Environmental Stance

This is our motto

~ take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints ~

The serene New Zealand environment is our home, our workplace and our passion. It is why most visitors come here in the first place, and without it we would have no tourism to speak of.

White Cloud Travel’s environmental philosophy, in keeping with our social and ecological responsibility, is not only to protect and enhance the environment, but to educate and enlighten our visitors about the uniqueness of our flora and fauna, some of it not to be found anywhere else on Earth.

Our policy of keeping tour groups small is a great way of combining flexibility and personalized service with the enrichment and ease that travelling in a small group can bring. This affords you the luxury of intimacy with your guide and smaller communities, meeting locals face to face, and utilizing small-scale, low impact facilities.

To achieve this we do the following:

  • All tour vehicles comply with Euro IV and V emission standards
  • Tour vehicles are group size appropriate where we use a station wagon for groups of one to three guests, a large SUV for groups of four to six, and luxury tour vans for groups of seven or more
  • Our office spaces are heated with high efficiency heat pumps, and lit with low energy bulbs
  • We recycle all office waste appropriately and re-use what consumables we can such as paper, packaging and plastic bottles
  • We only use plant based, environmentally friendly cleaning products in our offices and tour vehicles

On tours we follow and rigidly uphold the New Zealand Environmental Care Code and seven principles of ‘Leave No Trace’ using these guidelines:

  • Protect fauna and flora
  • Keep to the track
  • Take all rubbish with you
  • Bury or remove toilet waste
  • Keep streams and lakes clean
  • Show respect to our environment, our cultural heritage and people you meet along the way
  • Most importantly, enjoy your visit!

Important information about KAURI DIEBACK

New Zealand is famous for its huge kauri, and they are amongst the world’s mightiest trees, growing to over 50 m tall, with trunk girths up to 16 m, and living for over 2,000 years. These iconic trees are a cornerstone of the indigenous forest ecosystems in the Upper North Island and have been around for about 20 million years.

Our beloved kauri are however now facing extinction due to a deadly soil borne pathogen for which there is no known cure. It is carried and spread in the soil on our shoes as we walk around the forests admiring the scenery, and once a tree has been infected it will most surely die.

In conjunction with MPI, DoC and Auckland Regional Council, WCT plays an active role in limiting the spread of kauri dieback disease by ensuring that all our and our guests footwear is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected on entry and exit of all tour routes where kauri are likely to be found.

All our guides carry a dedicated mobile cleaning and sanitising station on our tours as we have often found issues with the existing stations on tracks in kauri forest areas.

It is vital that you, our guests are fully informed about the chronic danger our kauri forests face at this time, and that you do all you can to cooperate and aid us in our fight to curb kauri dieback in New Zealand. We ask all our guests to be tolerant of the time taken by our guides to clean and disinfect everyone’s footwear, and we are confident of your understanding and co-operation in this regard.

This is what you can do to stop our Kauri from dying

1 – CLEAN
ALL soil and mud from your shoes and equipment EVERY time you go IN to or come OUT of a kauri area

2 – SPRAY
THOROUGHLY with the disinfectant only AFTER cleaning off soil and mud

3 – STAY
ON the track and OFF kauri roots

4 – EDUCATE by spreading the word, reminding and helping others who do not know what to do

Four reasons to choose us

We are passionate about sharing our fabulous ‘back yard’ with you

We offer unique visitor experiences

We keep groups small and intimate

We are committed to sustainable tourism in NZ

Explore Our Tours

Visit our Tours and find your dream tour in New Zealand

Eco Tours

Explore The City

Further Afield

South Island

Contact

Geoff Dunne and Lily Sha
info@whitecloudtravel.com

 

 

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