"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean"

- John Muir

WWF-Canada and Horizon & Co are proud to present a unique new travel program specifically designed to bring donors and other travellers closer to nature and the work of the WWF. On these exclusive departures, WWF experts will bring to life local flora and fauna by immersing you in its natural habitat, while Horizon guides will illuminate local cultures by immersing you in its authentic daily rhythms. Upscale accommodation, superb regional cuisine and comfortable travel arrangements will ensure that you spend your time focusing on capturing the fleeting magic of nature (whether on film or in your imagination) rather than worrying about where your next meal is coming from or how you are going to get a good nights sleep. We guarantee that the combination of WWF site visits, extraordinary landscapes, sophisticated travel choices and impassioned conservation workers will combine to create an experience deeper and more meaningful than you could ever imagine.

Wildlife & Wild Places Trips are intimate small group tours (maximum of 24 participants on most trips) designed for conservation-oriented travellers who seek to combine the richness of a hands-on experience of nature in the company of experts with the comforts and convenience of high-end travel. The itineraries are built around a sequence of extraordinary wildlife & wilderness experiences that connect charming hotels, authentic local experiences and superb regional cuisine. We genuinely believe in (and practice) the virtues and benefits of responsible tourism. We have immense respect for the places we travel and the people we meet, and we are confident that by sharing our passion with our travellers we can send them home more enlightened, enlivened and engaged than when they left. All of these trips are escorted by Horizon's top guides and accompanied by WWF experts.

The way it works is pretty straightforward - the exotic call of the wild, the vast sweep of nature's panorama, the allure of a great hotel, the intrigue of great destinations, the taste of the best food and drink - how hard can it be, right? Wrong. While the elements may all exist on their own, the magic lies in how you pull them together to orchestrate the theatre of travel. Horizon & Co has spent the last 43 years refining the art of making the impossible look easy so that you can focus on relaxing and living in the moment.

We understand Experiential Travel. We are passionate advocates of the power of experiential travel to act as a catalyst in igniting the imagination, illuminating a sense of place, and engaging the emotions. From our perspective, the key to experiential travel is the moment when a traveller moves from passively observing to actively participating, and the extensive conservation fieldwork of WWF Canada provides the perfect opportunity for affecting this transition. A travel program that weaves unique and sophisticated planning choices in with exclusive WWF site visits, extraordinary landscapes and impassioned conservation workers will transform our travellers from curious outsiders into savvy locals.

We've been around the block a few times. Horizon & Co has been running small group luxury tours around the world since 1963. We built our reputation by hand-crafting exceptional journeys from the wilds of Labrador to the most remote reaches of the Tibetan plateau, and we stand behind every trip that we put on the road.

We know these destinations. And we have local friends who know them even better. Supported by a wide array of resident experts, our itineraries take you deep into the heart of each region, whether it's coming face to face with a 100-year-old tortoise in the Galapagos islands or lying back while a Bushman poles you through the winding secret channels of Botswana's Okavango Delta in his ancient mokoro.

We have friends in the right places.  On our Wildlife & Wild places trips we work with some of the world's leading scientists and conservation workers to design trips that showcase nature in all of her glory. Once we've chosen a location for our trips, we activate the extensive network of WWF-Canada colleagues and collaborators who work in the front lines of the conservation movement to figure out how to tap into their local knowledge and to see if we can make a contribution (however modest) while we are there.

We believe in being comfortable. Our trip researchers find the best places to stay along our routes, with accommodations ranging from famed hotels to tented camps and everything in between. When we are not out searching for wildife or exploring the wilderness, we plan leisurely diversions and unique events with local characters. We also enjoy the region's cuisine as part of food experiences that are exotic without being overwhelming to Western tastes.

We plan meticulously. While you enjoy the moment, we're working behind the scenes to ensure that the expert naturalist has scouted the best wildlife-spotting trails, that the truffle hunter has his pigs ready for the hunt and that the wine-maker has opened the 40-year old Grand Cru in time to let it breath. Our hand-picked guides are trained to take care of every detail, whether it's helping with a phone call home or radioing a helicopter to make sure that we get back to our luxury lodge in time for your massage appointment.

Relax and enjoy yourself. Behind all of our research, planning and devotion to personal service is one simple goal - to leave you free to relax and appreciate truly remarkable travel experiences. A lot of imagination goes into creating these trips, but in the end, what really counts is the imagination you bring to living them and making them your own.

DOING GOOD + HAVING FUN = TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Do Some Good. A portion of your trip price is directed towards WWF-Canada's conservation projects to help conserve what you have seen. Furthermore, in our experience, by sending home our travellers more enlightened, enlivened and engaged than when they left, we are creating an ever-expanding community of proselytizers who spread the gospel of conservation and travel at every opportunity.

Have Some Fun. While horsehair shirts may have their place in life, in our humble opinion, they don't belong on the road (at least not with us). Our travellers are complex enough as individuals that they can be compassionate and morally engaged while at the same time appreciating the charms of a half-decent bottle of wine, a lively conversation and a comfortable place to rest your head. All that we ask of our travellers is that they be open to new experiences - we find that this is the surest and fastest route to making friends and having fun on the road.

Change Your Perspective. We are firm believers that doing good can comfortably co-exist with having fun. Each of these journeys rewards you with a totally different wilderness experience and yet they all embody the Horizon & Co. trademark approach to travel: that sense of delving deep, getting the insider's perspective and seeing the region in new ways. In fact, we're confident that you'll come back seeing yourself and the world in new ways - which could be why you went in the first place.

On the Horizon. Visit our Wildlife & Wild Places trips for detailed itineraries, photos, dates and prices on our upcoming Wildlife & Wild Places Trips. If you don’t see an adventure that sparks your imagination and sets your senses tingling in anticipation, then tell us where you want to go and maybe we’ll design your dream trip next.

MORAL CONSCIENCE + SOPHISTICATED TASTES = GLOBAL CITIZEN

People Like You. One of the greatest hurdles for people to get over in committing to take a small group tour is the notion that you will be travelling with a bunch of strangers. Of course, the easiest way to deal with this is to simply travel with friends and family on a private trip (see below), but if this isn't an option, at some point your going to have to close your eyes and take a leap of faith. To help you feel a little better about making the leap, we can assure you that the people attracted to unique travel experiences like Wildlife & Wilderness trips are a little different than the stereotypical bus tourist. They tend to be affluent without being pretentious, worldly without being annoying, conscientious without being self-righteous, and fun-loving without being party animals - is short, the kind of people you would invite to your house for a dinner party.

Couple, Friends & Family. These trips are designed for men, women and families, travelling independently or together, who are looking to combine upscale travel with wildlife & wilderness experiences. These trips are built with enough range and flexibility that whether it is a father and son looking for a little quality time together, two sisters re-uniting on a sea kayaking excursions, or a group of friends celebrating a 25th wedding anniversary, everybody will have an opportunity to enjoy themselves.

Private Trips. Wildlife & Wild Places trips are perfectly suited to small groups of friends and families looking to spend time together or corporate groups looking to push their limits or reward their top performers. Call us and we can take an existing itinerary and turn it into a private departure or we can build a completely custom trip from scratch - the choice is yours.

It's not about the Group.  Even if it turns out that the other people on your trip are not potential friends-for-life, we structure our trips with enough flexibility and time on your own that you should be able to pursue your own agenda without having your style cramped by others. From our perspective, the format of group travel is simply the envelope for the experience, and rather than restricting you, it should liberate you to focus on the things that really matter. We try to leverage its strengths (access to unique events, a community of congenial fellow-travelers, and the security of having someone always watching out for you) and minimize its weaknesses (rigid schedules and forced confinement with strangers) to create the perfect balance.

WWF-Canada Knows Wildlife & Wild Places - WWF-Canada is part of WWF International, the world’s largest independent conservation organization. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Founded in 1961, this global network now works in more than 100 countries. All WWF offices are united by the common goal to: conserve the world’s biological diversity, ensure the use of renewable resources is sustainable; and promote the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

© 1986 Panda symbol WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (also known as World Wildlife Fund)
® "WWF" is a WWF Registered Trademark

Horizon Knows Travel - Horizon & Co is one of Canada’s leading boutique travel companies. Horizon designs and stages authentic and deeply personal travel experiences that are carefully choreographed to induce a life-long memory. In addition to offering published trips on seven continents, Horizon builds private custom trips for discerning individuals and small groups.