Alpine ridge above a sea of cloud at dawn

Worldwide expedition travel · since 2009

Go where the map runs thin.

Terra Nova builds small-group expeditions to mountains, fjords and deserts — led by people who live in those places, paced for travellers who want more than a postcard.

48routes worldwide
12max group size
15years in the field

Our approach

Not a checklist of countries. A way of being there.

We don't run convoys. Each Terra Nova departure is a single small group moving slowly enough to notice things — weather, rock, language, the rhythm of a valley. Our local leaders aren't hired for the week; they're part of the places we visit.

Every route is walked and re-walked before it appears here. We publish honest grading, real daily distances and the conditions you should expect, so you arrive prepared rather than surprised.

  • Resident guides, fair local wages, no hidden mark-ups
  • Carbon-measured itineraries and overland-first logistics
  • Honest fitness grading on a clear 1–5 scale
Roped party crossing a high snow ridge
A lead guide reading the ridge before first light — Tien Shan.

This season's expeditions

Routes open for departure

Trekkers below a blue glacier
Ice & high passes

The Patagonian Ice Traverse

Eleven days across the southern icefield, sleeping on moraine and crossing the kind of country that still has no roads. Crampon skills taught on day one.

11 days Grade 4 / 5 Patagonia, Chile
Sea kayak in a still fjord
By sea & paddle

West Fjords by Kayak

A week paddling Iceland's quiet north-west, camping on black-sand beaches under cliffs full of birds.

7 days Grade 3 / 5 Iceland
Caravan crossing dunes at golden hour
Desert crossing

The Empty Quarter on Foot

Walking with Bedouin guides through dunes the size of mountains, navigating by stars and silence.

9 days Grade 3 / 5 Oman
Tent lit from within in a pine forest
Forest & wildlife

Taiga Tracks & Tracking

Following wolf and lynx sign through old-growth forest with a wildlife biologist, far from any trailhead.

6 days Grade 2 / 5 Carpathians, Romania
Raft on a green river in a deep canyon
River descent

Source-to-Canyon Descent

Rafting and portaging a wild river from headwaters to gorge, camping on gravel bars each night.

8 days Grade 4 / 5 Georgia, Caucasus

Where we work

Five regions, mapped on foot

We go deep rather than wide. These are the corners of the world where we keep teams, relationships and decades of local knowledge.

  • High AsiaTien Shan, Pamir, Himalaya
  • Southern AndesPatagonia & the icefields
  • The Arctic EdgeIceland, Greenland coast
  • Desert BeltOman, Namibia, Atacama
  • Wild EuropeCarpathians & Caucasus
Mountain guide looking toward a distant range

“A good expedition isn't the one that bags the summit. It's the one where everyone comes home changed, and the place we travelled through is no worse for our passing.”

Lead expedition guide, High Asia program

Field notes

Dispatches from the route

Aurora over a snow plain
Arctic Edge

Reading the sky for aurora nights

How our guides decide when to wake camp at 2 a.m. — and when to let everyone sleep.

Climber on a high col at sunset
High Asia

Why we walk slower at altitude

Acclimatisation isn't weakness. The science behind our deliberately gentle first days.

Footprints across a dune
Desert Belt

Packing light for nine days of sand

What goes in the bag, what stays behind, and why water is the only luxury.

Figures small against a vast mountain face

Plan a trip

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