Naturetrek Accreditations

AITO: The Association of Independent Tour Operators

AITO represents some of Britain's best specialist tour operators.

Members are independent companies, most of them owner-managed, specialising in particular destinations or types of holidays.

The common aim of all AITO members is to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction by concentrating on three main pillars: Choice, Quality and Service, enshrined in the association's Quality Charter.

Companies admitted to AITO are all vetted and fully bonded for client's protection, in compliance with UK and European regulations. They are also bound by AITO's own Code of Business Practice.

Naturetrek has achieved AITO's top level, 3-star Responsible Tourism accreditation

The three star award is the highest level of RT recognition offered by AITO. It means the company has successfully implemented and continually improves an RT policy. To gain three RT Stars, the company must also undertake a specific project which contributes to the economy, culture or environment of a destination. For more information click here

ATOL Protected No. 2962

ATOL protects you from losing your money or being stranded abroad. It does this by carrying out checks on the tour operators and travel organisers it licenses, and requiring a financial guarantee called a bond, which is lodged with us.

If a tour operator goes out of business, the CAA will make a refund to you, or if you're abroad, we'll arrange for you to finish your holiday and fly home.

Recommended By British Birds

British Birds is a monthly journal for all keen birdwatchers. We publish articles on a wide variety of topics, including behaviour, conservation, distribution, identification, status and taxonomy.

Our contributors include both professional and amateur ornithologists, and content is always abreast of current ideas and thinking, yet written in a clear and simple style which is easy to interpret.

BB is regarded as THE journal of record in Britain, and we publish the annual reports of the Rarities Committee and the Rare Breeding Birds Panel.

Bond With AITO Trust No. 1041

Bonding was introduced to the British tour operating industry in 1970 by the Tour Operators' Study Group (TOSG - now renamed the Federation of Tour Operators), an organisation representing most of the largest companies in the UK travel industry.

Two years later, similar measures for the provision of financial guarantees were imposed as a compulsory requirement for all members of ABTA.

The following year, the bonding principle was extended when the government of the day introduced the current ATOL system, administered by the CAA, involving all organisers of air-based package holidays, firstly by charter and subsequently, by scheduled services.

Oriental Bird Club Corporate Sponsor

Oriental Bird Club, UK registered charity 297242, is for birders and ornithologists around the world who are interested in birds of the Oriental region and their conservation.

Oriental Bird Club aims:

• to encourage an interest in wild birds of the Oriental region and their conservation
• to promote the work of regional bird and nature societies
• to collate and publish information on Oriental birds.

Butterfly Conservation Corporate Sponsor

If you had been alive a hundred years ago, and went for a summer's walk in the countryside, you would have expected to see a wealth of butterflies.

Today, their numbers have declined seriously and five of our 59 resident species have become extinct. The future of nearly half our remaining species hangs in the balance as they continue to decline in many areas. Moths (the largely nocturnal cousins of butterflies) have also disappeared at an alarming rate and over 50 of our 900 larger species are now highly threatened.

The intensification of farming and forestry have led to widespread destruction of flower-rich meadows, hedgerows, ancient woodland and wild corners – all crucial habitats for butterflies and other wildlife. Wild areas have also been lost to housing and roads, and many remaining fragments are deteriorating due to neglect. Our native deciduous woodlands, home to many of our more sensitive butterflies, have also changed out of all recognition and have either become too shady for butterflies or replaced with dense conifer plantations.

It may be impossible to put the clock back completely but much can be done to increase butterflies and moths and save threatened species from extinction. This is the aim of Butterfly Conservation, but we need your help to achieve it.

Bird Life International - World Environment Partner

Birds are beautiful, inspirational and international. Birds are excellent flagships and vital environmental indicators.

By focusing on birds, and the sites and habitats on which they depend, the BirdLife Partnership is working to improve the quality of life for birds, for other wildlife (biodiversity), and for people.

BirdLife's aims are to:

• prevent the extinction of any bird species
• maintain and where possible improve the conservation status of all bird species
• conserve and where appropriate improve and enlarge sites and habitats important for birds
• help, through birds, to conserve biodiversity and to improve the quality of people's lives
• integrate bird conservation into sustaining people's livelihoods.

African Bird Club Corporate Sponsor

ABC is a UK registered charity that:

• provides a worldwide focus for African ornithology
• raises money to support conservation projects in Africa through the Conservation Fund
• encourages an interest in the conservation of the birds of the region
• liaises with and promote the work of existing regional societies
• publishes a twice-yearly colour bulletin
• encourages observers to visit lesser known areas of the region, and search actively for globally threatened and near-threatened species