Sustainability

Goes hand in hand with respect and responsibility. It is indeed an amazing privilege to move and camp so freely in the outdoors. It’s the uniquely Swedish practice of ”the right to public access” that makes this possible. All the islands (or forests and fells for our winter tours) are either privately owned or protected nature reserves, and being a guest here means being respectful towards land, wildlife and people.

It goes beyond not littering for example, instead we take collective responsibility and pick up anything we see even if it’s not ours. Not disturbing birdlife and moving away if they seem alarmed is another one. We minimise the long-lasting impact of our tours on specific spots by covering expansive areas, running flexible tours and only doing small groups.

We also feel, as a business utilising the right of public access, that it’s our duty to go above and beyond. An example is the landowners’ concerns about forest fires. Even if there is no fire ban in place, we follow their wishes and don’t allow any fires during the driest month, July and August. In June and September we allow fires in pop-up grills only, never directly on the ground.

Our operation uses a lot of gear! And that gear gotta be cleaned and maintained. At our base, we recycle all our waste and have our own hot compost for organic materials. We use zero chemical products for cleaning equipment. Of course, we buy electricity from wind and solar only.

An important part of gear sustainability is using high quality equipment that can handle the wear and tear of busy seasons. And if something does break, we want to be able to switch out one piece or repair, instead of discarding and buying new. We choose high quality Swedish brands with an ethos similar to ours, for example Hilleberg tents, Haglöfs sleeping bags, Trangia cookers and Houdini staff clothing.

There is also a great second hand market for our high quality equipment. We want to keep our stuff at peak quality and we do replace items before they’re at the end of their rope. A kayak that we feel have had too many repairs, or a tent that’s too sun-bleached, is still very much usable for private consumers.

Outside the summer season, Saint Anna is a quiet community with around 800 permanent residents who live year-round on the islands or by the coast. We give our guests detailed information about the nature, history and culture of the area, especially as many of our trips are self-guided. We make sure that even without a guide, our guests will treat the environment and locals with the utmost respect.

Tourism is crucial to the local economy, and all services and establishments are small family-owned businesses. Our goal is to contribute to our rural economy as much as we possibly can.  We provide a comprehensive guidebook that includes useful details about locations, opening hours and services offered, allowing our guests to make a substantial contribution to a number of local companies.

We also strongly encourage visits and donations to the two projects in the area for historical preservation, the Archipelago Museum at Tyrislöt and the Harstena Museum.

We know it, you know it – it’s getting to your destination. It makes us very happy to see that more and more of our guests are opting for other ways to reach us than air travel. It's a difficult one to get around, but we at least try by:

• Making alternatives to air travel as easy as possible by giving helpful info and links.
• Only offering longer trips. If you’re traveling anyways, better to make the most out of one location.
• Avoiding long-haul flights, we don’t actively market our tours to faraway guests.