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Mosaic Adventure is an eco-friendly tour operator with the objective of improving, protecting, and preserving the environment of the Himalayan Mountains. We are members of The International Ecotourism Society, the Kathmandu Environmental Education Program (KEEP), Youth Effort for Society (YES), and Youth Campaign for Development (YCD), which are environmental organizations promoting responsible tourism. We are also recommended by responsibletravel.com.

Ecological/Environmental Impact

We conduct all our trips with a vigilant eye to avoid disturbing the local ecology or way of life. We are committed to actively participating in the Kathmandu Environmental Education Project and other national and local environmental initiatives. We continuously strive to ensure that traveling with us has the minimum impact on the local environment. We always advise our customers to bring a water bottle and purification tablets and make use of natural water resources instead of buying bottled water, which can litter and pollute the mountain environment.

Social/Cultural Impact

Mosaic Adventure believes that it is possible to operate commercially in the eco-tourism sector of the industry and preserve the natural and cultural heritage of an area by promoting sustainable tourism. In our work, we actively promote and implement this philosophy whenever an opportunity presents itself. We run a non-governmental organization (CYS) committed to providing much-needed health and education facilities to remote areas of Nepal.

Economic Impact

We emphasize making extensive use of locally available products and enhancing maximum economic benefits for local communities. In addition, we support rural development projects by contributing 10% of our generated profits each trading year, thereby directly uplifting the living standards of local residents and contributing to the national economy of Nepal. On camping trips in remote regions, we buy food from local villagers and only use locally-owned tea houses and hotels.

Innovative Practices

Since our establishment, our company has been striving to help develop remote areas of Nepal. We maintain this trend by continuously discovering interesting new destinations within the country. Furthermore, we have initiated cleaning campaigns in nearby villages that involve a lot of local participation. The idea is to raise hygiene and environmental awareness in the villages. Such campaigns also educate the villagers to keep their villages and surroundings neat and clean.

Animal Welfare

As a responsible tour company committed to sustainability, we take strong action to ensure that animal welfare is safeguarded. For example, Mosaic Adventure does not offer any elephant back safari tours as they involve mistreatment of the animals.

We follow trekking Ethics: the 5 Guidelines outlined by IPPG (International Porter Protection Group)

  • Clothing appropriate to season and altitude must be provided to porters for protection from cold, rain and snow. This may mean windproof jacket and trousers, fleece jacket, long johns, suitable footwear (boots in snow), socks, hat, gloves and sunglasses.
  • Above the tree line porters should have a dedicated shelter, either a room in a lodge or a tent (the trekkers’ mess tent is no good as it is not available until late evening), a sleeping mat and a decent blanket or sleeping bag. They should be provided with food and warm drinks, or cooking equipment and fuel.
  • Porters should be provided with life insurance and the same standard of medical care as you would expect for yourself.
  • Porters should not be paid off because of illness/injury without the leader or the trekkers assessing their condition carefully. The person in charge of the porters (sirdar) must let their trek leader or the trekkers know if a sick porter is about to be paid off. Failure to do this previously has resulted in many deaths. Sick/injured porters should never be sent down alone, but with someone who speaks their language and understands their problem, along with a letter describing their complaint. Sufficient funds should be provided to cover the cost of rescue and treatment.
  • No porter should be asked to carry a load that is too heavy for their physical abilities (maximum: 20 kg on Kilimanjaro, 25 kg in Peru and Pakistan, 30 kg in Nepal). Mosaic Adventures weight limit for a porter is maximum 20 kilograms. Weight limits may need to be adjusted for altitude, trail and weather conditions; experience is needed to make this decision. Child porters should not be employed.