The Sustainable Travel Podcast

Wildlife cafes are gaining popularity, especially in places like Japan, but are they good for the wildlife and safe for people? Is it ever right to have coffee with capybara or cake with pigs? I dive into this issue with the inimitable Susanna Shankar. Follow Susanna: @curiositysaves.travel on Instagram https://curiositysavestravel.com/

Travel is built on colonial systems that prioritise the comfort and wellbeing of outsiders over that of resident communities. Saying that doesn't place the blame on travellers or travel itself, but instead aims to find a system that works for everybody. Find Hira on @thehybridtours or @hiraaftab04 on Instagram Read more: https://thattravel.co.uk/how-can-we-decolonize-travel/

I interviewed conservationist and documentary maker Janna Giacoppo about all things Maasai, Marriott and human-wildlife conflict. How were Lazizi LTD and Marriott allowed to build a $3000 per night luxury hotel on an important wildlife corridor despite a moratorium on tourist builds in the area? Why did the Maasai retract their case and what can we do about it now? We chat it all through in this l...

With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaching unimaginable heights, I connected with 5 families living in Gaza, as well as Emma Chave, their long time friend and supporter in the UK.Support the 5 families in the podcast here:https://chuffed.org/project/137912-gather-for-gaza-many-voices-one-purposeIf you're stuck on ways to help Gaza, read this article: https://thattravel.co.uk/how-can-i-help-...

Sarah is the brains behind Cultured Creative,  a brand consulting and design studio for responsible tourism businesses that blends Sarah's Nigerian American roots and passion for deep cultural immersion with 12 years of branding and marketing experience. In this episode, we discussed whether or not sustainable travel is becoming 'a trend', what this means for the industry and what cust...

Eva is a sustainable content creator, group trip host and environmentalist living South East Asia. She's been working together with local businesses across Asia, as well as NGOs to find out more about the plastic crisis and how we, in the Global North, also have an impact on it. You can find Eva on Instagram @evaandtheplanet or on her website: https://www.evaandtheplanet.com/

Angie is a content creator from Barcelona, who has been sharing content now for 10+ years and has a combined social media following of around 80k. She shared her thoughts and insights with me in this episode on how what we share to social media can impact the world around us, especially from the perspective of travellers. You can find Angie on Instagram, Threads or TikTok: @whereisangiee

Sabine (aka @sabe_travels - Instagram) is a solo Black female traveller, whose guides to planning sabbaticals have been helping travellers all over the world. Sabe prides herself on visiting new countries, regardless of what others have told her and always trying to make up her own mind without any preconceived notions. You can find Sabe on Instagram (@Sabe_travels) or her blog: sabetravels.com

Taryn is a Leave No Trace Level 2 instructor (the highest level you can get!) and outdoor writer, who has been working together with Leave No Trace for 20 years. In this episode, we discussed everything Leave No Trace: what the 7 principles are, how you can follow them outdoors and why they matter so much. We also talked through a hotly debated topic: geotagging vs gatekeeping. Which is right in t...

Tim is a train expert and founder of the online booking tool, Bookachoo, which helps corporate travellers find more sustainable options for travel. In this episode we talked about ALL things train and tried to answer the question: what exactly is holding people back from travelling by train more often? You can find Tim on LinkedIn You might also want to check out his booking tool Bookachoo !

We've all made 'mistakes' when it comes to wildlife when travelling (I mean, if you haven't, then a big well done to you!), and no one knows the horror of this better than Mia, who is currently studying for her Masters in primate conservation. Following a degree in psychology, Mia took a round the world trip, where she thought she'd done all the research and unfortunately, it t...

Alexa is an imperfect sustainability, small space garden and composting enthusiast. In this episode we talked about: 🤨 What zero waste actually means and why all the stigma around it ✅ How to be more zero waste in your day to day life 👀 Things to look out for specifically to help you when you travel 💰 Why supporting small businesses is so important You can find Alexa on Instagram or TikTok Lin...

Kate is a conservation biologist who has spent the majority of her career in impressive ecosystems such as the Maldives or various African national parks (where she cared specifically for rhinos). In this episode, we talked about: ⛳ More red and green flags within wildlife experiences (we love that on this show!) 🗝 Flagship and keystone species, and what that means ✅ Why it's so important fo...

Mahin is a climate change activist and the founder of Carbon Wise Pakistan, Pakistan's first carbon footprint calculator. In this episode we chatted about: 🌍 The situation with climate change in Pakistan 👩🏽‍🏫 How important education is there about climate change for future generations 💰 Climate funding and how it is woefully lacking Find Mahin on Instagram . Here are some links you might find...

Welcome back to this episode with Danielle, a wildlife conservationist and elephant expert, who talks us through all things elephants in tourism. In part 2, we talked about: ✅ Green flags from good sanctuaries and how we, as tourists can't make assumptions based on what we see 🐘 Elephants as complex beings and their individualised care 🌍 The human side of sustainable tourism, how local people n...

Danielle is an elephant expert and wildlife conservationist, who wrote her Masters on trauma in captive elephants within South East Asia. In this first part of our super interesting two part episode on these beautiful animals, we spoke about: 🐘 The 'breaking in' process of captive Asian elephants and their general plight in captivity 🧠 How elephants process emotions and their similarities to hum...

Have you ever wanted to help out abroad? Maybe you've thought about teaching, or building work or even working in an orphanage? Well all of those things are known as voluntourism and they can be good... sometimes. However, there is a dark side of voluntourism that many people just simply don't think about. I interviewed Jade and Matt from Giveback (a platform for finding regenerative travel projec...

Have you ever heard of a food desert? Something that is not discussed enough in the sustainable travel space is climate injustice, also known as environmental racism. Food deserts are a small part of this though honestly it comes into a lot of other things, like countries that contribute very little to climate change being some of the worst affected etc. How do we navigate all of this when advocat...

Tesa is a wildlife conservation biologist and primatologist currently studying in the UK. In this enlightening conversation, we talked about: ✋🏽 When it is necessary for anyone to touch wildlife and who that should be 🙅🏽‍♀️ Why tourists play no role in this process 🆚 The idea of 'tame' vs domesticated ✅ What tourists can do to support and see wildlife when they travel Further reading: Respon...

Katie is a content creator and technology whizzkid who has a passion for sustainable travel and came to talk to me about how technology can be a force for good (and sometimes bad) within sustainable travel, and how we can do better.👍🏽 You can find Katie on Instagram and on her website Links mentioned in the podcast: 🚌 Busbud (booking buses online)🚌 12Go (the same thing)🌊 Bonbeachie (waterproo...

Bea Adventurous is an immersive cultural traveller and group trip host. In this interesting episode, we tried to answer the very big and difficult question: what makes traditional leisure travel unsustainable? Bea also explained how she got into travelling from a pretty complicated background! 👍🏽You can find Bea on Instagram or her website

Travelling with a toddler is not easy at the best of times, let alone when you are trying to do it sustainably! I spoke to Ilani about the challenges of travelling with a young child, but also the positives on the flip side, how she makes travelling with her toddler a little easier for herself and how she supports other first time mums as well.👍 You can find Ilani on Instagram

Teresa and Dennis are travelling from Germany to Australia via public transport, and they really have some stories about it!! Chatting with them was so much fun, we swapped tall tales of public transport and talked about how feasible it is to cross the planet in this way.  You can find Teresa and Dennis on  Instagram  or  their website   You might find this article useful after listening:  Tips fo...

Carmen and Michael from Ruamar run an immersive tourism company in Portugal and, the way they see it, travelling in an immersive way, delving deep into the culture of a place could be the answer to overtourism. In this episode we talked about all things immersive travel in Portugal, some incredible experiences they have had living in Portugal and all about how you can get involved. 👍 You can find...

Merel is a queer, disabled sustainability activist and wheelchair user. She is part of a political party for environmental justice and animal rights and represents a lot of people within the sustainability space. In this episode we talked about: how train travel can sometimes be easier than flying as a wheelchair user, what improvements are needed within sustainable travel for wheelchair users and...