Thanks for a fantastic time out here, fingers crossed I can get back out soon!

(Africamper)

Adventure Alternatives

The Expedition, Trek, Safari and Gap company. Professional, ethical adventure holidays around the world

Adventure Alternatives

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Interview with Gavin Bate - about AA

 

Describe what you offer in about 20 words
Teaching and medical placements, treks, climbs, challenging expeditions, life skills and experience, independent travel and the flipside of life in developing countries.

What sort of people are you after ?
Really anyone, except timewasters. I'm interested in people who don't allow the word impossible into their vocabulary, people who want to live a bit.

Who are you to offer Gap Year Trips ?
I’ve lived and worked abroad for large parts  of my life, and spent all of my adult life going on expeditions. For a time I worked on scrap oil tankers, running them up beaches in India which was fun but taught me how not to run a business.  I travelled across the Sahara desert on my own and visited many different countries. I’ve seen a lot, written about it in magazines, sold my photos, and found that I got a lot out of taking other people away and organising expeditions. Now I've done my third Everest Expedition, started my own charity for street children and run my own safari company in Kenya and expedition company in Ireland. And I support and promote pro-poor tourism and I run everything within a certain style of management which is really promoting sustainable tourism in those countries. Plus I travel to all the places reglarly myself.  And it's all based on friendships. Never forget it's all about people. My adult staff now are the very same kids I took hiking when they were 15 years old ! Experience and understanding - it counts.

What is the best part ?
Coming back home and seeing that place again for the first time. Planning the next trip. Ringing a friend you've just had the best experience in your life with and smiling down the phone before you even start talking. Feeling the hair stand up on the back of your neck when you're just walking down the street and a memory hits you so suddenly, it's as if you're right back there. The street children of course. Feeling that you're actually doing something useful. Friends, loads of them. A strong stable life that comes from experiences like these, understanding yourself and having that sense of self-respect which comes from understanding your place in the world a bit better. Understanding our role in the world as intelligent people, and our duty and commitment to the world, be it environmentally, economically, culturally or socially. We have our part to play. Travel gives you that.

What might I not enjoy ?
The isolation..Diarrhoea at 3am, squatting over a long drop with no toilet paper. Being in a minority. Meeting a kid with AIDS. Boiled maize meal. Questioning yourself.

What will I remember for the rest of my life ?
The unforeseen, the unplanned, the unexpected. Seeing the flipside of a country, not being cocooned from it. Being able to travel independently, make your own choices. The street kids, the look on their face when you have to leave. Realising that you're worth something. Dawn over Everest. Making great friends.

What would I most likely take a photo of ?
The street children in the slums and  Mount Everest.

What is the biggest misconception or false expectation people have when they join you ?
That I'm just another company who views people with dreams as just 'clients'. That my only motivation is profit. That I can't remember what it's like to embark on my first trip abroad for a long time. Most people seem surprised that I want to talk for longer than two minutes on the phone. I started Adventure Alternative out of a love for travel and adventure, not because I wanted a fat salary. Don't think that just because a company advertises, that their motivations are somehow only commercial. We small companies do it because we love it !