Our "CSR" - Conservation and Social Responsibility

Social and Conservation Support

Here at Rural Traveller we take our social and conservation responsibility extremely seriously. We believe supporting scientific, social and environmental organisations is vital to truly make a change in the world today. For this reason, your journeys with us will directly help in supporting 3 key organisations doing extremely important and brilliant field work around India, specifically northern India where we are based. 10% of our income from every trip with us will be donated directly to these 3 charities and you will also have the opportunity to go and see these organisations in action and meet the people that make them tick. This means, not only will you be seeing some of the best sights in India, but you will also be leaving it a little bit better than how you found it.

Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust

This conservation organisation is very important to us here at Rural Traveller as for many years the beautiful snow leopard, dubbed the ‘grey ghost’ for its illusiveness, was marked as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Thanks to organisations around the world including Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust the Snow Leopard population has increased and the ‘grey ghost’ is now listed as vulnerable. Though this a great example of how humans can make a real difference when it comes to the natural world, there is still a lot of work to be done. Currently there are no extreme fluctuations to the snow leopard population, but the numbers of mature leopards are decreasing. If you would like to read more about this conservation trust and its goals and challenges, please visit: http://snowleopardindia.org

J.S.R. Indu School for the Special children

The final and more local charity we support is J.S.R. Indu School which is an organisation very close to our heart. Based in Uttrakahand, the School devotes itself to educating special needs children in the local area who are unable to attend school. According to a 2019 UNESCO report, out of 7,864,000 special needs children in India only around 25% of those aged 5years attend any sort of educational institution. This is a serious and very sad problem that needs to be fixed. Places like J.S.R. Indu School are doing great work in trying to make a real change in the lives of these children who have already had a hard enough life and deserve support, care and education like any other child. If you would like to read more about this truly incredible and heart-warming charity, please visit: http://usrindusamiti.org

Conservation Award

Every year we here at Rural Traveller will be awarding someone in the Uttarakhand area who, in spite of not having the best resources or the widespread acknowledgement like some other major groups, selflessly and humbly is doing incredible work in conservation, and making a difference in the natural world. This award will help them with publicity, so they can grow their vision and we will help them with a small £1000 (100,000INR) donation so they can get a few of the resources they need to keep doing whatever amazing work they’re doing. We firmly believe that with all the craziness that is happening in the world today, there are too many unsung heroes who are tirelessly making a difference without any sort of recognition. We are hoping with this award we may be able to change that.