Thirty years ago, Active Adventures began in Queenstown with a simple belief: the best way to experience a destination is to get out into it.
Not from behind a bus window. Not from the sidelines. But on foot, by bike, and immersed in the landscapes, cultures, and communities that make a place unique.
That was true when we began guiding small groups through New Zealand in 1996, and three decades later, the values that shaped those first trips continue to guide every journey we lead.
Today our adventures reach across 17 countries and five continents. Yet our roots remain firmly planted in a very New Zealand way of looking at the world. One grounded in adventure, warmth, humility, and respect. Respect for the people we meet, and for the land that makes these journeys possible.
Born in the Outdoors
In New Zealand, nature is never very far away.
Mountains rise behind towns. Forest trails begin at the edge of the road. Rivers, coastlines, and wide open spaces are part of everyday life.
Growing up here teaches you something quite naturally. The outdoors isn’t simply scenery to admire. It’s something you belong to, something to enjoy, and something worth looking after.
That spirit helped shape Active Adventures from the beginning.
Our earliest trips weren’t about watching New Zealand pass by through a window. They were about stepping into it. Hiking through native forest. Crossing alpine valleys. Paddling clear water. Sharing stories over dinner after a long day outside.
Our Ultimate South Island Adventure, one of the trips that goes right back to our beginnings, has been refined continuously since 1996. It’s a small reminder that while destinations and itineraries evolve, our way of experiencing them has deep roots.
Today, that philosophy takes us far beyond New Zealand, across five continents and into places as different as Patagonia, the Galápagos Islands, the Himalayas, Africa, and Europe.
Wherever we go, we still believe travel means more when you take part in the place rather than simply pass through it.
The Kiwi Spirit of Adventure
There is a distinctly ‘Kiwi’ (New Zealand) way of approaching adventure.
It's optimistic, down-to-earth, and unpretentious. It's about embracing new experiences, respecting nature, and staying curious about the world around you.
That mindset shapes the way Active Adventures designs trips and cares for guests. We don't focus on rushing from one attraction to the next. Instead, we create opportunities to connect more deeply with destinations through active exploration, local knowledge, and genuine human interaction.
You’ll find the same welcoming spirit that has guided Active Adventures since day one.
Whether you’re feeling the crunch of gravel beneath your boots in Patagonia, listening to cowbells drift across the Dolomites, or pausing as your guide points out something on the Tour du Mont Blanc you might otherwise have missed, that same sense of connection is always there.
Manaakitanga: Caring for the People Around Us
A core principle that helps explain our New Zealand roots is manaakitanga, a Māori concept centered on hospitality, kindness, respect, and care for others.
For us, that care starts long before you arrive at the trailhead.
It’s the person on our team helping you figure out what jacket to pack. A guide remembering how you like your coffee, or quietly checking to offer encouragement on a climb that feels just beyond reach. An itinerary adjusted thoughtfully when the weather has other ideas.
They’re small things. But small things matter when you’re a long way from home.
Even as Active Adventures has grown, that personal care has never changed. In fact, some of our guides have been sharing their knowledge, encouragement, and favorite corners of the world with guests for 20 years or more.
Guests notice that care too.
One recent New Zealand guest wrote that traveling with her guides felt like “traveling with friends,” praising the way they took care of every detail throughout the trip. Another described her guides as having a “humble nature, service quality, and genuine care.”
It’s also about the way a group comes together.
People often begin an Active Adventures trip as strangers. Then you walk together, laugh together, swap stories over meals, and encourage one another up the tougher stretches of trail.
Somewhere along the way, the group changes.
One guest summed it up beautifully after traveling solo in New Zealand. Within a day, she said, the group had gelled, and by the end she had made lifelong friends.
Many people first travel with us because of the places we visit.
The human connections are often what bring them back.
Today, more than 35% of Active Adventures guests return for another trip. For us, that says more than any award could. People come back not only to discover somewhere new, but to find that familiar feeling of being welcomed, supported, and part of something. Find out more about the origins of Active Adventures.
Kaitiakitanga: Caring for the Places That Welcome Us
Alongside manaakitanga is another New Zealand value that influences how we travel through the world: kaitiakitanga.
Often described as guardianship or stewardship, kaitiakitanga reflects our relationship with the natural world and the responsibility to care for it. We’re not separate from the landscapes we explore. We’re visitors within living places, shaped by ecosystems, wildlife, histories, and communities.
That matters deeply to us because adventure depends on healthy, thriving places.
A trail through native forest. A glacier-fed lake. Wildlife moving across an open plain. A mountain community whose lives are intertwined with the surrounding landscape.
These places aren’t simply backdrops for a vacation.
To travel through them well means arriving with respect.
In New Zealand, Active Adventures has committed to the 'Tiaki Promise', which asks visitors to care for the land, sea, nature, culture, and people of Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand), and to tread lightly so these places can be protected for generations to come.
You’ll see that principle in practical ways too.
Our guides are trained in sustainability best practices. Reusable containers replace single-use packaging where possible. Recycling and composting are part of our operations. We work with accommodation and activity partners to encourage lighter environmental footprints, and our commitment to small-group travel helps reduce the impact we have in the places we explore.
We’ve also earned Qualmark Gold accreditation in New Zealand, recognizing tourism businesses operating to high standards across sustainability, safety, and guest experience.
But perhaps the most important part of kaitiakitanga is less tangible.
It’s understanding that being welcomed into a wild place comes with responsibility.
Stay on the trail. Give wildlife space. Listen to the people who know the land. Leave as little behind as possible. And carry home an appreciation for why that place deserves to be protected.
Our New Zealand roots have not only taught us our love of being outdoors, but also that loving a place and caring for it should never be separate ideas.
A New Zealand Welcome Wherever You Travel
Thirty years on, our adventures reach far beyond New Zealand, but the values we began with still travel with us.
That doesn’t mean making Patagonia, Tanzania, Peru, Nepal, or Italy feel like New Zealand. Every place deserves to be experienced on its own terms.
Our local guides bring their own cultures, histories, humor, and knowledge to every trip. They help you understand not just where you are, but what makes that place home.
In the Galápagos Islands, for example, our local conservation guides undergo extensive training to lead visitors through one of the world’s most sensitive environments, with many also supporting conservation work.
Wherever you travel, the details are different. The approach is the same.
Curiosity. Warmth. Care for each other. Respect for the land beneath our feet.
That’s the kiwi difference, and it’s something you’ll find wherever you travel with us.
Thirty years of adventure, and the values that keep guiding us
A lot has changed since our first adventures set out from Queenstown in 1996.
Our community now stretches across continents, with more than 10,000 five-star guest reviews, more than one in three guests returning to travel with us again, and guides who’ve been part of the Active Adventures story for 20 years or more.
But after 30 years, it’s still the small moments that matter most.
A hand reaching back on a steep section of trail. A guide who knows when you need encouragement. A new friend laughing beside you at the end of a long day. A group taking care to leave a place as they found it.
We still believe in getting outside and experiencing a place properly. In looking after people. In respecting the places that welcome us.
That’s where manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga meet.
Care for people. Care for place.
Thirty years ago, those New Zealand values helped shape the way we traveled.
They’re still guiding us today.
Come walk the trail with us and discover what 30 years of New Zealand-inspired adventure feels like.
Written by Alex Wallin and Nicole McLean, who are part of the Active Adventures team drawing on the company’s 30+ years of experience guiding travelers through wild, beautiful places.
