We are celebrating 25 years of Escape Adventures!
Escape Adventures NZ was founded back in 1999 by John Etherington. With family connections in Kenya and Tanzania and solid knowledge of both countries gained driving overland trucks, John decided that riding bikes would provide a far better way to explore Africa than traveling in a vehicle. Ideas whirled, plans were drawn up and finally Turtle materialised. The first iteration of an Escape Adventures support vehicle. A land cruiser whose previous life was on the Rainbow ski field road, shipped to Kenya and refitted to hold people and tow a bike/kitchen trailer. The first ever tour ran in 1999 with a grand total of one biker! That was enough, the word was out and started to spread slowly but surely through New Zealand and the UK, the next few years were spent developing this tour and nurturing relationships, lots of which are still strong to this day!
Mandy officially joined the team around 2004, and in 2005 turtle was outgrown and replaced with Sabrina the bus. The first tour leaders were employed in 2006, and with bikers getting in touch hungry for more adventures, the first trip outside of Africa was developed. Chile and Argentina ran between 2006-2010.
There was a flurry of new tours over the next few years as bikers who had done one trip wanted more, and cycling adventures became a more common active holiday option. A few of the tours that have come and gone are, China and Tibet 2008-2019, Laos 2011-2012 and Fiji 2014-2019.
Other tours have really stood the test of time, we still have annual departures for Cambodia est. 2013, Kyrgyzstan est. 2014, Madagascar est.2016, Colombia est. 2018 and of course Kenya and Tanzania.
Pictures below clockwise from top left: Chile and Argentina, Kyrgyzstan, China, Fiji and centre is Turtle the truck set up in Kenya.
Building Relationships with Our Overseas Operators
One of the longest standing relationships must be with Joseph and Innocent our local team in Kenya. Inno was running the camp in Nairobi where we used to start and finish all the tours, in 2008 he introduced his brother Joseph to John, with the idea of him driving support. Joseph still works for us to this day and juggles a full season driving tours with his other work throughout the year. Innocent ended up buying 3 overland trucks when the camp closed, and since 2013 we have been hiring one each year, kitting it out to carry bikes and people. ‘The Beast’ becomes everyone’s home away from home whilst on tour.
In Kyrgyzstan where we have been operating since 2014, we have been able to build some great relationships with some of the local accommodations that we use and people that we visit along the way. We have been meeting up with Kadek the ‘Eagle Man’ ever since we started the tour. Kadek has a family history of training eagles for hunting and has been passing on the ancient practise to his own sons. We meet his family and his eagles to learn more about this traditional way of life on every tour in Kyrgyzstan, we are always welcomed into his home with a warm smile and freshly baked bread.
Below: Kadek ‘Eagle Man’ with bikers in 2023
Birthday Parties and Big Changes
In 2019 it was Escape Adventures 20th birthday, which called for a big celebration! Held at the Timber Trail Lodge so we could ride on the beautiful Timber Trail in the Central North Island of New Zealand. Over 50 bikers from around the world who had ridden on one, or multiple, tours since Escape Adventures inception, joined the party to celebrate exploring the world by bike. It was a lot of fun, with plenty of discussion about what might come next and some great chats with past bikers about their adventures on two wheels.
And who could have predicted what would come next…Covid 19… It was hard times for so many people around the world and we were very lucky to be here in New Zealand. But there is no denying that for a small travel business operating international tours from NZ, this was tough! With a business to save there was no time to waste, and out of the ashes came our New Zealand cycle tours. With permission from the Kennet Brothers, we set about creating supported tours of some of the New Zealand’s classic bike packing routes. By late 2020 we were ready to go and ran our first Tour Aotearoa and Kōpiko Aotearoa supported cycle tours. Escape Adventures had evolved once more. Between 2020 and 2022 with New Zealand in various states of lockdown/ isolation from the rest of the world, operations were fully focussed on New Zealand tour logistics and supporting Kiwi’s to discover their own back yards by bike, it was great to see the support from all the local bikers and an amazing opportunity to discover some of Aotearoa’s hidden gems!
Reconnecting and Rebuilding
2022 came round and the whispers of international travel opening up became a reality. Escape Adventures and some of our most intrepid bikers were quick to jump on the opportunity, we ran tours in Kenya and Tanzania, Namibia and Colombia that year! It was a big moment to be back operating internationally and felt incredible to reconnect with our friends overseas and support the local businesses.
This was also the year that the Marlborough Molesworth Epic Cycle Tour here in New Zealand was developed, a shorter loop of the top of the South Island. Possibly one of the most diverse routes in New Zealand and a really underrated cycle tour.
Pictures below clockwise from top left: Tour Aotearoa, Canterbury Peaks to Plains, Cambodia, Japan and centre is ‘The Beast’ our current support set up in Kenya and Tanzania.
New Chapters for Escape Adventures
A big year for Escape Adventures became an epic year when an unexpected call from Tom, (after he heard that Escape had pulled through the pandemic years and was back operating overseas), equalled the eventual sale of Escape Adventures and the start of a new chapter. Tom and Jaimee Kearney took up the reins just in time for the 2022/2023 New Zealand cycle tours to kick off and ran a full season of supported cycle tours.
They are ready to continue the legacy of running unforgettable cycle tours in amazing destinations, whilst dreaming up new tours and creating exciting opportunities for adventure. Whilst nurturing the current international tours back from the covid hibernation, Tom, along with operations manager Clare has also developed the Canterbury Peaks to Plains Cycle Tour here in New Zealand and the Japan E-bike tour, both running for the first time earlier in 2024!
Escape Adventures Cycle Tours is driven by the reward that comes with creating and leading tours that will touch your soul and stay in your memory forever, we can’t wait to see where our bikes will take us next.
