Extreme adventure for the city: Financial News Supplement, 11th June 2007

ADVENTURE FIRSTS
What constitutes an adventure? Does there need to be an element of fear to get the adrenalin pumping, should physical exertion be involved or should it simply be an exciting and remarkable experience? One firm believes that it has come up with a defining characteristic of an adventure holiday: it should be unique.

Pioneer Expeditions was launched last year by Adrian Gray and Phil Beale, former head of marketing at Morley Fund Management, and is offering an itinerary of expeditions around the world that have never been attempted before and will never be repeated again. Gray says he launched Pioneer Expeditions because adventure holidays are becoming more mainstream and catering for the mass market.

A number of expeditions are in the process of being organised. A trip to the Philippines is scheduled for May 2008, where participants will attempt to be the first people to swim across the largest lake on the island of Palawan. In December, eight adventurers will sail down the Rufiji River in Tanzania in an Arab dhow. A rafting trip down a new route along the Zomandao River in Madagascar took place in April this year.

Gray says that the trips are designed for people with a thirst for adventure but who lack the time to organise a challenging holiday experience themselves. Some of the trips are more challenging than others. During an attempt in April to make the first longitudinal crossing of Liverpool Land on the Greenland ice sheet, one man fell while descending a glacier, trapped a nerve in his hip and had to be medevaced by skidoo. Not for the faint hearted.

 

Back to press