Social Responsibility
Travel with Purpose: Supporting local communities, preserving ecosystems, and empowering Andean families.
Caring For Our Trail Heroes
Porters are the absolute backbone of mountain treks in Peru. At Natourandes, we believe they deserve more than just employment—they deserve deep respect, protection, and premium care. We are committed to leading industry standards for porter welfare.
We work closely with local high-Andean communities to employ porters, ensuring they are provided with top-tier conditions on every journey.
- Fair and Prompt Wages: We pay wages that exceed industry standards, distributed immediately upon returning from treks.
- Comfortable Sleeping Gear: We supply porters with heavy-duty tents, insulated sleeping mats, and warm sleeping bags.
- Proper Nutrition: Our camp chefs cook the exact same healthy, high-calorie meals for our porters as they do for our guests.
- Strict Weight Limits: We strictly enforce a 20kg weight limit per porter (lower than the government-mandated 25kg) to protect their health.
- Warm Clothing & Shoes: We provide professional warm jackets, thermal layers, and proper trail boots.
Preserving Cultural Heritage
Mass tourism often bypasses isolated mountain villages. Natourandes actively works to distribute tourism revenues directly into the hands of high-Andean families. We collaborate with weaving and farming cooperatives in Sillacancha and Patacancha in the Sacred Valley.
By connecting travelers directly to local workshops, we support high-Andean heritage and provide secondary income streams for local artisans.
- Local Sourcing: 90% of our fresh camp ingredients are bought directly from agricultural families in Sacred Valley markets.
- Fair-Trade Weaving Workshops: We organize authentic weaving demonstrations where weavers keep 100% of their craft sales.
- Community Employment: We prioritize hiring local guides, horsemen, camp assistants, and operators from local rural districts.
- Education Support: A percentage of every trek booked is dedicated to purchasing school supplies, books, and winter gear for children in high-elevation schools.
Protecting Sacred Lands
The Andes are ancient, sacred, and incredibly fragile. With thousands of trekkers exploring trails like the Inca Trail and Salkantay annually, eco-responsibility is vital. Natourandes enforces strict ecological practices to ensure we leave these lands pristine for generations to come.
We are a zero-single-use-plastic operator on all mountain operations.
- Leave No Trace Policy: We carry out all solid waste, including organic wastes, and dispose of it at certified recycling facilities in Cusco.
- Water Conservation: We filter and boil local stream water for drinking rather than using single-use plastic bottles.
- Biodegradable Camping Hygiene: We use 100% organic, biodegradable detergents and hand soaps at all camp dishwashing and washing stations.
- Wildlife Protection: We educate our travelers to respect local wildlife, keeping safe distances from vicuñas, Andean condors, and spectacled bears.