Since 1982, Above the Clouds has taken small groups of travelers to a few carefully chosen places where the modern adventure traveler can still connect with a pristine landscape and its indigenous population in an intimate, slow-paced manner. We rarely encounter other travelers during most of our trips, and commonly spend time in the homes of the people we meet along the away.  ATC contributes generously within our means to non-profits in the host country that are doing valuable work protecting the natural environment or strengthening the social fabric and health of the local communities.  Most of our guides, and all of our staff, are recruited locally, enabling you, the traveler, to connect on a more intimate level with the host communities and to understand the intricate relationships between them and their very natural environment.  Indeed, it is impossible, in our view, to understand any people without understanding in some detail the natural environment in which they live, and how the two impact and shape each other.  This theme is the thread that runs through virtually all of our trips.