ABOUT GO EXPLORE CROATIA – Active holidays Croatia
Go Explore Croatia is a project that was born out of love towards nature, travel and adventure.
We are Gorana & Davor, founders of Go Explore Croatia and real outdoor enthusiasts. Our adventure travel agency is specialised in hiking, cycling, mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, rafting and yoga adventures. We are here to show you the real Croatia through different outdoor activities – amazing National Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and famous old towns, but also the most remote corners of our country and off the beaten path locations that even many local people don’t know about. Although we can accommodate different group sizes, we like to work with small groups because it gives us the opportunity to connect with all our guests and visit hidden places without spoiling them. So if you decide to travel or partner with us as an agency you can definitely expect an individual approach and responsible travel.
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Croatia is a small but a very varied piece of land where the mountains, plains, forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, coast and more than 1000 islands work together to create an ideal setting for adventure. We always prefer to leave motor vehicles behind and let our legs carry us, sit on a bike or take a boat and paddle to explore this beautiful nature slowly, quietly and with awareness. Whether it’s one of our day trips, multi day tours or an original tailor made adventure that was designed just for you, we promise you an authentic experience where you will breathe some fresh air, get your body moving, immerse yourself into the colorful sights and learn about the local culture and tradition.
Many years of working in the adventure travel field and experience in tourism showed us that safety comes first. That’s why you will be in the hands of not only licensed but also responsible and knowledgeable guides that will lead you through the experience. Good stories, fun approach, some interesting Croatian history, camping fire in the evening or a nice song played on an instrument are always a plus that we like our guides to be able to offer to our guests.
Another side of the story is the impact that our activities have on the planet and the people. Through our actions we do our best to give meaning to the words responsible and sustainable tourism, environmental protection and permaculture. Since we offer very different levels of comfort depending on the specific travel requests and since this type of activities often requires private coaches and a fairly complicated logistics, we use motor vehicles quite a bit, it’s unavoidable. But we try to balance that as much as we can. We recycle, have projects that include cleaning the rivers and beaches. We are currently working on a carbon neutral trip that we hope to release very soon. Local economy and collaboration with local communities is an important aspect of our business. Including them in our packages by organising meals with the local families, using family-run hotels or contracting small local service providers contributes both to their wellbeing and the quality of the services that we offer.
To resume, our goal is to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to all our outdoor enthusiasts. We hope to share some good moments with you and adventure with you soon!
MISSION STATEMENT:
We are dedicated to providing authentic and high-quality adventure experiences that are a great balance of activity, nature and culture.
We carefully select our guides based on their knowledge and skills to provide unforgettable and safe experiences for all our travelers.
We consider it our responsibility to focus on the impact that our activities have on the planet and all people involved. Our goal is to maximize our positive impact and minimize our negative impact as much as we can.
We do our best to give real meaning to the words responsible and sustainable tourism – in our personal lives, as well as in all aspects of our business.
SUSTAINABILITY POLICY:
NEWS
We are a member of Travelife for Tour Operator & Travel Agents scheme, internationally recognized, GSTC-Global Sustainable Tourism Council accredited training, managment & certification program in sustainability in tourism.
ℹ️ Travelife is a three-stage certification program for tour operators and travel agents: (1) Travelife Engaged; (2) Travelife Partner and (3) Travelife Certified. We are currently at stage 2 – Travelife Partner. You can see our company on the the Travelife Partner list by clicking here, our legal company name is Eko Explorations d.o.o.
ℹ️ We comply with more than 100 criteria, related to an operator’s office management, product range, international business partners and customer information. The Travelife Partner level standard is covering the ISO 26000 Corporate Social Responsibility themes, including environment, biodiversity, human rights, and labour relation.
ℹ️ Our goal is to give our contribution to the local community and to the wellbeing of our planet.
OUR GUIDES
DAVOR CERIN
We can’t think of any person whatsoever that doesn’t like Davor. Words that describe him well are authentic, sincere and lovable. We also don’t know a person with so many nicknames, but most people call him Trevor – don’t ask why, no one knows:)
Davor is one of the co-founders of Go Explore Croatia. He is a real outdoor enthusiast, passionately in love with nature and outdoor sports, especially kayaking, paragliding and hiking. And also very passionate about searching for and buying outdoor equipment (his friends will understand this sentence very well:)
He has more than 13 years of experience as outdoor guide. He is a certified guide by the International Rafting Federation, cycling guide, Zagreb city guide and mountain leader.
In his free time he enjoys learning all things related to sustainability and he is passionate about saving the Earth and minimising the ecological footprint. He also enjoys travelling very much. One of his many successful expeditions worth mentioning is a climb to Mt Blanc! Davor’s travels throughout Croatia and beyond, both as a guide and outdoorsman, have provided him with valuable insights into our cultural and natural heritage which he will gladly share with you.
IVAN CAVALA
If you look at our Tripadvisor page, you will see the name Ivan many times, followed by nice adjectives and numerous compliments. We are very lucky to have Ivan on our team. Go Explore Croatia wouldn’t have come this far without him.
Ivan has a background in nature studies and cultivates a profound love for plant & animal world. Our team has travelled together many times and we still can’t get enough of observing Ivan talking to plants and taking endless photos of fascinating animals. We like to say he is tough on the outside but soft on the inside:)
He has been working as outdoor guide for more than 13 years. He is a certified guide by the International Rafting Federation, cycling guide and outdoor guide. He is very well educated and has a lot of guiding experience so if you get him as your guide you can be sure to have interesting talks and find out a lot about Croatia and this region.
In his free time Ivan enjoys agriculture following permacultural principles and holds a degree in permaculture. He lives in Zagreb but not for long as his dream of living outside the city is finally coming true, with new projects coming up!
LOVRO LEPAN
Lovro started with his hiking adventures before he could even walk. On his dad’s back. His parents are the reason he is a real nature lover today.
Up until college he practiced whitewater kayaking as a competitor and later on added rafting competitions to his CV. He has been working as a rafting guide from mid 2000s and as outdoor guide from 2012. In the meantime he practiced different sports like mountain biking, triathlon, in-line speed skating, volleyball and judo, some of them as coach. He has been skiing since he was 5 and working as a licensed skiing instructor for more than 10 years (ISIA international licence). In 2018 he obtained his Whitewater Rescue Technician – Professional certificate.
He has lived in Zagreb his whole life, but prefers to spend time in nature enjoying rivers, mountains and forests. Actively and passively. He is fond of adrenaline but also likes to chill surrounded by nature, that’s his real home. He prefers his hammock over any bed.
His favourite job is working as outdoor guide because of the setting, sharing natural beauties with others and meeting people from other places and cultures. He heartily confirms that the famous one “do what you love, you‘ll never work a day in your life” is very true!
ANA-MARIJA BUNIC
Ana is a team member who works both in the office and as a guide. Although her profession is in social sciences, she has actively been involved in organizing and leading various adventure trips for the past few years, including hiking, cycling, kayaking, and rafting.
She describes herself as a sociable person who enjoys talking and entertaining people with interesting stories and anecdotes from her travels around Croatia and the world.
For more than 8 years, she has actively been involved in rafting and is a member of Croatia’s women’s rafting team. She has an outdoor guide license and is a licensed tourist guide for the city of Zagreb. She loves traveling and camping and has visited over 40 countries worldwide. You can definitely expect to hear interesting and useful tips from her about different cultures, countries, and cost-effective flight tickets.
She loves animals, mountains, and natural medicine and even makes her own cosmetics. She is open-minded and cheerful, and you can ask her anything that interests you. As she would say, “There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.”