East Asia Active and outdoor Trips

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Egypt - thanks to our lovely tour guide Adel who was the best, and our amazing group gelling so well together. It’s a very well put together trip including all the major cultural attractions that you would want to visit and we learned so much due to Adel’s expertise and knowledge. For British groups I think the addition of the Cataract Hotel would enhance the experience - we loved it there. And possibly the home of Howard Carter which we did during time we added at the end. Thank you Explore! 😊

This is a trip of two contrasting halves, Kyrgyzstan for scenery, Uzbekistan for buildings. Difficult to assign stars when one half was a lesser experience for me. Kyrgyzstan was wonderful, stunning scenery, picnic spots, destinations. I highly recommend. The felt carpet making was very interesting. I recommend asking to see the golden eagle demonstration (an extra). Food was very good with plenty of vegetables. The walk to walnut forest is steep for the first and last 45mins. The track is high, exposed and gravelly. This was noted 7 years ago by a reviewer but the notes still not updated. You don’t need a sleeping bag or liner for the yurt camp, the bedding provided is fine. Accommodation good. Long drives but amazing scenery everywhere. We had an excellent guide who was friendly, knowledgeable and professional, thank you Aysulu. Uzbekistan - wonderful buildings, old cities and interesting history (but all has been extensively rebuilt). A completely different feel to Kyrgyzstan. The itinerary was as described however no excursions or information was given on the development of silk, wool or cotton along the silk road. This seemed a missed opportunity to me given the rich history and importance of textiles to this region. Would also bring variety to the roll call of mosques, mausoleums and madrasas. The yurt camp in Uzbekistan was mediocre and the long drive there and back not so interesting. Our guide was informed and friendly but there was some confusion at times within the group as to what was happening and when. She helped us enormously when we were sick, for which we were particularly grateful, thank you Maftuna. Yes I'm glad I did the trip to Uzbekistan but feel we could have organized it ourselves, (and searched out more textile history). Kyrgyzstan was perfect for a group tour and would be very hard to see by yourself.

A very interesting tour with plenty of historic destinations visited. It was great that we had sufficient free time to further explore the museums and sites of Sofia, Skopje and Ohrid. Elena the tour guide was terrific - very informative and well organised. Zoki the driver was also brilliant - patient and competent. The only negative for me at 6' tall was that the Sprinter minbus was rather cramped with little knee room and no overhead shelves to store day bags.

This trip was by far the best group trip I’ve been on so far! We had the opportunity to visit so many incredible places and explore different communities. The perfect mix of partying and cultural experiences. I particularly enjoyed the 3 day boat trip around Komodo. The group was absolutely fantastic and our tour leader Ovinda was just amazing, she really went above and beyond to make the trip extra special and was always there to help with anything we needed. Thank you so much Ovinda and team!

The Balkans are a beautiful part of Europe and are full of history. The two tour leaders we had, Zorica and Elena were very good, as were the local guides and our driver.

Ovinda was truly an amazing tour guide! Every day she gave us a clear briefing and then also shared it via WhatsApp, which gave me clarity and helped me know what to expect. On top of that, she joined us at many delicious local food spots, which was such a great experience. Ovinda was also very supportive during the activities. For example, while snorkeling the current was very strong, and I felt like I couldn’t (or didn’t dare to) continue. But thanks to Ovinda’s help, I was still able to do it — and I’m so happy I didn’t miss out on that experience 🐠. She also regularly checked in to ask if everything was okay, which I really appreciated because it made me feel seen and included in the group. She involved everyone and created such a fun and welcoming atmosphere. Ovinda truly completed this group trip and I couldn’t have wished for a better guide😊🫶🏼