In this episode, I speak with Nadia Greenwood-Ftouhi (Nads), the founder of Manira Palm Marrakech - an eco villa overlooking the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, located in the northwest corner of Africa.

Manira Palm strives to create authentic Moroccan experiences in eco-luxury and upholds values of community, culture and conscious travel. It is often described as a ‘Hub for Healing’ as Nads endeavours to connect people back home to themselves through holistic experiences, extending sustainability to the soul.

In the episode, Nads shares about the mission behind Manira Palm, its values, and alignment with authentic Moroccan traditions. We learn about Nads’ journey to creating Manira Palm, and how her rich Moroccan cultural heritage influenced her decision to move to Marrakech and open an eco villa for guests from all around the world.

To my dear listeners,

I felt inspired to create my first ever meditation track for you all and am delighted to share it.

At a time when the world may feel overwhelming, when there is much distraction and destruction surrounding us, one of the few places of peace we may find is within us, in our heart's centre.

This guided meditation intends to guide you back to presence, and back to peace within.

I hope it brings you the peace you are looking for.

Love and Light dear ones,

Bianca

In this episode, I speak with Vanessa Karel, the founder of Greether - a platform that safely connects women travellers to a verified local female guide upon arrival at their destination. 

Vanessa Karel is a second-time founder, entrepreneur, storyteller, and creative producer born in the USA, and raised in Mexico City. Growing up an avid traveller, Vanessa always found an interest in exploring different cultures and expanding her horizons.

In 2020, after her own experiences as a solo female traveller, Vanessa founded Greether, a safety platform for female travelers around the world. The platform is now available to women in over 75 countries and 256 cities.

In the episode we speak about Vanessa's founder journey, the inspiration behind the Greether idea, the challenges women face when it comes to safety abroad, and ways the female traveller community continue to support each another and enable safe freedom of movement.

Website: https://www.greether.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greet.her/

In this episode, I speak with the founders of the Minimalist Journeys platform, Paul and Sandra.

Farewelling their corporate careers in Sydney in 2016, Paul and Sandra have made it their mission to help others experience more by living with less.

In the interview, we hear how the couple sold their home and belongings to embrace a more simplistic way of living, in line with their values and what makes them truly happy.

On their website www.minimalistjourneys.com, the couple now provides practical advice and simple, tested tools to people who want to:

• design a better life for themselves and pursue what truly matters to them;

• travel in a more authentic and respectful way.

Listen to this inspiring conversation on how to live a life intentionally aligned with your values.

Elbrus4Alpinists is a sustainable development project aiming to open the Northwest Face of Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe and one of the world’s “Seven Summits”, as a climbing route. In this episode, I speak with founder and mountaineer, Matthew C Johnson, about the Elbrus4Alpinists project and foundation.

Matt is a family man who loves intellectual challenges, adventure travel, endurance sports, and bringing together unlikely groups of people to share passions and connect humanity. In 2018, Matt became curious about alternative climbing routes on Mount Elbrus. That curiosity led him to explore the Northwest Face, a lesser-known climbing route.

“I discovered that the Russian climbers in the area climbed by a route from the west side that is not normally advertised. So I took a solo trip over there to explore. I discovered it was phenomenally beautiful. The people on that side of the mountain are wonderful, albeit with very few economic opportunities…I looked at the population, I looked at the terrain and I thought, why has nobody developed a climbing infrastructure here?”

Over the past three years, Matt engaged with Alpinists from all over the world including Nathaniel J. Menninger, the film director of The Porter: The Untold Story at Everest (2020), and gathered a team of passionate individuals who could help bring this project to fruition. With sustainability and cultural sensitivity at the forefront, the Elbrus4Aplinists project aims to bring economic development to the people living and working below the mountain.

In the podcast, we discuss Matthew’s vision for the project, how his passion for mountaineering and sustainable development drives the project and the steps he and his team are taking to ensure a community-first approach.

Find out more about the project here: https://www.elbrus4alpinists.org/

In this episode, I speak with Green Destinations Top 100 Partnership Program Coordinator, Louise de Hemmer, on the topic of recognising and awarding the world’s sustainable destinations.

The Green Destinations Foundation is a non-profit organisation focused on sustainable destination development and recognition. Founded in 2014, they are one of three sustainable tourism certification bodies accredited by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) with an aim to support global destinations through their journey towards sustainability.

The top 100 competition was created to give destinations a higher level of exposure and recognition for their good practices in the areas of social and environmental impact.

In the interview, Louise speaks with me about the destination certification process and the Top 100 submissions process, and shares some of the award-winning destinations recognised for their efforts. The awards cover a range of categories including localising the destination supply chain, decarbonising the destination supply chain, environment and culture, nature and ecotourism, and more. 

Participants are invited to apply to the competition and are required to self-report on core sustainability criteria of the Green Destinations Standard. Criteria include but are not limited to responding to tourism impacts on nature, solid waste reduction, reducing transport emissions and energy consumption, tangible cultural heritage and community involvement in planning.

Learn more about Green Destinations on their website: https://greendestinations.org/

In this episode, I speak with Valery Joanne Super about sustainability and ecotourism in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. Valery is the co-founder of Emboo River, a luxurious lodge with sustainability at the forefront of its operations.

Emboo River is also the first lodge in the region to offer guests the chance to embark on carbon-neutral safaris in converted electric safari vehicles powered by solar energy.

As Valery explains, “the vehicles are silent enough to help guests tap into all their senses. You can smell animals in the area, you can hear a lion roar in the distance. This increases our guest's chances of animal sightings.”

In the interview we discuss Emboo River’s award-winning sustainability practices including running showers with solar-heated water, utilising lagoons with local wetland plants that filter and recycle 100% of wastewater, farm to fork meals from an organic vegetable garden prepared on biogas created from organic waste, reusable beeswax paper, a tree-planting project called 'Rooting for our Future' and much more.

As the Maasai saying goes, “Mataramat enkop pee eramat iyook.”, which translates to “If you take care of nature, nature will take care of you.”

Be inspired by this story of innovation from the beautiful plains of the Maasai Mara, Kenya.

Website: https://www.emboo.camp/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emboocamp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmbooCamps

I'm so happy to share that season four of The Altruistic Traveller Podcast is launching this week. 

We have some amazing guests lined up for this season, from carbon-neutral safaris to ecoliving in paradise; conversations around making travel accessible to all, to creating and living a minimalist lifestyle. 

This prelude is a thank you for your support so far. 

My first ever episode was published in July 2017 from the noisy streets of Kathmandu, Nepal. Since then, I have shared the stories of over 50 incredible people making our world brighter. 

I hope you enjoy (and become inspired by) the show!

Apply to be a guest here.

In this episode, I speak with author Jeff Blumenfeld on the topic of voluntourism. We talk about the concept of volunteering while travelling, unravel the negative media attention centered around this word and uncover how one can have a positive volunteering experience that benefits all involved. 

My guest, Jeff Blumenfeld, is the author of 'Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers, and Would-be World Travelers', - and the more recent book - 'Travel With Purpose: A Field Guide to Voluntourism'.

Jeff's interest in volunteering took him to Nepal in 2013 and 2017 where he served as communications director for the Dooley Intermed Foundation’s “Gift of Sight” Expedition ­– an effort to bring quality eye care to 700 impoverished villagers. Prior to that, he volunteered as a chaperone on a high school trip to Antarctica, which he speaks about in the interview.

In August 2020 he was honored with the Iceland Exploration Museum’s Leif Erikson Award for Exploration History and is currently an adjunct lecturer at CU’s College of Media, Communication, and Information.  

Jeff brings his expert knowledge of voluntourism into the interview and shares ways and resources on how we can have a positive, immpactful experience when volunteering.

You can purchase Jeff's book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com.au/Travel-Purpose-Field-Guide-Voluntourism/dp/1538115328

In this episode, I speak with Philippe Moreau the founder of Greener Act - an app giving individuals arriving at their destination awareness of local sustainable activities crafted by responsible organisations.

Philippe has a vibrant history in the tourism industry. Starting out as a hotelier in various global destinations, he then spent 10 years managing sustainable tourism development for HBD Principé in São Tomé & Príncipé (West Africa) and has since taken his passion for sustainable tourism into the creation of the Greener Act.

In the podcast, we discuss the sustainable tourism development of São Tomé & Príncipé and how Philippe and his team, along with funding from the UNDP and the Spanish Ministry of Environment, were able to implement a water-refill program that saw the removal of over 900,000 plastic bottles off Príncipé, the distribution of over 7000 reusable bottles and the installation of 15 water-purification fountains around the island.

The success of this project showed how much impact can be made by a small group of mindful individuals and so Philippe was inspired to help others share their sustainability efforts, hence the creation of the Greener Act app.

Find out more at https://www.greeneract.com/