Our base in the Pyrenees was a clear choice. We are all based locally and came into tourism via our work in the mountains. We love our region passionately and ever since the creation of La Balaguère we’ve been deeply involved in local development, which today can be considered long-term.

As opposed to forced-march-style "Adventure". Whatever the level of the hiking, this spirit of discovery is paramount. Discovery of lands and landscapes, of Nature and of cultures, heritages, traditions, of men and of women, of the local population and of travelling companions, in other words of other people and sometimes of oneself…

It’s quite obvious, but it must be said that one of our major priorities is the respect of the places that we visit. Respecting Nature and the environment in general, and also the architectural and cultural heritage, traditions, differences… in a word, Others.

Along with some colleagues on a national level, we have set up a shared information scheme for travellers and various local agents in an effort to pool our energies to save the Desert, which is an extremely fragile environment, from any damage due to tourism.

La Balaguère would like to ensure that this scheme will be applied to all the other environments in which we work, particularly the mountains…

Travel = Encounter. That’s why we leave the organization of our trips in the hands of local people on a basis of trust. Secondly, we are involved on a local basis with the initial and further training of guides and organisers. Finally we organize exchanges and hospitality here in the Pyrenees. Thus travel becomes a wonderful means of bringing together in mutual understanding worlds which are so different.

On our level, the idea of sharing is that of fairness. The way we see tourism, it should always first and foremost be the host country which is helped in economicand development terms.

We do try sometimes to go a little bit further than our role as tour operator, by helping and by encouraging you to help development projects, particularly in Mauretania, through the association Vents du Sud.

In Mali, Yannick our French coordinator on the terrain, employed jointly by La Balaguère and our colleagues la Burle, is in charge of development projects : creation of accommodation projects, financial help for schools and community clinics, training for local people involved…

La Balaguère finances these projects from its own finances, but you can participate by donating ¤ 15 on top of the price of your trip and La Balaguère will add an equal sum to this.

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