An Audley Traveller meets the girl she sponsors in Guatemala

Meeting sponsored child

After eight years, and many exchanges of letters and drawings, there came an opportunity to meet. And for one Audley traveller it was an opportunity too good to miss; an opportunity that crossed cultures and brought people together. An opportunity that now will always be recalled as a ‘cherished day’.

Mrs Sheena Walker-Roberts has been sponsoring a girl in Guatemala through international children’s charity Plan since 2001.  Guatemala is a beautiful country with a vibrant ethnic Mayan culture.  However, it is still recovering from the throes of a long civil war and discrimination against the indigenous population is rife.  Plan has been working to tackle the inequality and poverty faced by Guatemala’s poor since 1979, and when Sheena decided to holiday there with Audley she seized the opportunity to find out just what that work entailed. What followed is a remarkable and emotional journey into a rural and isolated community and an extraordinary coming together of cultures and people. Continue reading »

Generous Audley clients help children in Namibia & Botswana

School children with their new books

Clients who recently returned from Botswana and Namibia have very generously donated the refund from their cancelled hot-air balloon trip to two very worthy causes. A donation of this kind really makes a difference!

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World Land Trust Save Animal Corridor in Borneo

One of the charities Audley are supporting in Southeast Asia, the World Land Trust has been campaigning to save enough money to buy a tract of land in Borneo that is a very important wildlife corridor. Sid checked back with them in January and had some very positive feedback.

Since July 2008, World Land Trust have raised £331,379.14 which has enabled them to make a down payment on the initial tract of forest that they wanted to save in the Kinabatangan River area, ensuring that it is not sold as a palm oil concession and therefore preserving all the flora & fauna found there and ensuring free movement of migrating animals.

As a consequence, the World Land Trust will continue to raise money for new critical wildlife corridors that the LEAP Conservancy are identifying at the moment. Audley will continue to support this charity through 2009.

Audley supports New Zealand Sealion Trust

The New Zealand Sea Lion (formerly known as Hooker’s Sea Lion) has only recently returned to breed on the mainland after an absence of 200 years.

The New Zealand Sea Lion Trust was formed to support research on, and public education about, this native treasure that has chosen to return to New Zealand’s mainland shores.

The charity has just completed a schools’ education programme in association with the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre at Otago University, and is hoping to have a sea lion education road show in 2009.

In the meantime research into the movement, foraging behaviour and diet of these unique, charismatic marine mammals continues. Much of this work is undertaken on a voluntary basis by two scientists on the board of trustees, Shaun McConkey and Simon Childerhouse, assisted by a team of enthusiastic undergraduate scientists and volunteers.

An overview of the Trust, its goals and current projects, can be found on the Sealion Trust website.

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 »

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.

Currency collection raises £400 for Friends of Conservation

Over the last year or so we have been collecting leftover currency from our clients when they come back from their trips. These small amounts have slowly added up over the year and a few weeks ago we took a very heavy bag of currency up to London and gave a vast assortment of notes and coins to Amanda from Friends of Conservation. Over the next week or so volunteers counted the currency and sent it to Travelex who converted it into sterling. The final count is in and approximately £400 was raised which will go to support one of the many projects that Friends of Conservation are undertaking in Africa and around the globe.
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Elephant and Rhino adoption

The Audley Africa Safari team sponsors a baby elephant ‘Shimba’ who lost her mother to natural causes when she was six weeks old; and a baby rhino ‘Maxwell’ who was found abandoned when he was just one. Our sponsorship helps the trust to nurture the orphans, pay for the keepers and pay for the upkeep of all the orphans. We also encourage lots of our clients to visit the elephant orphanage when they are transiting through or staying in Nairobi.

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Audley Travel history lesson

A recent article in the Sunday Times has outlined the history of Audley Travel from its humble beginnings. Inspired by a post-university trip around the world, Craig Burkinshaw set out to take others to the places he had visited in Vietnam. Initially offering himself as a guide for free as long as his companions paid for his travel, Craig soon realised that he might be able to make a business out of his passion.

Craig went into business with John Brewer, his housemate, who was able to invest in the business and help Audley get off the ground. The main emphasis was to set up tailor-made trips for people who did not want to go on group tours. Audley Travel grew slowly from its tiny beginnings and as its reputation was built from scratch it gradually became the company it is today. 

Audley now employs over 200 people and is ranked amongst the top 100 small companies to work for. This year Audley was also awarded the Wanderlust Best Tour Operator Award. 

Read How I Made It: Craig Burkinshaw, Founder of Audley Travel

Read more about the History of Audley Travel