Intrepid Travel is celebrating its 25th anniversary as an adventure travel company that focuses on giving travellers unforgettable small group trips with over 1,000 adventures in over 100 countries. We spoke with Geoff Manchester, co-Founder of Intrepid, about his views on the industry, experiential travel and what every travel agent should know about Intrepid.

Geoff Manchester, co-Founder of Intrepid

 1. Intrepid is celebrating its 25th anniversary. How have you seen adventure travel change over this period?

Manchester: A change that is really relevant to Intrepid is that people’s needs and what they want to do when they travel are changing. We’re in the adventure travel area, but most of what we do is really ‘experiential’ because it’s much more about a cultural experience, than a physical adventure. We’re all about giving people real life experiences. Having an experience and really getting to know a destination is much more important in the industry today, whereas before it was all about seeing things.

2. Can you describe an ‘experience’ that travellers can have with Intrepid?

Manchester: We take people to Masai Mara National Park in Kenya and we stay in a Masai village. It’s quite remote, with no roads, and we setup our tents just next to the village and spend a day learning about their lifestyle. The chief of the village explains how they live, then we go and see his four or five wives in their mud brick huts with one tiny little window and a fire in the middle – and that’s it! There is nothing Western about it and they don’t have TVs or beds or cellphones. It’s a really fun experience and all the travellers love it and become great friend with the villagers.

Masai ladies during Masai ceremony.