With the resurgence in long-dreamt of vacations finally realized, many are deciding to take their families for an adventure into the bucket-list wilderness.

With Pelorus, we can bring you sensitively executed close encounters with wildlife in extraordinary locations. And while you’re here with your family, our childcare expertise and teenager-focused activities ensure some well-deserved alone time for you and your partner along the way.

Conservation is at the heart of a lot that we do. We believe that opening children’s minds to novel habitats and exotic species is best done against a backdrop of efforts to preserve the natural world. To find out more about our charitable conservation arm, visit Pelorus Foundation.

Scandinavian Northern Lights & Wolf Safari

In the snow-blanketed, fjord-crinkled, mountainous north of Norway, you’ll find a gorgeous wilderness of white birch forests and incredible creatures. A trip here can see you whip through the winter scenery pulled on a sledge by a team of yapping huskies, as well as a unique bonding experience with their wilder wolf cousins. Staying at the one-of-a-kind Wolf Lodge amid their habitat, you can observe them playing in the snow and listen to their enchanting howling when the moon rises.

Take a helicopter transfer to the Lofoten coastline where you can dive—with a wetsuit, of course—into the clean, clear water and have an unforgettable swim with orcas. Traveling between luxury lodges, traverse the dramatic landscape on quad bikes and snowmobiles. At the end of the day, the shimmering Aurora Borealis overhead will be a perfect shared experience before bedtime on this mystical Norwegian adventure.

Whales and Lemurs in Madagascar

Sun-kissed Madagascar is like a mini-Australia, its varied landscapes home to an array of unusual and intriguing creatures. Your adventure here begins with a lemur safari on foot, before close encounters with these remarkable animals that will undoubtedly bring up quotations from DreamWorks’ animated classic, Madagascar. Following this you’ll learn about this ecologically significant forest while assisting leading researchers in their work. Finally, make like a lemur and sleep (once the young ones (and you) have calmed down) suspended high in the arboreal canopy.

Next you’ll explore the sparkling Indian Ocean, spotting humpback whales breaching along the thriving coastline. Get closer in with your snorkels or dive gear and see everything, above and below, that makes this African island so incredible.

Pioneering Conservation in Angola

Angola in southern Africa is an often overlooked destination that’s brimming with sweeping natural drama and charismatic native fauna. Pelorus can transport you into an exclusive experience where you and your family will assist in the conservation of Angola’s elephant population. The journey is an affecting educational adventure for young minds highlighting the fragility of our ecosystems.

With experts alongside, you’ll helicopter over Angola’s vast plains, Sub-Saharan desert, and sparkling rivers to locate elephants before darting and collaring them. On foot or by 4×4, you and your family will then go on safari while learning about the history of this rich and varied nation along the way. Once you reach the Cuanavale River’s source lakes, you’ll snorkel and see the unusual, rarely seen denizens of these waters before an atmospheric night fly-camping in the wilderness.

Svalbard yacht charter & polar bear safari 

Take a yacht charter with your family to the wildlife capital of the Arctic—implacable Svalbard. Among its glaciers, frosted tundra and soaring sea cliffs, numerous rare animals and birds make their home in the archipelago’s inhospitable embrace.

As your children try to work out if they’re the most northerly members of your extended family ever, search for well-camouflaged polar bears from the back of a powerful snowmobile or a thrilling dog sled, depending on ages.

With naturalists from the Norwegian Polar Institute, you’ll take to the water, skirting immense walrus colonies and assisting in the institute’s project to identify arctic species while also coming close to immense walrus colonies. A different side of Svalbard will be discovered at a visit to a ghost Russian mining town which, following Chernobyl, emptied of its inhabitants overnight. Banish the eeriness when you return to your cozy yacht for family games deep into the Arctic evening.

Conserving Minke Whales at the Great Barrier Reef

Navigate to the Great Barrier Reef on your luxury yacht where your family will have a chance to join the Minke Whale Project. An expert guide will help the younger members of your family grasp the objectives of this initiative while you’ll all assist by gathering data and physically tagging these gentle whales.

Next you’ll enter the sea for a youth-tailored adventure. Dive master on hand, bring your children into near proximity to these placid mammals. With the reef’s abundance of underwater species, look out for rays and sharks among the rainbow of coral and teeming fish below. Use your yacht’s add-ons to explore this mesmerizing undersea world further,  or try sustainable fishing on the reef before searing your catch on a grill set up on a secluded strip of sand.  

Kenya & Tanzania safari by sea and land

This stretch of the East African coast makes for an incredible family yacht charter. Where savannah meets the sea, the possibilities for an epic vacation for all ages are almost limitless, on red-hued soil and beneath the azure waves. Experiences include sandboarding down huge dunes, diving caves and swimming with dolphins, going on a safari horseride and carving up Kenya’s crystalline surf.

Spending the night in your luxury tent, as the stars fade into the golden dawn you’ll already be awake and on safari for the Big Five. Discover the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s work with orphaned elephants and dive to explore shipwrecks before gliding alongside manta rays and mammoth whale sharks.

Onto Zanzibar, seeing the unique flora and fauna of this tropical paradise on foot, or discovering its shallows with one of the yacht’s added extras. End every day with an scintillating African sunset seen from your aft deck while sharing a family debrief of incredible adventures.