Adventure Alternative
UK & Ireland
Our UK & Ireland Trip Leaders
UK & Ireland
Background
Gavin started Adventure Alternative in 1991 during a long period of travelling the world, working in a wide variety of jobs, climbing mountains and going on long expeditions. A six month solo trek across the Sahara Desert aged twenty one was the benchmark experience, after which travel and adventurous exploits became a way of life.
Born in the United Kingdom, Gavin went to high school in Western Australia and then moved to Northern Ireland to complete his BA in English Literature. He then had a number of jobs including scrapping oil tankers in India, Pakistan and China, driving overland safari trucks in southern Africa and delivering aid to refugee camps and working ad hoc for a variety of aid agencies. He lived in Kibera, Kenya working with a Government initiative to re-unite street children with their parents and encourage them back into mainstream school. Over many years this experience led to Gavin setting up the charity Moving Mountains Trust and creating the business model whereby profits from the company Adventure Alternative would be recycled back into the charity to support the beneficiaries, most of whom were children. In Kenya he set up ‘AA Kenya’ and ‘MM Kenya’ and used the company to support and eventually employ beneficiaries from the charity.
The climbing expeditions and increased profile as a mountaineer became the best way to raise money for Moving Mountains, and during this period Gavin spent much time in the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal with Sherpa friends, which resulted in setting up ‘AA Nepal’ and ‘MM Nepal’ with the same principle in mind. The company proceeds and the fundraising from the personal climbing began to fund the rehabilitation of several villages following the destruction of the Maoist conflict.
Becoming a sponsored climber, selling climbing photographs and writing for adventure publications enabled the company and the charity to thrive in the early days, but in 2000 Gavin celebrated the New Millennium by organising the Millennium Seven Summits Expedition which aimed to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents in one year to achieve a world record at that time. Gavin organised the year of expeditions himself and was self-guided throughout, but turned back 100 metres from the top of Mount Everest. The year long adventure raised money for Comic Relief as Gavin wore a red nose on the top of all the peaks, and also for Moving Mountains.
Over the following 11 years Gavin climbed Mount Everest a further five times and raised around £2.5 million for Moving Mountains. At the same time Adventure Alternative flourished and became well known for its ‘alternative’ business model, and Gavin lectured widely on the subject of social entrepreneurship in tourism as well as sustainable development and of course mountaineering. He was made a Fellow of Oxford Brookes University and given an honorary Doctorate by Guelph University in Canada, carried the Olympic Torch for the London Olympics and was given a Point of Light Award by the then British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Adventure Alternative now has five main areas of operation – Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Borneo and Morocco – and Moving Mountains operates in all five regions too, but mostly Kenya and Nepal. The principle of tourism supporting charity still applies as much today as it did in the early 1990s.
The twin impacts of the financial crash and the pandemic certainly made life difficult but the company has a strong foundation, no debts and the same structure and staff almost since the beginning.
Nowadays Gavin is still often guiding trips, he is also a first aid trainer and spends time travelling with his family.
Expert in school trips
Medical electives co-ordinator
UK & Ireland
Background
Andy MacDonald has worked for Adventure Alternative since 2002 and he specializes in the Kenya and Morocco trips and all the medical electives and volunteering trips. He is especially interested in the school trips we run.
After University, Andy worked in the outdoor retail industry and ended up as manager of a large outdoor store in Belfast, and at the same time coming on expeditions with Adventure Alternative as a co-leader until he eventually started working full time as a trip leader and a consultant.
Andy is also a founding Trustee of Moving Mountains and has been closely involved with all of the programmes and projects right from the start. He is currently the Treasurer of the Trust and spends a lot of time managing the accounting and budgets for the charity.
Andy lives in Portstewart and has volunteered as a Scout leader, using his experiences to inspire other young people and take them on the type of trips that shaped his life when he was younger. He has lived in Kenya and is now living in Northern Ireland with his wife Verah and two children.
Expert in Nepal and Tanzania
UK & Ireland
Background
Chris has been managing trips for Adventure Alternative since 2002 and he specialises in our trips to Tanzania and Nepal. He speaks knowledgeably on all aspects of these trips and has worked closely with the Tanzanian, Kenyan and Nepalese staff for many years. He also leads many of our youth trips in Kenya and Tanzania and has numerous treks and climbs under his belt in East Africa and Nepal.
Chris is married with two children and they live in Portstewart near the sea so that Chris can enjoy his passion for surfing. He is also a Trustee of Moving Mountains Trust and has been involved with the charity since it was first formed.