Why less is more when you're on tour

Brought to you by Bunnik Tours.

James Atwell has one of the best jobs in the world. He spends his life finding magical hidden gems in the most fascinating, culturally rich travel destinations, and then designs unforgettable small group tours that allow Australian travellers to truly immerse themselves in the places they're visiting.

As product manager at Adelaide-based family-owned travel company Bunnik Tours, the passionate and experienced traveller said the most rewarding aspect of his job is hearing the excited comments from their guests.

"That's the thing that really makes it so special, when you get that feedback from someone, that they've had an amazing trip, and it's been a life-changing experience for them," James said.

"I think travelling is the best education anyone can have, experiencing other cultures, understanding things from different people's perspective."

James says travelling in intimate groups, like the ones Bunnik Tours offers, with never more than 20 people, means travellers can have more and deeper cultural experiences that are out of reach for "big-bus tourists".

"From a logistics point of view it means less time wasted - just getting 50 people on and off a bus takes longer so it's less time to spend seeing the destination," says James.

"We also can use smaller kinds of accommodation, the more authentic character hotels that large groups can't. They have to stay at large hotels, go to large restaurants and stick to the tourist path. The kind of experiences we can include, like spending time in a family home, having a meal or doing a cooking class, are real cultural immersions that wouldn't be possible with a big group."

Specialising in South America, his most-loved destination, James said one of his most magical travel moments that could only happen with a small group was being part of a traditional Inca ritual in an Andean community in Ecuador that included a meal cooked in the earth using hot lava stones.

"It was a Pachamanca ceremony," he said. "We began in the garden picking the leaves the food would be wrapped in, then in the kitchen with the family preparing the food, and heating up the stones on the fire.

"Once they started loading up the earth oven, the family came out, mum and dad and the little kids, and a ceremony started. They were singing and chanting and giving thanks to Pachamama, the earth goddess. Then we got to share the meal with the family and learn a little more about them and their other traditions and beliefs, as well. It was a beautiful cultural exchange, one that wasn't contrived for tourists. That sort of thing, to me, is really what travelling with these small groups is all about."

The experience is now a popular part of several Bunnik Tours to South America. Other special 'small group' experiences it offers as part of its tours include everything from visiting a local restaurant in Cappadocia in Turkiye and learning to prepare some of the local culinary specialties, to enjoying a private, classic trio reception concert at Elene Akhvlediani Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, or meeting local artisans in Japan and trying your hand at the ancient art of Japanese black ink calligraphy.

Travellers can sleep in the Kruger Shalati 'Train on the Bridge' hotel, which famously sits high above the Sabie River in Kruger National Park in South Africa, or in a traditional, heritage-listed trullo, a conical shaped house unique to the region of Puglia in southern Italy.

Discovering the delicious food of a destination also becomes a chance to connect with experiences like being welcomed into a village near Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, and enjoying lunch with a local family.

The small group philosophy of the company - that was started more than 30 years ago by founder Marion Bunnik, who is still leading tours to her favourite destinations - also creates a special bond between the like-minded travellers.

"There is a real camaraderie that develops as people share these experiences together, with just enough people to still be able to get to know everyone really well," James said. "Certainly we hear time and time again that people on our tours make lifelong friendships from travelling in a small group.

"We have clients that have met on tour and then will travel together for years to come and make their plans together because they've become such good friends."

Find out how to explore the world on a small group tour at bunniktours.com.au