Charity trek over the mountains to Petra

Setting off on the trek

As with any good trek it started with lunch under an acacia tree. We then set off over the desert towards the mountains in the distance. The heat was punishing, but in two and a half hours we had reached our first night’s camp. Green and red tents were spread out along the edge of a steep drop down to the wadi (dried river bed) below. A large black bedouin tent formed the centre of the camp and we were greeted with a big kettle of tea.

The second day started early and we left camp by 7am, climbing up the side of the mountain to the col at the top. The path rose steeply and before we knew it we were able to look back over the expanse that we had crossed the day before. We reached the top around 11am, and ate an early lunch looking down over a very different landscape on the other side of that first range. Continue reading »

Honeymoon feature launched

Well, it’s taken a while but we have finally added the honeymoon feature to the website!

Designed to offer a wide range of honeymoon suggestions, the feature includes ideas by budget, type and season, as well as information on our top 10 honeymoon destinations. It also includes a section on the Honeymoon Gift Service to explain how this works.

Visit our Honeymoon section for lots of Honeymoon Ideas.

Green Season offers in Africa

We have just released two excellent offers for Green Season in Tanzania and Zanzibar, or Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, with savings of up to £600 per person. Running from December until mid-March in Tanzania and between mid-November and April in Botswana, Green Season is a spectacular time in Africa when everything is bursting with life and colour, and wildlife viewing is spectacular.

Dates of travel for Botswana are between 1st December 2008 and 31st March 2009, and between 1st January 2009 and 31st March 2009 for Tanzania.

Click here to view full details of these amazing offers.

Brahmaputra River cruise special offer

We have just released a special offer on a relaxing Indian cruise on the Brahmaputra River in December 2008.

An excellent way to explore northeast India with the opportunity to visit the Kaziranga National Park, the cruise will take place aboard The Sukapha, a 38 metre long passenger boat.

This offer includes up to a 20% saving on the usual price of this trip.

Click here for full details of this excellent offer.

Audley wins Best Small Tour Operator 2008

Loic Robertson receiving the award for Best Tour Operator 2008 from Mariella Frostrup and Isabel Choat of the Guardian.

On Saturday 11th October 2008 Audley’s E-commerce manager, Loic Robertson, joined other travel industry faces in Fez, Morocco, for the Guardian and the Observer Travel Awards 2008. After coming runner up in the Best Tour Operator category last year (and winners the year before), hopes were high that this year we would return to the top spot – and we weren’t disappointed!

Having decided to split the Best Tour Operator category into Best Small Tour Operator and Best Large Tour Operator we were delighted to discover we had been awarded Best Small Tour Operator 2008.

Suffice to say everyone at Audley is thrilled with the award and we all hope to have the same success next year!

Trekking to Petra for charity

This saturday Audley’s second charity trek starts in Jordan. Setting out from Wadi Feynan we will be walking for 5 days towards our final destination of Petra. During the day the group will hike across the terrain, rising from the low-lying Feynan through the southern mountains towards Petra, until 80km is negotiated and the group reaches the Red Rose City.

The trek is raising money for two charities: Friends of Conservation and the Al-Husein society fo the Habilitation/Rehabilitation of the Physically Challenged. Friends of Conservation is a charity that Audley have been working with for many years, and we offset all our staff flights through the charity. FOC is a conservation charity working internationally. We are particularly working with them currently on a bio-gas project in the Masai Mara. This project will create methane cooking gas from manure and water to eliminate the need for local women to collect firewood from the surrounding area, in a region where predators are plentiful.

The other charity is the Al-Husseine Society. This Jordanian charity work with physically handicapped children and adults. Their work includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, othotics and they also have an early intervention programme which enables them to work with young children to prevent their disabilities from worsening.

Audley supports Costa Rica community project

Audley have just started a scheme in Costa Rica to support an indigenous community called “Boruca” located in the county of Buenos Aires in the Puntarenas Province. Around 50 women from the community make hand-woven items such as bags which we buy from them. The money goes directly back into the community and pays for the production and transportation of the items from their village to Buenos Aires city and onwards by bus. The women share the remainder of the money between them.

Upon arrival in Costa Rica Audley clients will receive one of the handmade items from the community along with a bit of background information about them.

Audley launches new North Africa & Arabia brochure

On Monday 29th September, Audley launched its new updated North Africa and Arabia brochure.

A launch party was held at our New Mill offices, a 17th-century converted woollen mill on the outskirts of Witney, and was attended by staff from all departments.

The North Africa and Arabia team baked various cakes and biscuits, which were then sold to staff, along with raffle tickets. In the end they raised £500 which went towards their charity of choice, the Hannan School in Morocco.

New Libya & Iran Group Tours for 2009

About our Group Tours
Our small group tours are different to our tailor-made holidays. Travel is in small groups with the services of a guide throughout the trip. We try to make our Group Tours different from other tour companies by the following:

• deliberately low numbers, usually about 16, as this makes for a far more personal experience
• the use of more characterful accommodation whenever possible
• maintaining the tranquillity of the places we visit
• our unwavering commitment to Responsible Travel
• the ability to speak directly with the specialist who has planned the tour.

View our Classic Libya tour.

View our Passage Through Persia tour.