About Heritage Expeditions

Heritage Expeditions was formed in 1984, as a way of increasing awareness and conservation of the natural world through responsible expedition travel. Founded by Rodney and Shirley Russ, Rodney was a biologist working for the New Zealand Wildlife Service. Through his work with Kakapo, Chatham Island Black Robin and other endangered species he appreciated that rather than locking wilderness areas away, it was important to share them with people so that they might become 'ambassadors' advocating and supporting conservation efforts. He has long held the view that conservation and responsible travel are partners, that together can achieve what might otherwise be unachievable.

From those small beginnings Heritage Expeditions, which is still family-owned and run, now by Rodney and Shirley's sons Aaron and Nathan Russ, operates its own ships – 140-guest expedition ship Heritage Adventurer and 18-guest expedition yacht Heritage Explorer on expedition cruises into the 'heart of Antarctica' the Ross Sea, the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia, around the islands of Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Philippines, Australia's iconic Kimberley Coast and coastal New Zealand and Fiordland, Stewart Island and Marlborough Sounds. Each authentic, small-ship expedition cruise is meticulously planned and led ensuring expeditioners maximise every opportunity they have to learn and experience as much as possible about the region, while at the same time minimising the impact of their visit.

Today Heritage Expeditions works from modern purpose-built offices in Christchurch, New Zealand. When booking with us you benefit from the enormous wealth of experience, knowledge and passion of our team for the destinations we visit.


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Heritage - Where we go

Please pass on a big thank you from us to Nathan and the wonderful young team he has working with him. What a great experience it was. We hit some very rough weather and they were tremendous throughout. I would like to especially thank the kitchen staff who gave us fantastic meals. Under those conditions …

Alana & Greg Dare
I have just been on your Birding Down Under expedition with my husband and we were blown away by the amount, and diversity, of wildlife we saw. I would like to say what an amazing trip we have had. Your whole crew were just wonderful. Always friendly, helpful and caring. The food onboard was just …

Claire Day
Tender moments you never forget

Archie
I have been meaning to email you for ages to tell you how much I enjoyed the Forgotten islands expedition 15- 22 December. The whole trip was fantastic, I thoroughly enjoyed it......meals were amazing, great cabin and room mates, lectures superb and the zodiac trips and land content were something I will not forget (great …

Diana
It was quite simply excellent. Superb great ship, stable for birding, great food, exceptionally well led, some great presentations, fabulous islands with amazing penguin and albatross colonies, and great organisation to get us off the ship and maximise off-ship activities. Quite simply, HE has delivered a fabulous experience. Thank you. And after this experience I …

Mike Hunter
It is always well worth to see and feel different parts of our blue earth, to meet different people and see another landscape and animals. A worthwhile trip, a lot of people will enjoy this, just like I did.

Atie
I want to recognise the excellent experience I had during this trip, well done to the whole team on board and remote support team in NZ. Additionally, I want to share with Rodney the fantastic support we got from the local Russian partner in PK: whilst we were waiting for 12 hours for our flight, …

Jean
International travel is as important to me as the food I eat. Without it, I'm simply not fuelled. I feel most alive when I'm exploring and discovering new places and ways of being in the world. I think I've counted nearly 40 countries visited so far, but none of these previous travel experiences compare to …

~ Anonymous
Looking over the crater lakes from the top of the track was my highlight. It was fantastic just to see the views and that wild volcanic activity from above.

Philip
I had a fantastic time in Fiordland and being a professional photographer I was in seventh heaven. It's taken me years to save for this once in a lifetime trip and I'm still in Fiordland mode. We had 6 days of rain and saw that many waterfalls, it almost became a sick joke. "Oh look, …

Pat Greenfield
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