Travel should be a force for good. When done well, it can revitalise communities, boost economies, preserve habitats and create opportunities. For those of us doing the travelling, it can educate and inspire, altering our perspectives and opening our eyes.

We are passionate about travel’s transformative power. And this passion runs through the heart of the business. So we only work with companies that are committed to delivering life-changing experiences for their guests while supporting conservation and community initiatives in a meaningful way.

We work with property owners that actively seek to make positive impacts; those that collaborate closely with locals, help reduce human-wildlife conflict, preserve the environment and seek to consciously educate the next generation of conservationists. Many of these businesses also create opportunities for guests to take part in their conservation activities – in non-contrived ways – so they leave with a greater understanding and a deeper connection.

In short, we work with people that have a profound love of the places within which they operate, and who want to share them with the world.

Actions Not Words

In addition to working with people and businesses operating in a conscious and ethical way, LH Travel is a member of The Conscious Travel Foundation, a social enterprise established to unite and educate owner-operated travel businesses and promote travel as a force for good, raising funds for grass-roots charity projects around the world.

We also give a percentage of annual business profits to the Mara Elephant Project. Launched in 2021, it’s mission is to protect elephants and their habitats across the Greater Mara Ecosystem, and to help create a stable and healthy population of these amazing animals that co-exists peacefully with local communities.

The MEP also supports the Sheldrick Trust, the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation project in the world – 98% of elephants brought here are successfully released back into the wild. The tireless work of the Sheldrick team is so inspiring – seeing the rescued elephants never fails to pull the heartstrings.

But MEP’s work isn’t just about hands-on elephant protection. It’s about people. For a start, the project offers skilled work opportunities for the Maasai, enabling them to financially support their families. But more than that, the MEP rangers become ambassadors within their communities. They share their knowledge and passion, igniting a flame in local young people, inspiring them to want to protect wildlife themselves. The rangers are kickstarting a societal change.

Carbon Offsetting

But what about the environmental impacts of running a travel business? We work with Chooose, a platform that helps to balance the carbon footprint of the whole business, from office emissions to air travel. Working out our footprint, using robust methodologies, we can help offset it by contributing to carbon-reducing initiatives across the developing world.

If travel is going to make a positive difference to the planet, we need to think about its impacts at every step of the journey.