Our story

Built by guides, and still run by them

Arctic Tern Expeditions is deliberately small. Small enough to follow the conditions, stay with the animal, and let the best moments take the time they take.

Co-founder

Guillaume de Remacle

Expedition designer, co-founder, and the person who answers when you book a call. Guillaume goes by Gui to everyone who travels with him. Thirteen years of travel have taken him from a winter at Port Lockroy, the museum and post office at the end of the world, to West Africa, Asia and South America, and the thread running through all of it is people: he builds a trip around the cultures you will meet, the ways they live and pray and believe, and the animals you will stand near. An experienced polar guide who is just as at home in Nepal or the Congo Basin, he leads with humility, close attention to how his guests are doing, and a great deal of passion.

Co-founder · Expedition designer · Polar guide

The creed

Explore. Engage. Conserve.

Explore

No fixed itinerary. Each morning the team reads the ice chart, the weather and yesterday's sightings, and decides. We don't rush. We explore.

Engage

You meet the people, not just the wildlife. In Uganda, Ride 4 A Woman hosts us and Ziwa’s rangers walk with us. In the Congo, Prince opens doors in his own country.

Conserve

We tell the whole conservation story, the wins and the setbacks. At Ziwa the rhino herd has grown from 6 to 42. The carbon work happens quietly, published for anyone who asks.

The team

The people at the rail with you

Guillaume “Gui” de Remacle

Co-founder · expedition designer · polar guide

“The animals are half of it. The other half is the people who live alongside them.”

Brent S. Stewart, Ph.D.

Scientific advisor · marine research

Award-winning scientist, explorer, author, photographer and athlete, doing marine research out of San Diego since 1977.

Phil Hunter

Co-founder · expedition leader · marine biologist

More than 100 expeditions to the high latitudes, by kayak, powerboat and on foot.

Dr. Marcelo Flores

Expedition leader · doctorate in marine ornithology

Chilean marine biologist specializing in seabirds, and a polar guide at home from Patagonia to the pack ice.

Renato Granieri

Wildlife photographer · leads the Uganda departures

Official chimpanzee ambassador for the Tacugama Sanctuary, behind the lens on three continents.

Prince Koulandissa

Expert local guide · the Congo departures

Larger than life, and known for making the impossible possible.

Why the tern?

The Arctic tern migrates from pole to pole, the longest journey of any animal on Earth. Terns feed by plunge-diving, total commitment, perfect timing. It's how we travel, too.

Ready? Dive in.

See the 2027 Expeditions

Fair winds and following seas.