The adventure tourism industry, whether it be rafting, sea kayaking, hiking, trail riding on horses, or many other pursuits, has often been a labour of love for many guides, and company owners, rather than a great way to make wads of cash. Consequently owners and senior staff often spend the off season at home, not being able to afford to travel themselves, or alternatively have travelled with minimal funds more backpacking than anything else.
Now consider this. What if you could swap an adventure experience with someone else at another company, maybe even in another part of the world. How cool would that be? Not only would you get to see new places, and do new things, but also meet and make friends with other people with the same passions as you.
And what would it cost you? Nothing but your travel.
So that is the dream behind Adventure Travel Swap. A forum where you can list what you have to swap, and find those unique experiences that you wish to do, while at the same time meeting lots of new folks with the same passions as you.
So that is the idea, but it could take a bit of time for me to work through all the details. Any feedback appreciated, both on site development and the idea.
On Saturday the 4th July an old friend of mine, Fritz, turned up at the Lodge and insisted that I go on the river with him and several of his kayaking friends. At first I tried to skid out of it – I am on the river quite alot, mostly safety rowing, and the thought of going out and getting wet – and getting my peak on – was not quite what I had in mind for the day. However Fritz was very firm and I am really glad he was.
I took out my small 11′6″ cataraft – and yes, inches do matter – and had a ball. The river was up there for the little cat, but what fun. A definite edge to things, which on the day – lots of positive thinking – was just what I needed. Great fun to be out there not focusing on what is happening with rafts all the time.
Catarafting has not really taken off in NZ, but big in the States – and I often wonder why. Rowing is such a wonderful way to interact with the river – you use the currents and features alot differently than in a kayak or raft – and for old river guides like me you do not get beat up like you can in a kayak, and most of the time you stay dry. I have spent a large amount of my working life wet, and being dry is definitely a plus.
Catarafts of course use oars, not paddles, and it is this incredible leverage that allows you to do things that you would not dream of in a paddle rafts. This is not rowing as in the Olympics however. This is rowing looking FRONTWARDS down a rapid. Great for your co-ordination, with one oar going one way and the other the other.
Just in is our first listing in Vanutau. Greg and Kristin have put together a great package that includes fishing off the renowned waters of Hat and Moso Islands, and the unbelievable Erromango Seamounts on 8 – 11 hour full day charters. Famed for its blue marlin, Vanuatu also offers anglers the opportunity to test themselves against XOS yellowfin tuna, dog tooth tuna, sailfish, wahoo, mahi mahi, GTs and more.
By all accounts fishing there is often fast paced with multiple hook-ups frequently encountered.
Also included is accommodation, breakfast and lunch in either 5 or 7 night packages. The packages are for two people.
Our first non New Zealand listing is now live in the shape of Ace Adventures who are based near Aviemore, the River Findhorn and the Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. Ace Adventures also have an operation in Morocco.
These guys seem to do it all, with a selection of rafting trips from mild to fairly wild, canyoning, canoeing and kayaking, and River Bugging – you will have to go to their site – http://www.aceadventures.co.uk – to see just what a River Bug is!
Moroccan options include rafting, ballooning and 4 wheel drive tours.
Ace Adventures do not operate their own accommodation, but can help you organise it as part of a package. Due to the range of activities they offer, Jim and the team will work with you to put a fun experience together as part of their swap offering.
Thanks for joining Jim.
You can look at the Ace Adventure swap details by clicking here
Well Adventure Travel Swap has now been live for a little over a week. With only 3 listings so far it does not look as if we have an abundance of listings, and you would be right. However all is not as it seems. We are just waiting on material from Germany, Russia and Vanuatu, and as soon as that comes in we will get it up.
These new listings will cover multi activity breaks in Germany, game fishing in the Pacific, and running rivers in the wilds of Siberia. Tolya is actually over in Siberia at the moment, so it could be a week or two before we get that content.
If you come across this site and know adventure professionals, then please let them know about it.
Lastly welcome to Ace Adventures, our first non Kiwi listing.
Well I think we may have the site to a stage that we can now share it a bit wider, especially amongst the professional adventure operator/guide/and outfitter community. We are more than happy to swap links with adventure companies, and of course would love to see some listings roll in.
We do see that the site will change, develop and adapt over time, so make sure to visit Adventure Travel Swap regularly and be amongst the first to list and get your listing for free.
I must say I am as excited about the opportunity to meet other adventure outfitters as I am about the experiences.
On Saturday the 4th July an old friend of mine, Fritz, turned up at the Lodge and insisted that I go on the river with him and several of his kayaking friends. At first I tried to skid out of it – I am on the river quite alot, mostly safety rowing, and the thought of going out and getting wet – and getting my peak on – was not quite what I had in mind for the day. However Fritz was very firm and I am really glad he was.
Well Adventure Travel Swap has now been live for a little over a week. With only 3 listings so far it does not look as if we have an abundance of listings, and you would be right. However all is not as it seems. We are just waiting on material from Germany, Russia and Vanuatu, and as soon as that comes in we will get it up.