Travel insights from Latin America
Author Bernie Coote | Published on September 23, 2026
As a sustainability-focused travel company, we like to think we’re doing pretty well at creating positive impact on the ground. But there’s a big flying elephant in the room, and it’s time we talked about it.
In this post, we take an easy-to-understand look at the impact of flying, what Kagumu Adventures is doing to reduce flight emissions, and two inspiring companies, Bumprints and BookBetter, that are helping us work through it.
How Sustainable Is Kagumu on the Ground?
We believe we are pretty sustainable, even if we do say so ourselves! Here’s what that looks like:
- Projects that matter: Every itinerary includes collaborations with local environmental and social projects that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Measured carbon footprints: We work with third-party experts to calculate the carbon footprint of each itinerary, and we publish it on our website.
- Clear sustainability policies: Locally sourced food, public transport, locally owned businesses and low-emissions activities.
- Travelife certified: We went through a rigorous process to earn our Travelife certification.
Tick, tick, tick, tick… but there’s still the big flying elephant in the room: air travel.
The Flying Elephant: Why Air Travel Dominates a Trip’s Carbon Footprint
We can’t pretend that all of the above (and plenty more we haven’t listed) outweighs, or even balances, the impact of air travel, particularly over long distances. Here are a couple of stark facts:
- Aviation accounts for roughly 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider the fact that only an estimated 5% of the world’s population has flown, that figure becomes a lot more significant!
- As well as CO2 emissions, other non-carbon effects like contrails (the white trails behind a plane) need to be taken into account, and often are not included in calculations. But contrails can create a blanket-like layer across the sky that can trap heat and almost double the warming impact.
- Flights over 4,000km (that’s the distance of a one-way trip between New York and Bogota, Colombia) make up only around 6% of flights, yet produce about half of aviation’s CO2e. So, when considering studies that highlight a maximum of 4% of the world’s population took an international flight in a given year, those figures stack up.
For a company like Kagumu, this means we can be as sustainable as we like on the ground, but it will be dwarfed by the emissions created in bringing groups from across the world to experience the magic of Latin America.
Getting to the Galapagos Islands
Who wouldn’t want to visit one of the most unique places on this planet?! The stunning Galapagos Islands offer incredible wildlife, fascinating ecosystems, and the opportunity to become a modern-day Charles Darwin. A nine-day Kagumu itinerary has an approximate 90kg carbon footprint per person.
But the Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000km off the mainland coast of Ecuador, so getting to them can be tricky, and finding a direct flight is almost impossible! In fact, many groups have to take as many as four! So, what does that look like as a carbon footprint?
This time, travelling from the West Coast of the USA, San Francisco, via Mexico City, Bogotá, Colombia, and Guayaquil in Ecuador before finally making it to the Galapagos racks up an impressive 16,668km return journey and 2,477kg of CO2!
| 9 days on the ground | Return flight (SFO-Mex-Bogotá–Guay- Gal) | |
| CO2e | 90kg | 1361kg |
| Equivalent in chicken (1.82kg per 100g serving) |
4.9kg | 6,193 |
| Equivalent in cups of coffee (0.4kg per cup) |
225 | 16,236 |
| Equivalent in driving a Nissan (0.99kg per 10km) |
909km | 25,020km |
Or, let’s take one of our most popular trips…
Machu Picchu: A Tiny Footprint on the Ground, a Big One in the Sky
Visiting the majestic Machu Picchu in Peru. On the ground, it has an impressively small carbon footprint: roughly 8kg of CO2e per day for a meat eater, or 72kg for a typical nine-day trip. It’s really not very much!
But add a return flight from JFK airport in New York to Cusco in Peru, with a layover in Bogotá, Colombia, – that’s a total of 12,077km- and the picture changes dramatically:
| 9 days on the ground | Return flight (JFK–Bogotá–Cusco) | |
| CO2e | 72kg | 1,786kg |
| Equivalent in eggs (0.53kg per 2 eggs) |
272 | 6,740 |
| Equivalent in bananas (0.11kg per banana) |
655 | 16,236 |
| Equivalent in driving a Toyota Corolla (1.97kg per 10km) |
215km | 5331km |
In other words, the flight is almost 25 times the footprint of the entire trip.
What Kagumu Is Doing to Reduce Flight Emissions
Our bread and butter is bringing educational groups to visit the amazing countries of Latin America. So, until someone invents a way to teleport students halfway across the world, we have to do the best we can. Here’s what that looks like.
Recognising the Problem
First, we’re acknowledging it. If we pretended this wasn’t an issue, we wouldn’t be a truly transparent sustainable travel company, and that’s not our ethos.
Reducing Flights Where We Can
We encourage our staff and guides to use land travel wherever possible when working for Kagumu, and to fly only when absolutely necessary, including incentives like an extra paid day of work – that’s not to be sniffed at! We’ve also taken a big step: no internal flights in any of our newly designed itineraries.
Talking Openly About Flying With Our Clients
We’re starting by understanding the motivations behind flying, for individuals and for groups, and then thinking creatively about how to support people in choosing lower-emissions flights. And that’s where the best part comes in.
Working With Experts Who Know More Than We Do
We’re not experts in aviation, so we’ve teamed up with people who are…
Meet Two Brilliant Businesses: Bumprints and BookBetter
Bumprints and BookBetter are two businesses entirely focused on reducing the impact of travel while celebrating the beauty of visiting new places.
Bumprints: Making Better Flying Choices Easy
Bumprints founder Katie Thompson knows more than most about the joys and the problems of flying, as a former pilot herself. But once she noticed the problem, rather than closing her eyes and continuing on the journey, she changed tack. She created Bumprints, a fun and creative educational resource and charity that helps people make better choices when it comes to flying.
With Bumprints you can:
- Work out your own Bumprint, the charity’s official term for the total climate impact of sitting in an aeroplane seat.
- Understand which flights are better and why. Did you know that travelling at night can have a greater environmental impact?
- Discover small acts that still make a difference, like pre-ordering your meal and taking the heavy boots out of your suitcase.
Bumprints recently ran a webinar with Travel by B Corp, and will be talking about some of Kagumu’s very own initiatives. Come along and join in!
BookBetter: Booking Lower-Emission Flights With Real Impact
BookBetter is a platform that helps individuals, groups, and businesses make more sustainable choices when booking their next trip.
They look at Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF – a renewable alternative to conventional jet fuel, made from sustainable sources like waste oils, agricultural residues, and even captured CO2), alternative, more efficient travel routes, and emissions beyond CO2.
They also recognise that for many people, sustainability isn’t the only factor when booking travel. So here’s what else they offer:
- No price premium. Fares are competitive with other search engines and agents, so booking with BookBetter doesn’t cost your group anything extra, apart from the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) you choose to include.
- Real climate action, not just symbolic. Whatever SAF percentage is set as the default on your booking link is actually purchased and blended into the fuel supply, helping to change the aviation industry, rather than offsetting on paper or planting trees.
- An impact report you can use. After booking, you can receive a short report on the emissions and SAF impact of your group’s flights, which is useful for a school’s own sustainability communications or accreditation.
- Personal support. Smaller groups (under nine passengers) can book through the self-service platform, but if anything doesn’t go smoothly, you can contact the team directly or book a short call, so a real person is backing up the new platform.
The Flying Elephant Isn’t Going Anywhere, But We’re Making It Smaller
So there we have it. The Flying Elephant isn’t disappearing overnight, but we’re doing our best to make it a bit smaller, and we’d love your help.
Join the Bumprints webinar, explore BookBetter for your next group booking, or get in touch with our team to talk about a lower-impact trip to Latin America.
