for the children of local agricultural workers. Starting with 50 students, she has created a place that encouraged sustainable and responsible stewardship of the earth. Today there are over 500 student. They attend school next door to the farm and visit for classes and internships. The idea is that they graduate high school skilled in ecological agriculture for either entering the workforce or further study. Today there is a private fee paying lower school affiliated with the farm as well. El origen and its staff maintain goats and a local gourmet cheese making business, an organic garden, an apiary (bees), chickens, a pottery studio, yoga studio, an organic market and restaurant. Families can stay on the farm and learn about sustainable organic farming and participate in these activities.

ONÇAFARI PROJECT

The Onçafari Association was established to promote the conservation of the environment and to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the regions in which it operates, through ecotourism and scientific studies.

KIDS OF KATHMANDU

On May 22, 2015 Kids of Kathmandu, along with Asia Friendship Network, was given permission by Ministry of Education, Nepal to rebuild schools in 4 of the most earthquake devastated districts. Temporary schools went up immediately to brace for monsoon season which was upon us. In March 2016, we broke ground on our first 6 permanent schools. In late 2016 these schools were complete.

Tanzanian Children’s fund

Creating a brighter future for a generation of Tanzanians… We provide a community of 10,000 with all the tools, systems and opportunities they need to find a path out of generational poverty.

Restauración Ecológica y Desarrollo

REDES is an institution dedicated to improving the relationship between society and nature through ecological conservation and restoration programs and projects linked to social development under joint actions between the community, civil organizations, and academic institutions.