EXPEDITION GUIDE ACADEMY
About Us
The Expedition Guide Academy delivers training, education and development for the expedition cruise industry. Offering courses to suit both operators and individuals, the EGA’s courses cover a wide range of skills and knowledge relevant to professional expedition guiding. Our courses and assessments for individuals are offered in Denmark and New Zealand.
With over 20 years of experience guiding, instructing and leading groups in the outdoors, our instructors are uniquely positioned to deliver a variety of courses purpose-built for those in or seeking to join the expedition cruise industry.
Our instructors are passionate about shaping and creating professionals in one of the world's most exciting lines of work.
Co-Founder, Instructor and Senior Assessor
Ben Jackson is a New Zealand based guide and has a Degree in Outdoor Education and Adventure Recreation. He has worked as an educator, instructor and guide for the past 20 years.
Ben has been working extensively in the Polar Regions for the better part of a decade as a kayak guide, zodiac driver, lecturer and expedition leader. With 120+ trips in the Polar Regions, Ben has gained an intimate knowledge of expedition operations in the Antarctic, Greenland and Svalbard.
Alongside his Expedition Leading, Ben is a certified Senior Polar Guide and Senior Assessor with a passion for teaching and instructing at the furthest reaches of the earth.
Co-founder, Instructor and Assessor
Pernille Søegaard is from Denmark, has a Degree in Anthropology and has worked as a guide and instructor for the past 14 years.
Guiding in Norway, California, the Arctic and Antarctic, Pernille has amassed a wide range of experience as a naturalist, kayak guide, all-weather zodiac driver and assistant expedition leader. Spending the last 8 years in the Polar Regions, Pernille has completed 90+ trips and is a Senior Polar Guide and Assessor.
With a passion for people and wild places, Pernille enjoys teaching and instructing individuals and groups for the expedition cruise industry. She specialises in small boat driving and interpretation.
Instructor
David Berg is a respected professional polar guide from Gothenburg, Sweden. Dividing his time between the Arctic and Antarctica, he has led expeditions in Svalbard, Greenland, Scotland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica.
In May 2016, David completed an unsupported crossing of Greenland’s inland ice sheet, following in the footsteps of one of his heroes, Fridtjof Nansen. The 600 km-long journey across the ice totalled 27 days. Furthermore, he has spent several winters driving snowmobiles and guiding for Sweden’s IceHotel, often in temperatures dropping down to -40°C
Instructor
Sandra is based in Switzerland. She has a Master's degree in History and film studies. Her passion is the human history of both the Arctic and Antarctica.
Since 2009, Sandra has spent almost three years in total working as a guide and expedition photographer in the polar regions. She is a member of the Polar Tourism Guides Association and certified as a Senior Polar Guide. She is a firearm handler and has spent many trips in Svalbard.
When not on a ship, Sandra works as a freelance historian. In 2018 she published a widely acclaimed book in German dealing with pioneering tourists to cruise Spitsbergen.
Instructor and Assessor
Graeme Snow is based in Adelaide, South Australia and has a professional background in Telecommunications Engineering and IT. It was this career that led to him joining Australia's Antarctic Program in the early 1990s, working at all of Australia's four Antarctic stations and its headquarters in Hobart, Tasmania for the next 25 years.
Since 2006 Graeme has been guiding on small expedition ships, with over 100 voyages in Antarctica and the Arctic, plus trips in Australia, the South Pacific, Central America, Africa and Indian Ocean regions.
A love of travelling and adventure has seen him visit over 60 countries and all seven continents.
A certified Senior Polar Guide and Assessor, Graeme's primary areas of expertise are in small boat driving, navigation, communications and interpretation.