Wilderness Expeditions

For over 60 years, we have provided inspirational expeditions for young people and students involving community programmes and wilderness trails throughout the UK, Europe and South Africa.

Watch Us in Action…..

Haberdashers Expedition 2022

We finished our ten day Haberdashers’ student expedition with a late night of reflection which we call our ‘Rosy Glow’. A night of celebration of the young participants’ individual strengths and the giving of peer feedback on how they were seen in managing the toughness of what we took on, and their intrinsic values and special contribution of themselves, that they brought as a member of a close and supportive group.

The process is always transformational and everyone flowers with the love and care of the chosen words of their fellow adventurers. Ten days of physical and emotional challenge can take a toll. five nights and days in the water with heavy canoes, setting and breaking up camp each day can be physically and mentally hard as living wild is not an everyday experience and needs adaptation. . However with time to talk and share body, mind and emotional experiences everyday in check ins and group discussion builds a safety net for everyone, enabling a safe vulnerability and personal and group bonding. It releases the struggles to be held by the group and leaders offers ambitious and super bright youth more emotional literacy alongside their striving for achievement.

During these ten days nature is the greatest teacher. She throws herself into our realm with weather manifesting in wind and rain, high waves splashing into our canoes and helps us all as a group feel humble in the face of something we cannot control but have to work with and pay respect to at all time. We learn that life admin take time – packing the tents well, finding pegs in the grass (or it doesn’t work when they go up at night again) , finding meals in similar looking barrels, that the campsite is not perfect every time and we sweep goose poo with paddles to make space that is clearer, that when the sun shines we revel in the contrast of its warmth and brightness and learn to appreciate every gift in that moment. We focus on the present moment a lot – Keeping out too many thoughts of the next day, next week, next year. We think about the sand, the stones and geology of what lies beneath our feet. The stars when we see them, and deeply learn to feel the place we journey through and feel and grow a connection to it.

We practice leave no trace, clearing others messes and litter and think about loch awe’s preservation. We listen and enjoy its wild birds, animals, trees and uplifting beauty. Coming off the water after paddling the whole length of the loch and leaving her magical elements behind we ventured back to civilisation to stay in a beautifully equipped bothy in Duror near Fort William. We keep our check in process and check outs – being together to not lose the magic of loch awe and our wildness. That is hard to manage entirely when we now travel by car, flush loos, turn taps on and off and switch lights on rather than using a head torch.

We joined Rory Stewart of the Nevis partnership to help with making space needed for newly planted trees to flourish as part of rewilding the Caledonian rain forest in Glen Nevis. We bashed and chopped bracken and felt huge surges of pride as we uncovered and liberated hidden and small saplings fighting for life buried deep in the undergrowth. We went from almost taking such gifts from what nature offered on the loch, to feeling and acting in restoring and rewilding. This had a big impact and came out in our feedback list trail.

This trail was part of a long partnership with The Haberdashers Livery Company to whom we are very grateful to for the opportunity. The young people are scholars of the Thomas Arno Fund that they offer to all their schools . Each young person has to apply and be interviewed and in the craziness of their A levels and sort out elements of their expedition such as travel and purchasing equipment. The group met us in London in April and were cautious and reserved with us and each other, naturally. However by the end we had an intimate, bonded group with a deep sense of common values and earth awareness. They were bright, enquiring, exciting and receptive to all we offered them and through that we had an exceptional experience as the leadership team.

We hope to follow their journeys of their promising futures and hope the lessons of the wild hold true for them as they venture forward as young leaders.

A truly memorable experience with a great group of young people
in one of Scotland’s wildest areas.

“This expedition gave me a permanent appreciation for Wilderness. Absent from modern technologies I learned of a new way to live, not simply in nature but with it, which I feel is unbelievably special.”

See below for essential information on all aspects of our expedition trails:

DESTINATIONS

We offer trails to a range of locations in Southern Africa, as well as Europe and the UK.

PROCESS

Find out more about how we plan and deliver the expeditions and what support we provide along the way.

SAFETY

Find out more about this important issue and safety guidelines on our expedition trails.

TESTIMONIALS

Read the feedback from our previous participants.

FAQ’s

Find answers to common questions about our Wilderness Expeditions.

BOOK YOUR TRIP

Contact us to book your school’s next Wilderness expedition

CASE STUDY: Eton College Rhino Ambassadors
FIND OUT MORE: Haberdashers Scholarship

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