As ambassador for Nikon Europe, wildlife charity Tusk and conservation organisation WildArk, acclaimed fine-art photographer David Yarrow has travelled the length and breadth of the globe to capture his inimitable black-and-white images of the most iconic and endangered creatures that we share our planet with. His work has been exhibited in some of the world's leading galleries, while his iconic polar bear image 78 Degrees North - shot during a Natural World Safaris expedition to Svalbard in 2017 - is currently on sale at London's Maddox Gallery for close to £50,000. David led a further Svalbard safari with us in April 2019, as well as an expedition to the remote island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic in November 2018. You can watch the spell-binding footage from this latter trip, captured by Netflix filmmakers Untitled Film Works, on Vimeo.

I have, to date, only led trips with Natural World Safaris as it is a partnership that works well. They do not compromise and neither do I.

A long-held passion for wildlife and the natural world has seen Kate Humble feature in a cavalcade of much-loved television programmes, like Springwatch and Animal Park. She also involves herself in charity work for a number of conservation organisations, from the RSPB to the Marine Conservation Society. In July 2018, we were lucky enough to have the veteran BBC presenter join us as specialist leader on one of our Svalbard Polar Bear Explorer expeditions. In August 2019 she travelled with us again, at the helm of the first all-female-guided expedition to the Arctic, in an effort to smash the "ice ceiling" that affects women in Arctic tourism.

The combination of knowledge of both the landscape, and the ice, with some luck, and a flexible itinerary, meant we not only saw over 30 polar bears throughout the trip, we also witnessed some really wonderful behaviour. It was this that made our Svalbard safari a completely stand-out wildlife-watching experience.

The high-octane life of Steve Backshall has taken him across the globe on adventure after adventure. His Deadly 60 TV series, in which Steve tracks down the world's most fearsome creatures, earned him a BAFTA in 2011. When not on our screens, Steve can often be found on expeditions around the globe, from extreme kayaking on Bhutan's last unexplored river to traversing the searing heat of Oman's Jebel Akhdar mountain range. Steve proposed to his wife, GB Olympic rower Helen Glover, while travelling with us to Namibia in 2015. Since then he's led NWS trips to Kenya and Svalbard. In 2019 he and Helen took their baby boy Logan on his first safari, along South Africa's famous Garden Route.

NWS are the best tour operator I’ve ever encountered. The feeling is of a family firm, an organisation that delves into the particular needs and dreams of each individual client. More and more I’ve found myself calling NWS when I need advice, when I need the very best wildlife experiences that no-one else knows about.

Self-publishing her first travel guidebook in 1974, Hilary Bradt has since grown Bradt Travel Guides into one of the most recognisable names in the industry, offering more than 200 travel and wildlife titles. The company's commitment to quality reporting and reputation as a pioneer in little-known and frontier destinations has led to numerous awards. Hilary herself received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers in 2009, while in 2008 she was awarded an MBE for services to the tourist industry and to charity. Hilary is a patron of the British charity Money for Madagascar, and it was the "Red Island" to which Hilary led her first Natural World Safaris expedition.

The trip exceeded expectations. We saw nine of the ten primate species, all of the hornbills, and some extraordinary invertebrates; indeed I would count it as the most rewarding rainforest experience I've ever had. Wonderful!