World Challenge Expeditions

World Challenge is a for-profit UK provider of overseas adventure travel programs targeted at schools. The company was founded when a young army captain took a team of soldiers on a training mission to the snow-capped Hindu Kush mountain range in Pakistan in 1985. He realised that the personal development and camaraderie learned there would shape the team for years to come. World Challenge was later born from this experience in 1988, which created the school expedition industry.

The company operates in North America, Australia, Middle East, South East Asia and Europe. As a brand within the Travelopia Holdings Limited group, World Challenge is owned by KKR.

Carbon Negative Trips
World Challenge are the world's first climate positive (carbon negative) student travel company and pride themselves on providing sustainable travel. They also produce an impact report every year which calculates their impact on the environment, students, local communities and projects plus much more.

Impact Report 2022

Student-Led Expeditions of 1 to 4 weeks
Depending on the experience selected, the students are in charge of picking the destination and activities from curated lists. They also take it in turns to lead the trip and manage the budget, to empower and develop them outside of the classroom.

Earning It
World Challenge encourages the students to raise as much of their expedition fees as possible, giving guidance and ideas along the way.

Journeys 1 to 2 weeks
A newer offering from World Challenge is the Journey product focussing on global citizenship and cultural literacy. Aside from being shorter the focus is more on community engagement and some rest and relaxation activities. Students have an opportunity to live and work in a local community as well as take a look around the destination they are in. The groups are led by local guides with leaders and teachers adding to the trip supervision.

Sports & Curriculum Tours
World Challenge Australasia now offer sport and curriculum tours, covering subjects like Art, History and Geography, as well as sports like cricket, rugby and netball.

The tours combine the subject or sport into a World Challenge style trip overseas including R&R time and adventurous activities.

Incidents
Vietnam 2001: In July 2001, a 17-year-old student from High Wycombe died after falling over 500m off a mountain whilst on a World Challenge expedition to Vietnam. A report commissioned by Buckinghamshire County Council found the student fell after slipping on a tree root during a storm and her death was ruled to be an accident. Both Buckinghamshire Council and the student's parents criticised the planning and risk assessment of the climb up Mount Fansipan, Vietnam's highest peak, saying that the group leaders did not have any knowledge of the route and should have turned back when they found the route was more steep, exposed and treacherous than they had expected - something that multiple students on the trek had expressed unease about. World Challenge stated, however, that if the group leader "had known every track, it would be against the developmental process".

South Africa 2008: In July 2008, a number of students from Wootton Bassett were swept out to sea whilst playing rugby on a beach near Durban, South Africa during the "Rest and Relaxation" potion of their trip. Their 24-year-old expedition leader, Sean Foxcroft entered the water to try and save them, but despite helping save all the students, he was dragged out to sea and presumed to have drowned.

Morocco 2012: In July 2012, while trekking through the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, a 17-year-old student from Bexley collapsed as temperatures reached 40°C. Despite contacting World Challenge, no arrangements were made for an ambulance or medical transportation and instead, a minibus with no medical personnel arrived over an hour after the student's collapse to transport him to a hospital. Despite attempts at CPR and first aid, the student died on the minibus. At an inquest into the student's death, a teacher on the expedition claimed that a World Challenge ground agent that she had called for help during the incident had later told her; "You can’t say you had a guide because I could be held responsible and I could go to prison". The inquest into the death ruled the cause as misadventure, resulting in dehydration or hyponatremia and criticised World Challenge for their inadequate emergency arrangements and providing inadequate and misleading information about fitness requirements. The students' parents also criticised the company for its lack of fitness and health checks for participants.

Ecuador 2017: In July 2017 a student at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, died while white-water rafting on a World Challenge trip to Ecuador. The company then suspended all white water rafting activity while an investigation took place.

Vietnam 2019: In September 2019 a student with Type 1 diabetes died after becoming ill on a World Challenge trip to Vietnam. A coroner's inquest in the students home country of Australia heard that World Challenge staff and teachers from the student's school failed to recognise the seriousness of his condition and opportunities were missed for appropriate care to be provided.