Aqua-Firma is a company driven by a long-developed passion for exploring and conserving the best of our planet's wilderness and wildlife - in particular where land and water meet. The areas surrounding the great oceans, rivers, lakes and icecaps can provide some of the most dramatic encounters with wildlife and the natural world.
Our experiences have been created by our own marine and environmental scientists, professional photographers, sailors and divers, conservationists, researchers and leading naturalist guides; people who have a passion to communicate the environments they know best. The result is the opportunity to experience wilderness locations in ways which are invigorating, enlightening and responsible.
Conservation of the places we visit is a priority for us and our first objective is to minimize any potential impact your visit with us may have. More than that, through many of the experiences we offer make an active positive contribution towards the research and conservation of some of the world's most important and endangered wildlife and wilderness areas.
Supporting Marine Research
Whale Shark & Manta Ray Research experiences
In Mexico, we take small groups to snorkel amongst the world's largest known aggregation of whale sharks and Atlantic giant manta rays, in the company of leading local and international researchers whose work the company funds. The most whale sharks we have seen from our research vessel in Mexico is about 250, with as many Giant Mantas Rays to snorkel with beneath the water. Our partner research teams are convinced that they are a short distance away from proving that the giant mantas we see here are a separate species from the two so far identified.
In northern Madagascar, Komodo in Indonesia, the Galapagos Islands and at Mafia Island in Tanzania, Aqua-Firma is a prime sponsor for whale shark and manta ray research with our partner the Marine Megafauna Foundation. These are stunning locations to share the water with Ocean Giants, as well as much more marine life besides.
Our in-house marine scientists also lead trips to snorkel, dive and photograph penguins, whales, orcas, dolphins, coral reefs and more. Experiences range from Humpback Whale birthing and breeding grounds of the Caribbean Silverbanks, to Mexico's Socorro Island and Baja California, the Galapagos Islands, Indonesia and both polar regions.
Rainforest4Climate
As a leading Polar travel company, we decided at our inception to keep a Rainforest4Climate Fund which we use to help offset the carbon emissions of client polar voyages and flights. This covers travel to Spitsbergen, Greenland, Canada, Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands. We also add to this fund for each journey we operate to lowland Amazon and cloud forests in Ecuador and Peru.
In January, we committed to fund the creation of a 10,000 acre protected forest reserve within a proposed 5.9 million acres of national park, national reserve and 57 community owned territories in Amazonian Peru. We also committed to fund the protection of more than 1,000 acres of rainforest in Madagascar.
Whilst we take people to see rainforest and wildlife throughout the Tropics, we can also take you to see project sites where we can provide a deeper insight into conservation in action with partners such as Rainforest Concern and the Rainforest Trust. One of our favourite spots for this is in Costa Rica, where rainforest meets a remote beach and hundreds of leatherback and green turtles come to lay their eggs. Others include community ecotourism programmes in Ecuador's Amazon and Choco-Andes; and a stunning new 76,000 acre reserve of forests, rivers, hills and waterfalls in Madagascar where we continue to fund an assist the conservation and research of Lemurs and the rare Golden Mantella Frog.