About Us
Learn more about our story, our team, our commitment to sustainable tourism and answers to our most frequently asked questions.
ABOUT
Pure Baja Travels
Pure Baja Travels LLC is a family-owned business and our team brings more than 30 years of knowledge and experience while running and guiding trips in the Baja California Peninsula so you know you will have an amazing experience!
We lead whale watching trips with an emphasis in gray whales (future trips for different species in the making, stay tuned).
The Baja California Peninsula is an amazing place but, San Ignacio Lagoon will conquer your heart.
The Land, the people, the wildlife… but especially the friendly gray whales.
Come meet them, we’re waiting for you!
About José
José Sanchez, Owner and Operator
Being a native to Quintana Roo in the Yucatán Peninsula, it was natural for our family outings to involve camping, fishing, and snorkeling. Even my 84-year-old grandmother would come with us. We all absolutely love the outdoors.
In 1985 I moved to Baja to study marine biology at the best school in Latin America, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS). After graduating, I joined a marine mammal program with the School for Field Studies where I fell in love with outdoor education. Although I didn’t know it at the time, that experience would define the rest of my life. Thank you, School for Field Studies!
In a very organic way, I became a nature guide and started leading ecotourism trips in 1993. Who knew? I could share Mexico’s flora, fauna, and the outdoors at the same time. A dream come true!
Later, I was invited to take part in a nature guide training program by the RARE Center for Tropical Conservation in Baja. They gave me the opportunity to share my love for the peninsula with local guides, in the process, making lifelong friendships. Many of the participants completely stopped fishing to become guides and community leaders. Bravo RARE Center!!
The past few years I have guided kayaking trips in Lake Superior and led trips in Baja, while raising a family. My beautiful wife, Elizabeth, and our son, Esteban, have shared this crazy guide life with me for many years. Although not being born in Baja, they feel the same love I have for this wonderful land.
Still have questions?
Feel free to contact us any time!
Sustainability
Pure Baja Travels strives to provide a sustainable travel, supporting a Nature Positive and Rewildering experience. Our initiatives help protect the biosphere and offset our environmental footprint. Our camp is set up for a two-month season and then entirely dismantled and removed from the site, the desert becomes a desert again. In order to support the Rewildering in our location, we use composting toilets.
In our camp operation, our excess food is donated for human consumption and the food scraps are taken to feed pigs in the community. Our energy is generated via solar panels and it runs our appliances, charging station and lights. We hire camp staff with members of the local community whenever possible.
As part of our commitment to sustainable travel and to help mitigate our carbon footprint, we are participating in a mangrove project with a local NGO that are planting red mangroves to help reforest the shoreline.
By practicing sustainable and nature positive travel, we help ensure that the wellbeing of the local community and preservation of the natural environment will be viable for the future.
We are members of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. Which means we adhere to their criteria for effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
