If you are considering joining a volunteer program in South Africa, then you are likely the kind of person who wants to make a positive contribution, be it to conservation or to a community in need. However, before deciding which project you want to join, there are a few things that you may want to consider. Does the project have a genuine need for volunteers? The whole idea of volunteering is for you to make a real and significant contribution to a cause through your specialist skills, or simply through your hard work and enthusiasm!

Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Awards is an annual award that aims to recognize tourism businesses – from small community based projects to large resorts – that are making significant contributions to sustainable tourism. By sharing best practices of sustainable tourism seen among operators in Asia, the annual awards demonstrate how responsible tourism can be an effective tourism strategy that’s good for communities, the environment and businesses.

Pack for a Purpose™ is a newly founded non-profit organization dedicated to providing needed educational materials and medical supplies to children around the world. The organization was founded on the principal that every little bit helps, and all it takes to get involved is to use a small amount space in your luggage for supplies when packing for a trip abroad. The concept is simple, and getting involved is easy.

Daniela Ruby Papi, PEPY Tours – Our goal is that people who join us on a trip will be inspired to live, travel and give differently after their trip to Cambodia. We aim to expose travelers to the people and ideas that are having the most impact on the issues we are looking to effect change in: education, the environment, and health. We focus less on service and more on learning, and like to look at our trips as edu-ventures: educational adventures which allow travelers to support projects, programs, and people we believe in.

Danielle Weiss, Planeterra Foundation – My first volunteer experience was a two-month solo trip to the Middle East when I was 19 where I divided my time between volunteering on a kibbutz and travelling throughout Israel and Egypt. This first experience enabled me to make lasting friendships with local people, gain an in-depth knowledge of their daily life, and build the confidence to know that I could travel alone as a single woman.

Wild Asia is looking to hear from accommodation operators from across Asia (big or small, privately run or community driven). The awards, now in its fourth year is one of the only Responsible Tourism awards driven by Asians, and aims to support the creation of sustainable destinations in Asia. All entries are screened by Wild Asia’s team using a self-assessment checklist (aligned with the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria) and all finalists are visited by a team of fact-finders.

By choosing responsible travel, you can have the fabulous vacation that you’ve dreamed of, while ensuring that the money you spend at your destination is benefiting the environment and the local people. In this article, Ashish Dutta introduces five travel habits that can “transform your travel experience — shed off the tag of a ‘tourist’ and saunter around as an enlightened eco-traveller” Habit 1. Travel to Discover: The greatest impediment to fun is the blinkers of attitude most tourists put on, almost unknowingly. Leave all attitudes behind and set out with an open mind to discover.