About Ahipara · Since 2001
25 Years.
One Obsession.
Building the relationships that make extraordinary travel possible.
Our Story
Founded on Access.
Built on Trust.
Ahipara began with a simple conviction: the most extraordinary New Zealand experiences aren't in any brochure. They exist behind relationships, with lodge owners, Māori communities, helicopter operators who fly to places with no names on any map.
Jean-Michel Jefferson spent nine years at Price Waterhouse in London and Moscow, latterly as a director in Russia, before founding Ahipara on that conviction. Together with Karen Jefferson, who built the finance and operational infrastructure that makes Ahipara run flawlessly, they created something that has never changed in its essential nature: genuine access to Aotearoa, earned over decades.
The team today is thirteen specialists — itinerary designers, delivery managers, and guides based from Northland to Fiordland — all of whom have spent careers becoming true experts in the places they design for.
“
The most extraordinary New Zealand experiences aren't in any brochure. They exist behind relationships.
Jean-Michel Jefferson · Founder
25
Years of Operation
0
Itineraries Ever Repeated
How We Work
What Sets Us Apart
01
We only recommend what we know
Every property and experience has been tested in person by an Ahipara specialist. Nothing reaches you untried. Many of our suppliers are exclusive to us.
02
One transparent fee
A single 8.5% fee, disclosed up front with detailed costings before you commit to anything. Every journey is quoted as one all-inclusive total.
03
Respect, earned not assumed
We work in partnership with tangata whenua — with honesty, humility, and a shared responsibility to care for the land and its people. That respect is built over years, never presumed, and it is why Māori communities extend us access few others ever receive.
Our Responsibility
We Protect the Places We Love
We hold the land and people of Aotearoa very dear — and we travel, and give back, in a way that honours both.
Tiaki Promise
A signatory to Tourism New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise, a commitment to care for the land, sea, culture and people of Aotearoa, now and for generations to come.
Responsible wildlife
We only promote responsible wildlife encounters, and never connect guests with attractions that hold whales, dolphins or porpoises in captivity.
Guardians of place
We work closely with the New Zealanders who are the true guardians of our natural environment, limiting numbers at sensitive sites so they stay extraordinary.
Trees That Count
We are a major contributor to Trees That Count, helping fund the planting of native trees across Aotearoa, giving back to the land that gives our guests so much.
Our team gives back
Every member of the Ahipara team receives $1,000 each year to give to a community cause of their own choosing, because the people who know these places best know where help matters most.
Access for local kids
We donate to a local school in exchange for the right to land helicopters on its grounds — opening the mountains to children who might otherwise never set foot on them.
Press & Recognition
Recognised by the World's Critics
25 years of recognition — voted for, in the cases we're proudest of, by our own industry. A selection, with the full features linked.
The Perfect 10 · 2009
Robb Report
One of ten journeys Robb Report chose from dozens of the world’s leading travel consultants.
Read the feature →Best Adventure Designer · 2015
TravellerMade
Winner at the inaugural TravellerMade Awards, held in Montreux in 2015.
Read the feature →A-List · 2012–2018
Travel + Leisure
Recognised among the world’s top travel advisors for bespoke New Zealand journeys built entirely around the traveller.
Read the feature →Qualmark · Tiaki Promise
Tourism New Zealand
A Qualmark-endorsed inbound operator and a signatory to the Tiaki Promise, listed on newzealand.com.
Read the feature →Featured Partner
Dominique Debay Collection
Profiled for immersive, meaningful luxury travel that incorporates fundamental Māori values into every itinerary.
Read the feature →Case Study
Tourwriter
“Pioneers as artisans of meticulous, handcrafted, authentic luxury New Zealand travel”: a case study on Ahipara’s award-winning itineraries.
Read the feature →WOW List
Wendy Perrin
Named to the Wendy Perrin WOW List as a Trusted Travel Expert for New Zealand — her vetted list of the world’s most trusted travel specialists.
Read the feature →UK & Europe Representation
By Georgie
Georgina Coke’s London agency introduces our journeys to leading travel advisors across the UK and Europe. Their profile of Ahipara.
Read the feature →The Team
The People Behind Your Journey
“We are a tight, clever, hardworking and empowered team — justifiably proud of what we deliver. There is no hierarchy. Service and excellence are what it's about.”
Jean-Michel Jefferson
Director, Founder & CEO
Jean-Michel Jefferson founded Ahipara after nine years at Price Waterhouse as a management consultant and aviation strategist in London and Moscow, latterly as a director in Russia. Educated in North Africa, the Middle East, Rugby School, and at the Universities of Exeter and Sheffield, he brought a rare international perspective to New Zealand travel. His deep passion for authentic Māori culture and spirituality, and his belief in travel as a transformational experience, shaped Ahipara from the beginning. Under his leadership, Ahipara has become one of the world's most recognised names in bespoke luxury travel.
Karen Jefferson
Director
Karen Jefferson has been responsible for Ahipara's finance, systems, and staff since the company's beginning. She designed the state-of-the-art finance and itinerary IT applications that power Ahipara's operations. Her focus on strategy, agency relationships, and sustainability has been central to Ahipara's growth as an internationally recognised luxury travel brand.
Our Itinerary Designers & Delivery Specialists
Josephine Allen-Jefferson
Delivery & Operations Manager
Josephine brings a rare combination of backgrounds to Ahipara: a computational neuroscientist with AI expertise, a former hiking guide in Fiordland, and a key architect of Ahipara's back-office systems. She leads the streamlining of Ahipara's concierge services and drives strategic innovation projects that ensure every guest experience is flawlessly delivered.
Clare Almeida
Itinerary Designer
Originally from Wales, Clare moved to New Zealand in 2009 and built an extensive career on the supplier side of the tourism industry. Her intimate knowledge of the wine industry, off-the-beaten-track adventures, and the landscapes around Taupō make her an exceptional designer. Based in Taupō, Clare specialises in Central North Island itineraries and has an eye for the unexpected experience that elevates a journey.
Gillian Buckley
Itinerary Designer
Born in Auckland with a long career in New Zealand's inbound travel industry, Gillian has an encyclopaedic knowledge of what makes a journey truly memorable. Her passions for hiking and cycling mean she knows the finest trails and routes the country has to offer. Now based in rural Canterbury on the South Island, Gillian brings both North and South Island depth to her itinerary work.
Ellen Chisholm
Itinerary Designer
Ellen previously led Ahipara's Delivery and Concierge team for three years before transitioning into itinerary design. That on-the-ground experience, managing every detail of live journeys, gives her an unmatched understanding of what makes a trip work in practice, not just on paper. Based in Chatto Creek, Central Otago, Ellen is passionate about travel education and connecting guests with the real New Zealand.
Cara Christie
Itinerary Designer
Cara grew up on a North Island farm and brings that genuine connection to the New Zealand land and life to everything she designs. With eight years based in the Nelson and Marlborough area and a long travel industry career, she specialises in off-the-beaten-track exploration, fishing, and diving. Based in Ruby Bay near Nelson, Cara has a gift for finding the experiences guests will talk about for the rest of their lives.
Hari Iyer
Itinerary Delivery
Hari came from Mumbai to New Zealand and has built an extraordinary breadth of experience in the outdoors: cave guide, boat guide, mountain guide, and dairy farm worker. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Tourism & Hospitality Management. Based in Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland, Hari brings infectious enthusiasm and expertise to every guest interaction.
Catharina Jefferson
Itinerary Designer
Daughter of Ahipara's founders Karen and Jean-Michel, Catharina grew up immersed in the world of travel. A former netball representative player and accomplished horsewoman, she brings both competitive precision and a love of the New Zealand outdoors to her design work. Her varied background across Chamber of Commerce support, agriculture, and credit analysis gives her an unusually grounded understanding of New Zealand life beyond the tourist lens.
Lynn Paterson
Itinerary Delivery Manager
Lynn grew up on a Waikato farm, spent eight years in the UK and Europe, and then completed a solo kayak circumnavigation of Aotearoa. She lives by the Māori proverb: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata — the most important thing in the world is people. As Delivery Manager, Lynn ensures that every Ahipara journey unfolds exactly as designed, with the personal care and attention that defines the company's reputation.
Leonie Peattie
Accounts
Having lived across Otago, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Nelson, Leonie has a breadth of New Zealand experience that informs everything she does. An entrepreneur and small business co-owner as well as a mother, she brings meticulous attention to detail to Ahipara's financial operations. A passionate photographer, Leonie brings a visual eye to everything she turns her attention to.
Felicity Watson
Itinerary Designer
Felicity grew up in Westport on the West Coast — one of New Zealand's most dramatic and untouched regions — and has built a diverse career across international and domestic travel. Her speciality is connective and spiritual travel: journeys that go beyond the physical to create inner transformation. Now based in Australia, Felicity's West Coast roots and love of bird watching, ocean, and the All Blacks make her a uniquely textured designer within the Ahipara team.
Nicola Izzard
Itinerary Designer
Nic has spent many years in tourism — in New Zealand, London, Australia and China. Originally from Auckland, she now lives in Mount Maunganui, and spends her own time exploring the country she designs for: the Bay of Islands above all, the ski fields and walking tracks, and a round of golf wherever she can fit one in.
Lonni Dougherty
Itinerary Delivery
Lonni grew up in Raglan on the west coast of New Zealand, where her love of the ocean, the outdoors and travel began. Her career has taken her around the world working in luxury hospitality, from superyachts to remote lodges, before eventually bringing her home to New Zealand. Naturally curious and always up for trying something new, Lonni is happiest outside, near the water or getting stuck into something creative. She loves good food, good company and a bit of adventure, but is equally happy somewhere quiet with plenty of space and not too many people around. She loves discovering places that feel a little off the beaten track and believes the best travel is often about the people you meet and the experiences you open yourself up to along the way. There’s usually another trip, hike or creative project somewhere on the horizon.
In Their Own Words
5.0 · 1,300+ journeys · 32 countries
“We picked them because they worked exclusively with New Zealand, and because they specialised in one-on-one experiences — and they certainly didn't disappoint. Their knowledge of the country and attention to every detail was exceptional.”
“We have all had the most magical time. So many experiences, incredible scenery, amazing people… I would like to thank you for creating an amazing introduction to NZ.”
“We had one exceptional adventure after another! We’re so grateful for the care your team has put in to selecting your partners.”
Let's Talk
No commitment. Just a conversation about what you're imagining.