Kumuka, The Peoples Choice - Venture Magazine Issue #3 Pages 20-21
Geoff Martin: My friends & I
Geoff Martin took part in yachting and diving trips around the South Pacific for ten years before hooking up with Kumuka. Since then he’s used Kumuka’s expertise to organise tailor-made trips to almost a dozen destinations around the globe. With all the tricky logistics out of the way, he’s free to enjoy the journeys and play guide for groups of his interested friends. Venture talked to the traveller turned tour leader down the line at his home at Hallidays Point on the north coast of New South Wales.
Q What got you hooked on travel?
When I was 13 my dad took me to New Zealand. I thought it
was amazing. Culturally you could hardly distinguish it
from home in Australia, yet the scenery and the whole outdoor
experience made me feel like I was on another planet. Seeing
the geysers at Rotorua, walking on Mount Cook’s Tasmin
glacier… I remember hobnail boots. My goodness. It
made a deep impression.
Q What’s been your best travel
experience?
That’s so hard, as there have been so many. If I had
to pick one place that was really special, it would be the
Nazca lines in Peru. They are enormous designs cut into
the desert that you can see only from the air. We used a
light plane to put them in perspective – they are
gigantic. It’s hard to comprehend how they were made
without someone directing from above. I’d read Von
Daniken, so I knew a little bit about them, but they just
blew me away.
Q Tell us about Kumuka. How did
that relationship come about?
I picked up a Kumuka brochure at a travel agent and it looked
very good, better than the typical tour operator drivel.
They gave me the impression that they knew their stuff,
and really understood the cultures they visited. So, me
being me, I asked around at my local club to see if anyone
wanted to join me and found 12 to 14 people straight away.
I rang Kumuka and Helen Dwyer (Kumuka’s Asia Operations
Manager) came up to talk to us as a group. She told us so
much – I was very impressed. Since then we’ve
become great friends and I continue to use Kumuka to plan
the logistical aspects of the trips that I lead my friends
on.
Q How did your first trip go? And
where did you go?
We went to South America and it was fantastic. I was particularly
pleased because Kumuka was able to create something that
I hadn’t seen offered anywhere else. They were able
to create different itineraries for each individual on the
trip. For instance, they organised it so 16 of us could
trek up to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail, while 8 others
could relax in Cusco for a few days before catching the
train to meet up with us at the ruins. Incredible.
Q What inspired you to start being
an informal tour leader?
I was in Nepal raising money for the Fred Hollows foundation,
which was working to cure eye problems in developing countries.
While there I got really hooked on trekking and I conquered
a couple of personal targets, including guiding a dozen
people over a 6400m pass. Leading that group was very challenging,
especially since we were waylaid by Maoists for five days
and had to negotiate our passage. We even temporarily lost
a Sherpa down a crevasse at one point. That journey made
me realise I had a natural ability to lead. That trek was
my personal Everest.
Q Good leaders learn from their
mistakes. What did you learn on that first trip?
Not to stay at the Radisson in Kathmandu. I was totally
insulated – I hated it.
Q What makes a good trip?
Ensuring that everyone knows what to expect. After that,
I’d say good group dynamics and plenty of free time.
That’s another big plus point about Kumuka, they programme
in so much free time. My motto is to give people space and
freedom, never promise what you can’t deliver and
then do your best to beat their expectations. You can gather
a group together like a clutch of chickens and they’ll
follow you, but they’ll be pecking each other in no
time. Give them some freedom and it’s a much smoother
ride.
Q I hear you’ve recently been
to Africa
I took a group with Kumuka to Kenya and Tanzania last year,
doing a safari and climbing the little hill. What a memorable
experience. I don’t think I have the words to describe
that first evening on the plains, with the tents and the
Maasai guides, and the animals dotting the horizon. While
I got used to being surrounded by wildlife, there were always
moments of utter surprise…witnessing a crocodile waiting
at a waterhole for an unwary wildebeest or watching a cheetah
make a kill. They are all indelible memories.
Q How did you travel on that trip?
On a Kumuka overland truck most of the time. It was incredibly
big, but it was the best vehicle for the job. Besides being
so reliable, it was very very slow, which means you absorb
more of your surroundings. It’s not a case of shooting
from A to B; you get a fantastic exposure to the culture
and the landscape.
Q What’s the next trip you’re
planning? And is Kumuka involved?
My next adventure is to Asia. We’ll be trekking part
of the Great Wall of China, visiting Xian and then riding
on the new rooftop of the world train across the Tibetan
plateau to Lhasa, Tibet. From there we’ll head to
the Nepal border for a ten-day trip to the Kanshung ‘Hidden’
face of Everest. Hopefully we’ll visit Sir Edmund
Hillary’s base camp before finishing the trip in Kathmandu.
Is Kumuka involved? Definitely.
Q Staying in the Radisson again
in Kathmandu?
No! I’ll hole up in some half-star place in Durbar
Square, surrounded by locals and banana pancakes. That’s
more my style.
Geoff
- AGE Still counting.
- PROFESSION I run a camping store.
- SCARIEST MOMENT It’s a toss up between two scuba diving experiences, both in volcanic tubes. One situation occurred beneath an active volcano in the Solomon Isles, while the other involved sharing my air with a friend who lost his supply due to an o-ring failure.
- WHAT LANGUAGES DO YOU SPEAK? Only enough Italian to get me into trouble. I find it’s better to stick to English.
- YOU’RE SUDDENLY RICH. WHERE WOULD YOU LIVE? I’d stay where I am, but I’d spend more time in France, Italy and Germany. And I’d visit Africa more.
