About Wild Frontiers

Wild Frontiers has been recognised as one of the leading adventure tour companies in awards from publications including Wanderlust and The Guardian.

Our authentic, cutting-edge itineraries have won awards from National Geographic Traveler and our guides have regularly been voted amongst the world's best, with Mark Steadman winning World Guide of the Year in 2015. We are proud to have consistently been voted one of the ‘Top 10 Tour Operators’ by Wanderlust readers in 8 out of the last 10 years. ....less

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For us Responsible Travel coincides with Responsible Business, designing adventures with the local people, culture and eco-system in mind. We are very aware of the economic, ecological and ethical impact tourism can have on ancient cultures and fragile environments.

We realise that taking clients through these regions can have a detrimental impact if not handled responsibly and as such, on all of our tours we go to great lengths to minimise the negative and accentuate the positive – after all, there are also many good things that the traveller can bring!

A successful Wild Frontiers tour not only delivers a unique and unsurpassable journey for you, but it will also benefit the people whose lands we are privileged to visit. ....less

We recognise the environmental issues and challenges around single-use plastic in many countries we visit and are actively working with our partners on the ground to reduce plastic waste on our tours and within the hotels and restaurants we visit.

You can help to reduce your personal plastic waste, while always ensuring you have safe drinking water, by taking a refillable, filtered water bottle with you on your trip. Filtered water bottles can be refilled from water sources including your hotel room and restaurant taps, drinking fountains and refill stations.

Every time you refill your bottle without the use of single-use plastic, you will be helping to reduce waste and protect the environment.

Partnering with Water-to-Go
Water-to-Go is a filtration system that eliminates 99.9% of microbiological contaminants from any non-salt water source in the world and provide clean, safe water. You can read more about the technology on their website, but it's safe to say that with one of these handy bottles you can help reduce single use plastic, while keeping hydrated no matter where you are in the world.

We road-tested a number of different brands of filtered water bottles. All did a good job, but for us the Water-to-Go bottle came out on top, giving us the confidence to put our name to it and launch our own Wild Frontiers branded bottles. ....less

Communities have always been at the core of Wild Frontiers. From our early days of taking travellers to meet our friends the Kalash, a minority pagan community in the remote mountains of northern Pakistan, our ethos has remained the same - to create extraordinary travel experiences for our clients, which mutually benefit the communities we visit.

Through community tourism we have the opportunity to generate real positive impact, supporting people we visit through sustainable local development, and in turn helping to alleviate poverty, protect culture and environments in often more vulnerable destinations. While doing so, our clients gain richer travel experiences and more meaningful connections with the people they meet.

Following is a selection of inspiring community tourism initiatives you can enjoy with Wild Frontiers. ....less

TRAVEL WITH CONFIDENCE
Following consultation with the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council), local governments and our partners abroad we are now happy to introduce you to some of the measures we are putting in place for the safety and peace of mind of both our clients and local staff.

Please note that these measures are not exhaustive and will evolve over time as we monitor and adapt to local and national public health recommendations. If you have any questions or concerns at all about any particular tour or destination, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our experts.


Accommodation
All bedrooms will be thoroughly cleaned between guests with special attention being paid towards frequently touched areas such as door handles, light switches, and taps.
Where viable we will implement a break of at least 48hrs in the usage of bedrooms between guests to reduce the likelihood of cross-contamination.
All areas of common use including lifts, staircases and public restrooms will be frequently cleaned and disinfected throughout the day.
Hand sanitiser and social distancing will be in place in reception areas.
For solo travellers on our group tours who opt to share a room, we will aim to ensure that roommates remain fixed for the entire journey. Additionally, on camping trips every solo traveller will be provided with their own tent - regardless of whether they have paid a single supplement or not - as it is harder to support social distancing whilst camping.

Transport
While we encourage everyone to bring their own supply of hand sanitiser, we will also aim to provide this on board all our vehicles so that you can utilise this every time you get on and off.
All vehicles will be cleaned once a day and/or between different passengers – whichever is more frequent.
If a larger vehicle is required to meet social distancing requirements, we will seek to upgrade you at no additional cost. Additionally – and in situations where social distancing is not practical - you may also be required to wear facemasks.
All drivers and assistants will follow national policies including using PPE where required.
For groups, there will be assigned seating between daily cleans so as to minimise the risk of cross-contamination.

Guides & Tour-Leaders
All local guides are required to have up-to-date knowledge of the nearest local clinics, testing procedures and health policies in each destination.
Our guides and tour-leaders know the best time to visit sites to avoid congestion and can suggest restaurants that are practicing the highest level of hygiene and social distancing.
All our on-ground personnel are supported 24/7 not only by our local partners in each country but also by our highly experienced teams in the UK and US. With over 100 years of experience between us, we are well-equipped to handle any situation.
All our tour-leaders are first-aid trained and carry the relevant equipment to assist you quickly where needed.

Meals
All our clients (both group and tailormade) will use smaller tables and be socially distanced from other diners wherever possible.
Sharing platters – both a cultural necessity and highlight in many destinations - will still be viable but will include personal serving cutlery for each client.
Any shared objects including sauces and condiments will be cleaned between each group use and single servings, despite being less environmentally sound, will be provided where possible.

Group Size
Our group tours remain amongst the smallest available with a maximum of 12 and an average of 9 on most of our departures. Having a smaller group size helps us more easily achieve the social distancing that is now part of the norm for most countries.

Our Joint Responsibility
We cannot ensure your safety alone and we will need everyone who travels with us to take an equal share of responsibility in following guidelines and taking whatever precautions they can to help us keep you and any fellow travellers safe.

Anyone (including clients, tour-leaders, guides and drivers) who exhibits possible symptoms of coronavirus will be required to get themselves tested – with our full assistance, of course, if needed - at the earliest possible opportunity and to self-isolate until results are received. In the unfortunate instance of a positive result we will provide all and any assistance we can and ensure that everyone who may have come into contact with the affected party within the previous 14 days is notified as soon as possible as part of globally recognised track and trace schemes.



Thanking you in advance for supporting us in introducing these important measures to helps us make travel both fun and safe again! ....less

The Wild Frontiers Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Wild Frontiers. Set up in 2009, the aim of our foundation is to provide a platform to create awareness, raise money and deliver funding to projects in countries where we operate as a travel company.

Supporting communities we visit has always been at the heart of the Wild Frontiers' ethos. Through the Wild Frontiers Foundation, we are able to channel money into grass roots projects, which we have either established ourselves or support through charity partners. These include initiatives focused around education, the empowerment of local people and community conservation.

While we run campaigns and fundraisers throughout the year, to further support our work a £10 donation is made to the foundation on behalf of every client that travels with Wild Frontiers.

With management and administration costs covered by Wild Frontiers, 100% of all funds raised go to the projects we support. ....less

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In 1996 travel writer Jonny Bealby set out across India and the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province to follow in the footsteps of his two heroes from English literature, Peachy Carnehan and Daniel Dravot, from Kipling's classic tale, The Man Who Would Be King.

Travelling on foot, on an often gruelling and dangerous journey, he became captivated by a land of harsh natural beauty, political intrigues and a diverse and fascinating population.

And when he finally emerged from Afghanistan back into Pakistan and the valleys of the Kalash – the last of the pagan tribes to inhabit the Hindu Kush – he was so taken with these warm and welcoming people that he put down his bags and stayed for three months.

What also amazed Jonny was the near total lack of tourism to what was a relatively accessible region. So, having written his second book, For A Pagan Song, in India, about this journey, the following year he returned to Northern Pakistan and swapped his travel-writing hat for that of a tour operator.

Seeking advice from the Kalash themselves, as well as other ethnic groups along his chosen route, Jonny created the first of his itineraries (The Hindu Kush Adventure) and in 1998 led his first group... and so Wild Frontiers was born.

Running WF as a tiny sole trader business – from a back loo at his parent’s home – Jonny advertised for groups and between 1998 and early autumn 2001 took a growing number of ever-appreciative clients to what had become a second home.

On 11th September 2001, Jonny was actually with a group high in the Hindu Kush and, as isolated as they were, they didn’t hear about the cataclysmic events in New York until the 14th September. When they walked into a hotel in Chitral, and saw a newspaper with the headline ‘Doomsday for the USA’ Jonny slumped in a chair and pondered darkly, ‘Doomsday for Wild Frontiers more like!’. As things transpired Jonny could not have been more wrong. Ironically, far from being the end of Wild Frontiers, this was really the beginning. ....less

As an ethical travel company, we have a responsibility to the countries, communities and environments we visit. With this responsibility comes the opportunity to make a genuine difference.

In this time of climate crisis, with pressure on all sectors of the travel industry to look at its practices and help reduce carbon emissions, it has never been more important for us here at Wild Frontiers to re-assess our own responsible travel policies, measure our own footprint and step up our commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

At Wild Frontiers we automatically off-set our clients’ international flights, when booked through us, for 15 years. We were among the first UK-based tour operator to implement this type of initiative in 2005.

In early 2020 we took a more encompassing approach and began focusing on how to reduce our carbon footprint, both operationally in the UK and on the ground in the destinations to which we travel.

With the Coronavirus pandemic bringing travel to a standstill for 18 months, we used the time to assess our processes, talk to potential partners and start to put a more robust carbon reduction management plan in place.

Like many, our traditional working practices have now changed. Downsizing office space and adopting remote and hybrid working has helped to reduce our operational carbon footprint – removing, in some cases quite long staff commutes, and reducing office waste and energy. These are areas we will keep working on, both within the office and now with staff in their home offices.

Continuing to move forward, a major focus of our Climate Action Plan is looking at how to reduce carbon emissions on our group tours and tailor-made holidays. This includes reviewing our product and practices, and working with destination partners to actively implement change, where possible, across areas including transport, accommodation, and food waste.


Signatory - Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
Committing to this process, we became a launch partner of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. As a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration, which was launched at COP26, Wild Frontiers commits to deliver plans aligned with its pathways to cut tourism emissions in half over the next decade and reach Net Zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050. Through measuring, reducing and mitigating our carbon emissions, we know we have much to do.


Climate Projects & Tree Planting
As a part of our plan, we have partnered with environmental social enterprise, Ecologi, to plant trees and fund carbon reduction projects on behalf of all clients that travel with us. Through our partnership, we will contribute to renewable energy projects in destinations we visit to help offset the carbon emissions created by all of our group tours and tailor-made trips, as well as plant ten trees per person that we take on holiday. ....less