SOMOTO CANYON TOURS

Rural Sustainable Community Tourism

 

SCT means more than Somoto Canyon Tours to us. It is the fundamental motivational theme behind our operation: Sustainable Community Tourism.

 

With the particular aim of working with a group of young people in the local communities surrounding the canyon we set about the training and development of local guides to provide them with regular employment above and beyond the subsistence farming many rely on to support their families.

 

Since 2008 we have focused on servicing the needs of visitors with English classes, workshops on everything from body language to zero risk tolerance, and encouraging a team spirit. We are proud of the bounteous gift that nature has provided for us and are determined to safeguard and protect it for the current and for future generations.

 

We have built cabins with the help of micro-finance to host visitors, and are in the process of supplying them with solar power to be self-sufficient. We have also developed a menu which provides a variety of meals, expertly cooked.

 

Led by our coordinator, Henry Soriano, we have helped support several community endeavours, often in collaboration with NGOs, social enterprises, or other private foundations. The future looks bright and we hope you will contribute to its success. Every single visit to the canyon provides finance for the community fund. The momentum of little steps works. Onwards! 

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From the opportunities created in 2004 when the canyon was "discovered" and 2006 when the Nicaraguan Government made it a National Monument and Protected Area a group of locals created an independent informal association of guides to ensure that the small communities surrounding Somoto Canyon would benefit. From these beginnings Somoto Canyon Tours started in 2008 to develop an enterprise to assist those who live within a few kilometres of this unique geosite.