It has always been at the heart of Buffalo Tours’ ethos to not exploit local communities’ culture and environment. We ensure our tours are of:

• low impact on natural resources
• respectful and observant of local customs and
• supportive of local economies

The vast majority of Buffalo Tours’ staff and all our guides are locally employed, ensuring a more authentic experience for travelers, as well as sensitivity to local customs and culture. We also involve local communities in remote areas that we travel to. An example of this is Mai Chau in North Vietnam, where we asked local communities for input into our treks and to provide homestay accommodation. Buffalo Tours also had Non Government Organisations undertake independent assessments and interviews with local communities prior to the development of Mai Chau Lodge, which also employs ethnic minority staff from the local area.

Buffalo Tours are involved in a number of responsible travel initiatives and are always looking to develop more. From January 2010 Buffalo Tours will operate trekking in the remote region of Ha Giang in Northern Vietnam, as part of a sustainable tourism project through a joint venture with a local Non Government Organisation – the first of its kind in this area. We also operate another excellent sustainable tourism community project in Seuang River, outside Luang Prabang in Laos, exclusive to Buffalo Tours.

In November 2009 we launched our ‘Buffalo Green’ responsible travel recommendations, which highlights various hotels, tours and services that are considered to be responsible operators, from either a community/social or environmental basis. The ‘Buffalo Green’ recommendation logo can be found through our 2010 travel brochure and Buffalo Tours website, and we are committed to continually building upon this as a basis to focus more and more on responsible travel alternatives for customers.

Buffalo Tours donates thousands of dollars annually to humanitarian causes, such as the Binh Luc Orphanage Nutrition Program and Operation Smile missions, as well as an annual ‘Blue Dragon’ Children’s Charity Summer Camp and assistance for victims of typhoons and floods. In addition we have a ‘Porter Incentive Scheme’ in place on our Mount Fansipan Vietnam route, financially incentivizing porters to collect rubbish to both keep the area tidy and educate locals and tourists about the importance of removing litter.

One of our greatest achievements was to become the first travel company in Vietnam to offer volunteer and educational travel. Buffalo Tours’ Volunteer and Educational Travel team research and organise short and long term group projects and experiences across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. For more information on our volunteer and educational travel experiences visit our website www.educationaltravelasia.com

We also arrange charity challenges, such as scaling Vietnam’s highest mountain, Mount Fansipan. If you would like to learn more about charity challenges email agents@buffalotours.com

Our genuine commitment to Responsible Travel is becoming increasingly well-known and our programs are constantly evolving. Buffalo Tours’ CEO, Tran Trong Kien, won the 2007 ‘Face of the Future’ award from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), in recognition for his positive contribution to the local community in promoting sustainable practices.

Buffalo Tours also works to protect the children and become a ChildSafe Certified Partner and an active of the ChildSafe Network. This will help to ultimately result in a safer environment for children through the training and awareness raised by our own staff, especially the tour leaders, tour guides and the clients.