Natural Environment Blog

International travel travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, have partnered with Australian based conservation organization, Rainforest Rescue, to help ensure that Australia’s ancient Daintree rainforest is protected forever.

Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), who specialize in luxury journeys across seven continents, is supporting Rainforest Rescue’s “Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever” project.

About the Project

This Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever project identifies, and purchases precious rainforest at risk of development and establishes nature refuge status which protects it forever under Queensland law. 

Since it started in 2000, the project has purchased and protected 10 properties in the Daintree, thanks to individuals’ donations and corporate support. These are properties that could otherwise have been purchased by a developer wanting to build.

About the Daintree

The Daintree rainforest is located in Tropical Far North Queensland Australia, just north of Cairns. The Daintree is among the most significant regional ecosystems in the world.

The Daintree contains the largest range of plants and animals anywhere on Earth. Unfortunately, it also contains the highest number of threatened species anywhere on Earth.

At more than 135 million years old, the Daintree rainforest is also among the oldest rainforests in the world.

Although the Daintree rainforest is a World Heritage Listed area, many parts are still not protected and are under theat from development. 

The Partnership

As part of the partnership, A&K will be encouraging its clients to visit the Daintree rainforest, to learn about the region, as well as to learn about this project. 

A&K, who are also involved with Friends of Conservation, see travel as a way of educating individuals in the diversity of culture and the untamed beauty of the natural world. 

“A&K has always believed passionately in adventures that both respect the natural environment and benefit indigenous peoples.  Our long held philosophy is governed in equal parts by this unswerving commitment to conservation whilst creating lasting travel experiences. It is this thinking that has lead to the establishment of A&K Philanthropy and the announcement of this initiative with Rainforest Rescue. We aim to make a difference whilst giving A&K travellers the most inspiring lifetime experiences.” says Jorie Butler Kent, Vice Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent Group, who is also founder of A&K Philanthropy. 

Rainforest Rescue Corporate Partnerships Manager, Lana Nancarrow said ”It’s great to have organisations like Abercrombie & Kent supporting us, as with many of our other corporate partners, they’re business philosophy is founded on a strong commitment to conserving our natural environment”.

Rainforest Resue has been in business for over 10 years now, and have been busy establishing a number of projects dedicated to conservation.  They are completely supported by donations from individuals, philanthropists, business sponsorship and foundation grants. They do not receive government funding.

After living in Sydney (Australia) for many years, I decided to do the big “sea change” and move to a smaller, more relaxed town (well “city” actually).

I got in my car and drove around 3,000 kilometers north to a relatively small city called Cairns. Cairns is a coastal city with a huge tourism trade. Much of the tourism centers around natural attractions such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.

My drive north took just over a week. It’s possible to do the trip in about 3 days but I wanted to take my time. Some people take weeks, but I had a car full of belongings so I decided not to take too much time. A week gave me a good feel for many of the beautiful places along the way and I got some nice photos out of it too!

I’ve now been in Cairns for around 5 months and I love it! I can cycle most places I need to go and there are plenty of natural attractions to take advantage of. So far, this seachange has been perfect!

Check out my Sydney to Cairns photos.