Supporting charity

Responsible & sustainable travel; something to be proud of; far from supporting a charity because it’s the “thing to do these days”, we are proud that Compass was formed in 2007 off the back of a successful fundraising ride across Siberia for www.fan.asn.au, an Australian based support network set up to provide real hands on support for those with the rare neurological disease of Friederichs Ataxia.

From the first tour sold in 2007 until today, we still support F.A.N and Compass co-founder Mick McDonald penned a book, “The Biggest Mistake of our Lives”, with all proceeds going to F.A.N

It’s a story of a fundraising battle and the subsequent ride across an unknown region of the world, it’s a story of some of the characters we met in some of earth’s most inhospitable regions, it’s a story on how this ride eventually led to the establishment of Compass Expeditions.

Supporting local business & communities

We are dedicated to supporting the local communities we visit and try to create a positive impact wherever we ride. We source what we can locally, use local mechanics and parts suppliers, stay in family or community owned accommodations, where possible, thus contributing to the welfare of the local communities.

We team up with small localised support networks that offer real on the ground solutions to problems experienced in the destinations we ride to.

For over a decade we have supported a small primary school on the remote Bolivian altiplano and each group that visits the school delivers clothes, school supplies and fresh fruit & veggies. It’s a wonderful couple of hours spent with the children and a great and, sometimes emotional, time is enjoyed by everyone, especially the kids.

We also deliver clothes, shoes, water and textiles to the Herero & Himba women of remote Namibia, we don’t make a big deal out of it or organise the entire community to come out and dance for us, we simply deliver, share a few words and move on.

Taking care of the environment

Compass endeavours to be as sustainable as possible wherever we ride, for the good of the local environment and for the greater good of the planet.

We provide all riders with an aluminium water bottle, that is yours to keep, that will be filled via our large water bottle purchases thus eliminating the use of small plastic water bottles. We use only paper plates for our picnic lunches and take out what we take in.

We have also invested heavily in our Compass Expeditions App that will see a great reduction in paper documents sent out in the post.