Wilderness Explorers celebrates 30 years

A pioneer in adventure, community, cultural, and nature tourism, Wilderness Explorers is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Established 30 years ago in 1994, the Destination Management Company has been offering trips to Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and throughout the Caribbean.

Tony Thorne, Managing Director of Wilderness Explorers, said the vision of the company was “to create a business that looked at long haul, long stay,” which entails people coming from afar and staying for long periods of time.

Although there were years when business was difficult, especially during the pandemic, the company experienced many milestones including joining the Latin America Travel Association in the UK, being a founding member of Active Travel Latin American Specialist (ATLAS), being location producers for National Geographic productions for Disney, among others.

The company also received several awards such as Best Tour Operator/Destination Management Company of the Year (2019), Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana’s Tour Operator of the Year (2023, 2024), Latin American Travel Association’s Responsible Tourism Award (2024), among others.

He further noted the company is working on a strategy to become a “regional destination management company.” While the company has Guyanese roots, it is looking to expand to “become more of a regional player and grow the size of the company.”

When asked about the company’s future, Thorne said, “In Guyana we’re limited in the number of tourism locations that you can visit, so as a company we’re looking at areas where potentially we could put in lodges and also work with new communities who might want to do that as well.”

Carla Vantull, General Manager of Wilderness Explorers, said familiarization trips and attending Travel Trade Shows to connect with others are among the company’s marketing strategies to attract and maintain customers.

As an Indigenous woman, Vantull said she feels “very honoured to be part of a company like Wilderness Explorers,” based on the work it does with guiding and promoting Indigenous communities.

Further, she said she is excited about advancing the technology by the company, specifically Artificial Intelligence, to aid in quick responses to customers’ questions online.