About

TourTheTropics was founded from a passion for tourism that benefits conservation, a love of biodiversity, and a desire to share the best tours on Earth for the tropical realm. The tropics contain the highest amount of life on Earth, but this is also the most threatened area from habitat loss and over-harvesting. The tropics will benefit the most from sustainable tourism.

What we do

Our tours are run by hand-picked tour operators across the tropical realm that provide security, comfort, and consistent guest satisfaction. We hand-pick tours that demonstrate a sustainable approach to tourism. We then provide you with a direct connection to the best tours on Earth for booking, payment, and confirmation that show off the tropics in all their glory.

You have direct contact to the people who run the tour e.g. from the tourism company who own and run the cruises, own and run the lodges, or who hire your guides. For community tourism that lacks a connection to the global market, you will have a connection to the local tour operator who works closely with these projects. They are generally the co-founders or co-managers of the project. We will introduce you to your sales representative after your inquiry. Go TourTheTropics.

About our founder

Founded by Ash Card, Ash has had a love of travel, nature and exploration since childhood. After reading about wildlife protection, he learned the importance of tourism for conservation.

Ash has completed a BSc in Biology, a Master’s degree in Zoology, and has undertaken a research scholarship at a world-class university on animal behavior. He has published scientific research in the Australian Journal of Zoology and the Journal of Behavioral Ecology. His goal is to help a global society live in balance with the natural world.

From reading and first-hand experience, Ash believes that destroying the world’s biodiversity hotspots for wood or to make way for agriculture, instead of simply showing them off to tourists, is like destroying the goose that lays the golden egg. By making sure you get the best experience from the tropics, we help strengthen the voice for tropical conservation. And you help spread the wonder of the tropics to friends and family.

Photography

The photos for the articles are mainly from tours featured on this site. The photos are taken by rainforest guides and others are donated or sourced from various photographers. One of the photographers featuring his work on our rainforest articles is Björn. Through our work with Björn, he now has a permanent feature in the Manchester Museum of Natural History.

Björn Adolfsson: Björn lives in Sweden and travels several times each year. He has a love of travel and nature, and his main passion is taking photographs of endangered animals and plants. If you would like to contact Björn about his photography, see his full gallery, or purchase photos, you can send him a message straight to TourTheTropics or find Björn on Facebook.

Photography

Fred LePiere: Fred lives in Florida, USA, and is a professional photographer with an interest in shooting weddings, engagements, portraits and other events. Fred is available to travel anywhere for a project. Image making is practiced in a combination of traditional and photojournalistic styles and to meet the demands of the client, the event and the moment, Fred varies styles but leans heavily on the photojournalism side. When not covering weddings and other assignments, Fred finds time to shoot a variety of personal projects in a smorgasbord of styles, some of which can be viewed on Fred’s flickr page.

Photography

Alfredo Dosantos Santillán: Alfredo graduated from the National University (UNAP) with a degree in biological sciences in 2002. After this, Alfredo worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society publishing 7 scientific papers and attending many scientific conventions. Alfredo enjoys taking photographs of animals and plants with a special interest in conservation.

Photography

Mike Cargal: Mike is a Software Engineer / Enterprise Architect and enjoys running, cycling, travel, and photography (particularly wildlife photography). For vacations, Mike enjoys getting as far as he can from “civilization” where he can indulge his photography interests. Over the past few years, Mike has found wildlife photography to be a great mix of getting out in the wild, being highly technical and challenging.