Meet the latest member of the New Zealand team!
Felicity Goldsmith May 6th, 2008
The New Zealand team has grown considerably since we started out in 2004, and recently we decided to sponsor our own kiwi chick, Ra, who lives at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua, New Zealand. Rainbow Springs Nature Park is a tourist attraction committed to the conservation of native New Zealand plants and birds, and the development of sustainable tourism within the region. A major part of its efforts are in kiwi conservation, and the birth of ‘Kiwi Encounter’ means visitors can now see their work in action. Chicks such as Ra are incubated and hatched at Rainbow Springs, and raised until they are 1kg in weight. They are then released back into the wild by the Department of Conservation.
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.
My experience of having BBQ’s in the UK is always tainted by the fact that each time I organise one in advance, it usually ends up raining on the day. I set the date, invite my friends, get in all the food and beers and invariably wake up on the “Big Day” to heavy rain clouds and the prospect of entertaining 30 people inside, cooking unfeasibly large volumes of food in my tiny kitchen. There are notable exceptions of course, but they are definitely in the minority!
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.
We appear to use tonnes of paper in our brochures and other printed material, however, as a company we are actually very paper efficient. Our brochures are produced in very low volumes and have a long ’shelf life’ because they don’t contain departure dates or prices. We have found that we are printing less brochures per region than we were five years ago.
Over the Easter weekend I went down to London to catch up with some friends. Since I love all things Japanese I had persuaded them to come with me to watch a performance by the Yamato drummers of Japan, who are currently touring the UK.
