About us

“There is no place to see less of the world than from the seat of a car”

So said Eric Newby in his Himalayan classic, “A short walk in the Hindu Kush” in 1956, and he had it right: this has been our inspiration to get out of the car and onto our bikes, on our feet, or other modes of transport and experience the 360 degree world as it is; smell it, see it, hear it and feel it.

Many people have asked us over the years, so how did Unique Trails get started and how does it all work? Basically, it was Mads…he was living (read ‘biking’) in Kathmandu and wanted to find a way to keep on biking and the answer to the question was to get together with great people in amazing places and run biking trips around the world.

So, it started off like a collective of professional guides and mountain biking operators who had got to know each other and liked the way each did their thing. The group ran trips all over the world and linked up in terms of guests, marketing and running amazing, fun biking adventures. This meant that no-one had to try and be expert at everything, but could focus on their own region and then just link up with the good guys in the other places.

We now have trips all over the world, run by people we know and trust and who do business in the same way – maximising local benefits such as employment, looking after the environment and respecting local cultures.

These days Mads and Clare live in Kathmandu with their son Oskar and in 2013 Amanda joined the team as well. Amanda spent 7 months in Kathmandu working with the UT team and now bases herself at home in Australia or wherever she finds herself around the world! So between the 3 of them, Mads, Clare and Amanda, they manage the website and handle enquiries and the ‘sales’ process (which we find is more like a fun journey of getting to know people, since we like to tailor make adventures for each person or group’s interests), but it’s still essentially the same group of people running trips all over the world. We have been getting to meet many more amazing people over the years and will keep on adding destinations and quirky adventures as we go along, so keep an eye out for new stuff on the site – or just ask us.

On that note, another change has been the addition of more than biking…we now go on pony treks in the arid Tibetan Plateau; head out on motorbike journeys on either classic bikes or off road bikes; we love to trek, so we added that in as well; and last, but not least, we also hook you up with amazing multi-adventure trips which combine anything from trekking, to rafting, to elephant riding, to motorbikes, to paragliding and ponies – and we can do this roughing it or in luxury! This is so much fun, we hope to keep adding new and cool ideas for a long time to come!

As biking, trekking, riding and just ‘getting there’ by any means adventurers ourselves, we delight in designing custom trips to suit your interests, time frame and budget – contact us to begin your most awesome adventure ever!