Boutique travel agencies are redefining adventure for Singaporeans
It begins in the dark, long before dawn, when the comforts of home feel furthest away. A guide rouses the group, and within minutes, they are stumbling across sand or forest paths, chasing a fleeting moment that no hotel concierge could ever schedule.
Whether it’s a turtle nest hatching under the stars on a beach, a dawn hunt with Tanzania’s Hadzabe tribe (one of the world’s last true hunter-gatherer tribes), or spending a night or two camping in a canyon, these experiences are raw, unpredictable, and profoundly memorable.
For a growing number of Singaporeans, that is the point of travel. Instead of choosing between luxury resorts or budget backpacking, they are turning to boutique adventure companies, paying thousands for immersive experiences. They ask travelers to trade air‑conditioning for authenticity, and in return offer something rarer—trust, intimacy, and connection.
Operators such as The Untold Direction, Adventure Together, and Jambo Journeys are meeting this demand, creating trips for those willing to be “comfortably uncomfortable.” We spoke to the millennials leading these group trips to find out what’s piquing Singaporeans’ interest in travelling together on such tours.
Getting “up close & personal” with the local way of life
Typically, these boutique agencies run small groups of fewer than 10 people on longer tours—often 10 days to over two weeks—designed to satisfy a deeper curiosity in history, culture, and nature, rather than the quick, surface-level sightseeing of conventional tourist hotspots.
On The Untold Direction’s more off-the-beaten-path trips, travelers, equipped with just their backpacks, share open sleeper-train compartments with locals, traders, and students. Its founder, 27-year-old Ganesha Balakrishnan, explains that this close contact breaks the typical tourist bubble, fostering authentic engagement with the people and places they encounter.
“You get up close and personal with the local way of life,” he said. Around 90% of the company’s operations focus on Central Asia and the Silk Road, with deep dives into the “Five Stans”: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Ganesha has gradually added itineraries in the Caucasus and Pakistan, too, but Central Asia remains the company’s core.
Operating on a strict grassroots philosophy, Ganesha relies on public transport and wild camping. This approach allows travelers to experience local life as authentically as possible while supporting the local population through tourism.
Groups are capped at six people to preserve the intimate “traveling with friends” vibe and to fit onto local buses and trains. In countries like Turkmenistan—“a bit like North Korea,” he noted—travelers must accept being offline for seven days.
Adventure Together applies the same philosophy but in a different context. Founded by 32-year-old Nicole Lim and her father, Marvyn Lim, the company focuses on ethical, immersive wildlife tourism and conservation activities rather than polished tourism.
Their footprint spans Southeast Asia—Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos—while longer-haul trips reach South Africa and Kyrgyzstan. Planned expansions include Finland, Peru, and Botswana, with more destinations to come as demand for off-the-beaten-path experiences keeps growing.
Some environmental conservation activities carried out by the group include planting trees in Borneo for orangutans, and helping nestling sea turtles before releasing them at night in Tioman, Malaysia. These experiences often involve staying in rustic accommodations, such as kelotok river safari boats.
Building trust through local expertise
Trust underpins every aspect of these trips. At Jambo Journeys, co-founder 32-year-old Melvyn Koe personally checks out nearly every property before including it in an itinerary, carefully selecting each place and activity.
The boutique travel agency began with tours in Tanzania. There, Melvyn would often visit up to ten lodgings for every one he chose, favouring accommodations that reflected the character of the land—like tented camps in the Serengeti, where sunrise filters through canvas and mesh instead of blackout curtains.
“We want everybody to have a good time because they’ve trusted you with something special—their time,” Melvyn explained.
Since then, he has expanded into East Africa, including Kenya and Uganda, and more recently into Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Armenia—each new region personally inspected before travelers arrive.
For Ganesha, trust is built through direct connections with locals. That’s why The Untold Direction’s guides are people he has met and befriended during his travels—many of whom later joined his agency. These guides eat, sleep, and experience everything alongside travelers, sharing their deep knowledge of the places they grew up in.
Working directly with locals also streamlines logistics, from visas and border crossings to securing good accommodation deals—especially in more closed-off countries like Turkmenistan, where visas are difficult to obtain, and multiple transfers between neighbouring countries are often required.
Hands-on journeys
On these tours, companies design experiences that turn travelers from passive observers into active participants.
With The Untold Direction and Adventure Together, travelers pitch their own tents along high-altitude lakes or deep inside canyons, spending a night—or more—immersed in nature. Through shared effort, they build both confidence and camaraderie, making the adventure as much about connection as the landscape itself.
In Tanzania with Jambo Journeys, that immersion means joining the native Hadzabe tribe to hunt for food during the day and eat game meat.
Meanwhile, in Uganda, travelers get to engage directly with both landscape and wildlife, navigating the steep, slippery trails of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on gorilla treks using wooden walking sticks.
What begins as a practical tool often takes on emotional meaning by the trek’s end. Many are surprised when the Jambo team presents sticks carved by local craftsmen, designed in reattachable pieces to take home.
“They don’t expect it,” said Melvyn. “After all the effort and the tough trails, it becomes something sentimental—a story they can carry with them.”
Strong demand & sold out tours
Despite costing thousands of dollars—depending on the length of the trip and activities—demand for these tours has grown steadily over the years.
Since launching in 2022, Ganesha has grown The Untold Direction to around 150 trips, serving over 1,600 travelers. About 75–80% are women, many of them solo travelers drawn to regions often perceived as intimidating. “Our itineraries sell out months in advance,” he added.
Meanwhile, in 2025 alone, Adventure Together ran 11 trips for roughly 100 travelers. Jambo Journeys, on the other hand, Jambo Journeys has guided around 50 trips for about 300 travelers since its 2023 launch.
Overall, the three companies noted that a significant portion of their clients are millennials, who show particular interest in these immersive, off-the-beaten-path travel experiences.
However, running a boutique travel business is far from a free holiday. Behind every photo-worthy moment, the founders meticulously plan complex flight routings, assess destinations, and continuously coordinate with local connections. Researching new destinations, Nicole said, often “felt like studying for an exam”—intense, but highly necessary.
The lean operational model of these travel agencies make the model viable. All three companies operate primarily digitally, with small teams where everyone wears multiple hats. This keeps overheads low and risk manageable, while allowing growth to be deliberate rather than aggressive. Nonetheless, the founders shared that rising costs in national park fees remain a constant challenge in keeping their trip prices stable.
Food prices in parts of Central Asia have also tripled since 2022. But The Untold Direction has kept trip prices the same for two years, according to Ganesha, by relying on its local guides’ negotiation skills. Not every trip is highly profitable, but the 27-year-old said sustainability comes from looking at the business as a whole rather than individual trips.
A thriving niche
Ultimately, the rise of “comfortably uncomfortable” travel reflects a broader shift in how Singaporeans explore the world.
Rather than ticking off tourist hotspots from a checklist, many are seeking experiences that challenge them physically, mentally, and culturally.
For boutique operators like The Untold Direction, Adventure Together, and Jambo Journeys, this shift has created a thriving niche—one where travelers are willing to spend thousands for authenticity.
- Learn more about The Untold Direction here.
- Learn more about Adventure Together here.
- Learn more about Jambo Journeys here.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Also Read: At 26, this S’porean couple gave up their S$250K annual salary to travel the world
Featured Image Credit: Jambo Journeys/ Adventure Together/ The Untold Direction
Last modified: January 7, 2026
About the Author: Jeremy P.
