World Expeditions highlights women’s achievements in adventure travel
In support of International Women’s Day, adventure travel specialist World Expeditions is recognizing the achievements of incredible female adventurers who are making a difference. From the office to the mountain, from the local guide to the world traveller, World Expeditions is honored to showcase a range of inspiring and adventurous female spirits.
World Expeditions CEO, Sue Badyari, began travelling at 14 with her first trip to Nepal. Since joining the team in Sydney, Australia in 1986, she has seen adventure travel go from a niche market to the highly coveted experience it is today. Travelling extensively in the field, Sue’s main priority is to develop tourism that is responsible and sustainable for the local community and, as core to her philosophy, she strongly advocates taking a conservational approach to all the company’s activities.
On the ground in Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro guide, Angela started her adventures with World Expeditions in 2012 as a porter and achieved her guide license the same year. Completing the regular National Park course, she also succeeded in first aid training and other guided skills training.
“I actively encourage other women to break into this male dominated work on Kilimanjaro as it allows them to earn a good living in an enjoyable way,” said Angela in an interview about being a female guide. “Now we have two female guides, one female cook and around 40 female porters in the mountain crew.” Her full interview is featured on the World Expeditions blog, http://bit.ly/2mEZaZY.
And it was two women, Ann Price from Ohio, USA and Carmelina Maione from Ontario, Canada, who were World Expeditions’ first and only travellers from North America to complete Nepal’s Great Himalayan Trail. The traverse, which is the world’s longest and highest alpine walking track, spans 1700km/1050miles and takes 152 days to complete.
“Strength is my primary motivator,” said Ms. Maione before starting the journey. “I want to experience my strength, challenge what I believe it is limited by, whether it be fear, fatigue or self-doubt, and expose myself to and learn from the strength of others in order to grow.”
More on the Great Himalaya Trail can be found on its blog, www.trekthegreathimalayatrail.com/.
Acknowledging the inspiration in these stories and the growing number of women seeking adventure travel opportunities, World Expeditions recently developed a collection of trip offerings exclusively for women. Called Women’s Adventures, the specially organized itineraries provide an encouraging and supportive environment for women to experience the world’s most exciting, natural destinations.
With departures throughout the year, Women’s Adventures guarantee an all-female group and, wherever possible, a female local leader on 20 of the tour operator’s most popular trips. Destinations include; Nepal, Canada, China, Peru, Tanzania, Vietnam, Spain, Tasmania, Australia, Papua New Guinea, France, Switzerland and Italy, representing some of the best itineraries the company has to offer. For detailed information and bookings, visit www.worldexpeditions.com.