About Wild Frontiers
Wild Frontiers is an award-winning adventure travel company, founded in 1998 by travel writer Jonny Bealby. We specialise in stylish and original small group tours and tailor-made holidays worldwide.
We are firm believers that travelling is all about the experience and it’s in the details – the places you stay, the transport and route that gets you there, and the people you meet along the way – that make the trip; we therefore specialise in drawing on our own extensive local knowledge and array of contacts to give our clients the very best experience possible.
Our Purpose
To Challenge Perceptions and Inspire Connections
At Wild Frontiers, we believe sustainable and immersive travel can be a powerful force for good; breaking down barriers, dispelling myths and bringing people from different cultures and communities together.
Through expertise and first-hand knowledge of our destinations, we aim to create thoughtful and carefully crafted itineraries, which will leave a long-lasting positive impact on both our clients and the people and places we are privileged to visit.
Wild Frontiers has always been a company that's not afraid to go beyond the headlines and travel where, in some cases, others do not tread.
We have actively helped to bring sustainable tourism back to some of the most beautiful, fascinating and sometimes troubled or misunderstood regions of the world, turning many outside assumptions into surprising reality. In fact, ‘I was surprised’ is a remark we often hear – whether that’s by the amazing landscapes and architecture, by the quality of hotels and cuisine, or above all, by the hospitality of the people and seeing that much of what they watch or hear in the news simply doesn’t play out on the streets.
‘Some of the countries we offer do raise an eyebrow, but those that join us are always ‘surprised’ by the destination and staggered by the hospitality and generosity of the people’. - Clem, Senior Travel Consultant
Our Story
In 1996 travel writer Jonny Bealby set out across India and the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province to follow in the footsteps of his two heroes from English literature, Peachy Carnehan and Daniel Dravot, from Kipling's classic tale, The Man Who Would Be King.
Travelling on foot, on an often gruelling and dangerous journey, he became captivated by a land of harsh natural beauty, political intrigues and a diverse and fascinating population.
And when he finally emerged from Afghanistan back into Pakistan and the valleys of the Kalash – the last of the pagan tribes to inhabit the Hindu Kush – he was so taken with these warm and welcoming people that he put down his bags and stayed for three months.
What also amazed Jonny was the near total lack of tourism to what was a relatively accessible region. So, having written his second book, For A Pagan Song, in India, about this journey, the following year he returned to Northern Pakistan and swapped his travel-writing hat for that of a tour operator.
Seeking advice from the Kalash themselves, as well as other ethnic groups along his chosen route, Jonny created the first of his itineraries (The Hindu Kush Adventure) and in 1998 led his first group... and so Wild Frontiers was born.
Our Team
Our experts have a wealth of experience at arranging holidays of a lifetime. Members of our team feature on the Wendy Perrin list of trusted travel experts, The Travel & Leisure A List and Conde Nast Traveller's Top Travel Specialists list
Our Tour Leaders
Why Wild Frontiers
PERSONAL SERVICE & EXPERTISE
Our office is manned by experienced tour leaders and travel consultants and every trip we run stems from their first-hand knowledge. In short, we run the kind of holidays that we, as passionate travellers, like to do ourselves. When you ring our office, you will be guaranteed to chat to someone who knows the region and the terrain and is able to offer sound and practical advice.
When creating bespoke, tailor-made itineraries our specialist travel consultants will take you though each step of the process, advising you on everything from the most interesting accommodation to advice on tipping.
SMALL GROUP TOUR SIZES
On our escorted tours, we believe it is imperative to keep the group sizes small. While our average group size is 9 and most of our trips have a maximum group size of 12. Thus giving you more access to fragile cultures, better opportunities to interact with local people and the knowledge you are making less of an impact whilst there. Please refer to individual itineraries for details.
BE THE FIRST
Our style of travel is all about exploration and nothing excites us more than opening up new routes to genuine travellers. We keep abreast of new destinations and are often the first to return to places that have vanished from the tourist map.
We were the first back into Pakistan after 9/11, the first to return to Kashmir after a decade of tourist isolation, and amongst the first to run a commercial travel trip to Afghanistan for almost 30 years.
Since then we have helped bring Iran, Colombia and Georgia back into the tourist fold, specialising in groundbreaking reconnaissance trips and imaginative expeditions.
OUR PRICING
We believe in an honest, upfront pricing structure so you know exactly what the tour will cost before you book. On our group tours we avoid local payments, ‘optional extras’ or forcing our clients to go through the annoying procedure of splitting every meal bill.
Our tours are provided on a predominantly full board basis, with government permits, entrance fees and transport all included.
Our Reviews
Responsible Travel
For us Responsible Travel coincides with Responsible Business, designing adventures with the local people, culture and eco-system in mind. We are very aware of the economic, ecological and ethical impact tourism can have on ancient cultures and fragile environments.
We realise that taking clients through these regions can have a detrimental impact if not handled responsibly and as such, on all of our tours we go to great lengths to minimise the negative and accentuate the positive – after all, there are also many good things that the traveller can bring!
Wild Frontiers Foundation
The Wild Frontiers Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Wild Frontiers. Set up in 2009, the aim of our foundation is to provide a platform to create awareness, raise money and deliver funding to projects in countries where we operate as a travel company.