Intrepid Business: Heritage Expeditions
Heritage Expeditions is a business that believes conservation and responsible travel go hand in hand, and INTREPID talked to founder Rodney Russ about what makes his business tick.
Heritage Expeditions is a environmentally conscious, family-owned business, which maximises learning and exploring while minimising the impact they have on the environment. Heritage Expeditions have nine staff working from modern purpose built offices in Christchurch, and there are up to eight lecture/naturalist staff onboard on any given expedition.
From its humble beginnings in 1985, Heritage Expeditions now take up to 48 passengers on a Russian, ice-strengthened, 74 metre polar research vessel, the ‘Spirit of Enderby’, to destinations around the world. In our New Zealand summer, there are about seven to eight meticulously planned trips travelling around the Sub-antarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia, including Auckland, Campbell, Macquarie and further south to Commonwealth Bay and the Ross Sea in Antarctica. When the days are shortening in the Sub-antarctics, Heritage Expeditions travel up through the Western Pacific visiting islands en route to Japan on a focused bird watching trip.
Our winter sees the ‘Spirit of Enderby’ exploring the Far Eastern coast of Russia, travelling up through the Arctic Circle to Wrangel Island reknowned for its Polar Bear population. Owner Rodney Russ has a wealth of experience, having worked on the Subantarctic Islands with the Wildlife Service from 1972, and working to save birds like the Kakapo and Black Robin on the New Zealand mainland. “I have completed over 100 trips to the Subantarctic Islands and I still get excited each time,” he says. Collectively, the Russ family has vast experience. Shirley (his wife) and two sons Aaron and Nathan have all led numerous expeditions around the world, and have a great knowledge of the Sub-antarctic Islands. This knowledge is a crucial part of the Heritage experience, and Rodney states the aim is to have at least one family member on board for every expedition.
Rodney states the main goal of the company is to educate people about the ways we can help protect the environment. “The more people that know about these places the better the chance there is of protecting them and its wildlife,” he says. His wish is that his passengers become ‘ambassadors’ and get more actively involved in conservation. Every year, Heritage takes passengers on expeditions that visit Macquarie Island, which is an Australian island ravaged by pests like rabbits and rats. He motivates his passengers to write to the Australian government to do something about the pest problem, and recently this has paid off with the government giving $24 million to the project to eradicate these pests.
Controversially, given today’s scientific atmosphere, Rodney believes he hasn’t noticed any significant climate change effects. “In the Ross Sea this January there was the most ice I have ever seen there”. Rodney has, however, noticed a decline in wildlife, such as the Albatross on many of the islands he visits, and he blames long-line fishing practices for the decrease in numbers. Nevertheless, he says a lot of whales are still seen around the calmer waters near Antarctica, and admits he never sees the whaling boats, as they’re good at hiding from the public.
People often ask Rodney about the ever increasing visitors to Antarctica, and the impact that so many numbers have on this little known, and untouched land mass. He believes that the numbers can be a problem but in turn have also benefited the area, if these visitors come away with an understanding of the fragile beauty of the ecosystem.
“Of the 35,000 tourists to Antarctica last year, only around 200 visited the Ross Sea, so it is still very untouched,” Rodney explains. He says one of the concerns we have for tourism is the large or non-ice strengthened vessels that visit, and the potential danger of a large ship sinking. Heritage Expeditions are full IAATO members and take every measure to ensure the safety of its passengers and crew. Recently several years of research and planning was put into the Russian Far East, working with Russian officials to open up this unexplored wildlife-rich area to Westerners. This research and careful planning has led to it being one of the most sought-after destinations they offer.
