WHO WE ARE

Having travelled to over 120 countries, ElderTreks' CEO and founder knew he had extreme wanderlust at a very young age. One of Gary's first memories as a child, perhaps as earlier as 3 years of age, was watching National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau with his father and likely the inspiration for his first unofficial career choice, "world explorer".

Gary graduated with a degree in Physics but has always enjoyed sports and politics, including local and world issues. Contributing to a sustainable world and supporting worthy charities is an important part of Gary's outlook and an integral part of ElderTreks' philosophy. Supporting numerous schools, orphanages (including building one in Uganda), wildlife causes and traveling with a caring, sustainable attitude are all part of his travel philosophy.

Travel highlights include living with Shapivo Indians in the Amazon, standing 2 meters from a silverback gorilla, petting a wild grey whale, living in communist Poland, exploring many of the world's greatest temples and monuments such as Angkor, Bagan, Persepolis, Machu Picchu, the Coloseum, the Parthanon, the Great Pyramids of Giza, Abu Simbel, Luxor and Karnak temples, numerous Mayan temples and living in the jungle with some of the most fascinating tribal people including Zulu, Bushman, Maasia, Mentawai, Dayak, various hilltribes of SE Asia, Haida, Shapivo and Pemon Indians and much more. There are actually too many to list everything here but fortunately there are still so many bucketlist items to left to experience.

Despite all of Garys travel experiences, nothing makes him happier than to hear a returning traveller who says "That was the best trip of my life!"

Diane has over 25 years of experience in the travel industry, specializing in adventure and cultural tours. She studied photography in Canada before taking her love of travel and photography on the road. She's worked in commercial, newspapers and travel photography and led photographic tours in Nepal, Tibet, Indonesia, Guatemala and Brazil. Some of her journey highlights include the Pantanal in Brazil, West Coast of New Zealand, Orangutans in Borneo, the people of Iran and Vietnamese Pho! Diane has been part of the ElderTreks for 9 years in both operations and as a Trip Specialist. She loves to talk travel! She's participated on the ElderTreks' programs to Iran, Colombia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, and Greenland and Labrador trips. Her dream ElderTreks destinations include Africa, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Her personal goal is visiting the Polynesia nations around the world.

Candice has always been interested in seeing the world, especially lush, tropical, and green places with lots of animals. She has been fortunate enough to travel to Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, the Arctic, Canada and the US. Her dream trip is to visit Papua New Guinea. Candice has worked in many different industries honing her skills from managing a daycare, insurance, movies & television to vet clinics. She has been in sales with ElderTreks for over a year and a half, and her favorite thing about working for the company is the amazing people she works with and learning about the places she dreams of seeing!

Peter has been with ElderTreks for 8 years. He has previously worked in the UK in sales for Armani and worked in Sweden as a bartender and bar backup before heading to Toronto to work in Sales and Air for Trafalgar tours. He has travelled to Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, UK, Norway, Czech Republic, Spain and other countries in Europe. His favourite thing about ElderTreks are the people he works with.

Rhea joined the ElderTreks team in October 2012 and has worked in the hotel and travel industry for over 20 years. A first generation Greek-Canadian, Rhea has a degree in languages and speaks Greek, Spanish and French. She has traveled all over Europe, Central & South America, Northern Africa and the Caribbean. Her next adventure may take her to Sri Lanka or Colombia. Her last trip with ElderTreks was to Morocco where she rode a camel in the desert for the first time. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and friends and is an avid swimmer.

Gillian is a valuable member of the ElderTreks team, wearing many different hats! She takes care of booking packages, accounting, insurance and so much more. She is a longstanding member of the team, having been with the company for almost 15 years. She loves working with the people here because she finds them so easy going and fun to work with. Although she hasn't done too much traveling, Gillian would love to visit the Great Wall of China. She loves spicy foods and loves trying new foods and cuisines.

Tine graduated from university with a degree in Anthropology/Sociology, and before deciding on a career path, she set out to explore the world. A 14 month journey through New Zealand, Australia and South-east Asia solidified her love of travel and strong desire to keep the adventure going! She started in the travel industry in 1995 and worked in the Group Operations Department and as a Tour Leader. She joined ElderTreks in 2001 where she worked as a Trip Specialist for many years and now oversees the contracts and costings of all the trips. She has had many incredible travel opportunities through ElderTreks and has been able to fulfil a lifelong dream of visiting all the continents, with a journey to Antarctica in 2003 as the final 7th continent.

Glen was born in Toronto Ontario, but raised in a small town along the shores of Georgian Bay in northern Ontario. Hailing from a proud "newfie" family, he has had a passion for travel ever since many childhood summers spent back "home" in Newfoundland. Glen is a trained chef and has worked in many facets of the travel & hospitality industry such as; chef for Delta hotels, flight attendant, travel agent, and many years in management within the cruiseline industry. His passion for travel has taken him all over the globe, and has travelled extensively through Cuba, making him our resident Cuban expert. Glen joined ElderTreks in 2017 and with his 18+ years in the in the travel industry along with his passion for customer service and adventure travel, he is right at home with ElderTreks.

Emily joined the ElderTreks team in 2017 and loves working with the team and getting to know the ElderTreks clients. Emily has worked in travel and tourism for 14 years and has enjoyed many aspects of the industry. She has been to many countries and her favourites ( so far ) have been Italy, Germany, Kenya and Thailand. Her biggest passions are travel, animals and baking.