Conservation is a crucial component of our work. The Tsimane project helps protect a very special large portion of forest—a transition area from the Amazon basin to the mountains, a fragile area rich in biodiversity of plant and animal species alike. The project pays park rangers and helps create jobs, resources, and income for local indigenous communities. We work cooperatively with numerous government officials and agencies, ensuring that we can discuss environmental proposals and help protect the environment and its biodiversity for generations to come. In addition, we also partner with the Wilderness Conservation Society for biological research on dorado, studying various strains of the species in the jungle environment.
Within our own operations, we carefully monitor and maintain all machines and vehicles. Inorganic waste is completely removed from our lodges and transported by river using canoes and local labor. It arrives for final treatment in the city of Trinidad, ensuring no type of remaining waste remains in the forest. Every year we submit an environmental impact report to the National Park Service to ensure transparency of our efforts.
This strategy contributes to safeguarding our agreements with indigenous people while providing a long-term vision for our development, thus ensuring the protection of our most valuable assets: the magnificent natural surroundings and the cultural tradition of local ethnic groups.
Working with the native people has enhanced our sensitivity to the environment, which is why sustainability is at the core of our operation. Untamed Angling helps preserve the more than 12 million hectares (nearly 30 million acres) of rainforest surrounding our destinations. We produce comprehensive environmental reports each season, and dedicate our efforts to studying fish populations and their life cycles. We are constantly looking for fresh and innovative ideas that can help us reduce our ecological footprint, whether it is through the use of renewable energy, proper waste management, or recycling. Our focus on environmental stewardship is so fundamental that all our destinations deliberately involve very small groups of guests, with the goal of minimizing the impact on the environment.
A transparent and equitable partnership with the indigenous population who owns the land is key to the Tsimané program. The jungle is, in an absolute sense, their home: the deep connection with its waters and the wildlife drives them to become one with the environment. The development of their senses as hunters and fishermen over the millennia has been exceptional, and they generously share this combination of ancient knowledge and legendary skills with us and our guests.
Untamed Angling is based on supporting these ethnic groups and the flow of substantial benefits to them, which is why we have established an equitable and transparent relationship with the communities, their supra-communal authorities, and the national park authorities. This work model provides an equitable share of the profits (a fee per fisherman, equivalent to 50% of the net profits of the project, is given to the association of communities), as well as culturally relevant jobs for the indigenous people. Guides have a unique and valuable understanding of the relationship between fish and their environment, as well as exceptional eyesight developed through thousands of years of evolution hunting fish with a bow and arrow, maximizing the actual catch and resulting in an incredible angling experience.
We meet with our indigenous partners and national park authorities each February for an annual meeting to assess the economic results of the project, conduct a comprehensive accountability, and celebrate the success of the year.
By providing annual employment to more than 300 indigenous and 100 non-indigenous locals, our project is a means to help the natives preserve their millenary culture and tradition, while also preserving their territory. Thanks to this close collaboration, our destinations now provide more economic benefits for indigenous peoples than any other tourism project in Latin America, helping to improve the quality of life and build a sustainable future for the indigenous communities that own their territories.