The Peru Jaguar trip we took in May, was the most exciting and adventurous trip we have ever made in our lives! At 70, I was skeptical as to whether I could complete the Inca Trail or not. With Johan's help and support, I not only accomplished my goal, but was extremely satisfied with our total active adventure trip. It seemed as if every time I turned my head, there was another exhilarating scene to photograph. The rest of the trip included the amazon rainforest, and spending the night with a local family on Lake Titicaca which was great. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone wishing to explore the world's unknown places that only a few select get to experience. Our guide Erick Farfan was an exceptional young man who went out of his way not just for us, but the entire group. I've never had someone so attentive to every detail to make all of us happy. His choice of restaurants allowed all of us to experience the local foods and were all very tasty. Kudos to Erick, Johan and the rest of the crew for making my experience once in a lifetime which I will never stop talking about.
I had wanted to hike in Patagonia since the 1980's when I was heavy into mountaineering in Seattle, WA. I had lost this dream until we saw that Active Adventures offers the Condor trip. I loved every windy and even drippy step of the W trek. My first view of Grey Glacier took my breath away. And then we had Fitzroy and Cerro Torre in glorious sunshine. A dream of adventure come true!
It would be difficult to overstate how impressed I was with our Active Adventure tour. Mel and Claire were absolutely incredible!! Steve was great too, but he was only with us for the hike up and back from the Aspiring Hut. Plus, he was weighed down by a rock he so generously carried up the hill for Mel.
Anyway, Mel and Claire made Active Adventures (and New Zealand) look so good! They were EVERYTHING I could hope for: friendly, funny, knowledgeable, professional, hard-working, kind, easy-going, energetic, .... Thank you for one of the best 2-week periods of my entire life!
I hopped onto the last half of the Kauri after two weeks on the South Island in the Rimu adventure. It just so happened that we had a cyclone hit the island that week, so everything was very wet, to say the least. But everything still worked out okay! We still did lots of hiking in the rain, which was fun in itself. The views were not the same as they would be on a clear day, but different doesn't mean bad. They were unique, and there were a lot of rainbows thanks to the water. We even did the mountain biking in the downpour, which was hilariously muddy and still a lot of fun. Overall, the people were good, the guides were excellent, the food was fantastic, and the trip was terrific.