Steppes Travel is made by the people who work here. Incredible holidays are made possible because of their vast travel experience and the great enthusiasm they bring to their work.
We carefully select our experts based on their knowledge, companionship and influence, ensuring that you can travel with the most knowledgeable leaders in the field.
The people who lead the way when it comes to those things which matter to us: exploration, the environment, women’s empowerment and education.
The driving force behind our approach to sustainability. It’s our guarantee to you that we’re protecting this beautiful planet wherever and whenever possible.
Our commitment to nurturing people, cultures and places doesn’t rest. In fact, it follows us to every corner of the globe and back.
The Steppes Fund for Change is a collection of initiatives to promote sustainable travel, and a call-to-arms to the industry to take action. When you, our clients, take the leap to discover the extraordinary, you can be sure that you are doing it in a way that puts the planet first.
Our mission is to channel funds to the communities, conservation agencies, and NGOs that we work with and to create staff and client engagement to achieve the following:
Read on to see exactly what we’re doing this year.
Climate change is perhaps the overriding threat not just facing the world of travel but the world as a whole.
Travel is coming in for some serious critique because of the carbon emissions of flights. If clients choose not to fly, then it will affect business. It is a real possibility – the Swedish have a word flygskam, which means ‘flight-shame’.
The good news is that in the last ten years there has been a 140-fold growth in schemes to reduce carbon emissions. The bad news is that IATA says that just 1% of passengers offset their carbon emissions from flights. The worse news is that the aviation sector is one of the fastest-growing polluters. It currently accounts for about 2% of global emissions but that figure could more than double by 2050 or triple if planes don’t become more fuel-efficient.
Not only do we have a commercial imperative but we have a moral one to act and to act now.
We need to act to:
We currently offset all of our Steppes Travel team flights through the World Land Trust. We also contribute £25pp per booking to offset our clients’ flights too.
We pledge £25 per person per booking and add it to a fund that supports 20 women’s empowerment, girls’ education and wildlife conservation programmes across the world. While back home, a further £25 goes towards our fledgeling scheme to plant trees in Scunthorpe and to sponsor a nuclear fusion researcher at the University of Oxford.
Our commitment to offsetting 100% of the carbon emissions from our clients’ flights is something that will never change. Last year, Steppes Travel and the Woodland Trust started the ambitious task of creating a 40-acre community wood near Scunthorpe by planting the first 4,000 trees – an area with some of the most polluted air in Britain.
Nuclear fusion is seen by many as the panacea for a safe energy solution. Steppes Travel is supporting the work of Nicolas Christen, a doctorate student with the Plasma Physics Group at the University of Oxford, and his work into harnessing this game-changing way of producing energy.
If you would like to join our waiting list to be invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Abingdon please email [email protected]
Plastic pollution is one of the most unnecessary threats facing our environment. At Steppes Travel HQ, we all do our bit to be plastic conscious, reducing, recycling and reusing wherever possible.
We’re also keen to tackle unnecessary plastic waste in the countries that we operate in. Steppes Travel is proud to be part of the One Bottle at a Time initiative which, together with other tour operators, aims to remove one million single-use plastic water bottles from across our holiday operations.
Whilst travelling please be sure to travel with a refillable, reusable bottle. If you would like a Steppes Travel branded bottle, please speak to your travel expert.
We support projects right across the planet. Explore below to see where and how we’re making a difference – in some cases, we can even arrange a visit as part of your tailor-made itinerary.
Since 1989 we have donated over £1.2million to organisations that make a positive impact around the world. This year alone we have donated £60,000 towards the following charities.
| Africa | Americas | Asia & Oceania | Europe, Indian Subcontinent & Middle East |
|---|---|---|---|
| £4k Fallen Rangers, Virunga DRC | £3k for Birdlife International (Albatross Project) | £3k for Koala Clancy Foundation, W Australia | £3k for Chhanv Foundation, India |
| £2k for Durrell, Kirindy, Madagascar | £3k for Galapagos Conservation Trust, Galapagos | £3k for Bali Wise, Indonesia | £3k for Wild Shaale Program, c/o CWS, India |
| £2k for Uthando, Cape Town, S Africa | £2k for Kichwa Anangu Community, Ecuador | £3k for Misool, Indonesia | £2k for Oscar Foundation, Mumbai, India |
| £4k for African Parks, Odzala-Kokoua, Congo | £3k for Ecoan Peru, Peru | £3k for Wa Ale, Myanmar | £4k for Sambhali Trust, Jodhpur, India |
| £3k for Conservation Through PH, Bwindi, Uganda | £4k for Rainforest Conservation Group, W Canada | £3k for Ponheary Ly Foundation, Cambodia | £3k for Rainbow Centres, Sri Lanka |
Our knowledge and expertise sets us apart. So too our curiosity. A curiosity of the world and of you, and your passions. It is this that drives us to create a journey that is really bespoke to you, all the while ensuring we travel and operate sustainably.
Are you ready to discover extraordinary?
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