A heritage of exploration and innovation
Over 50 years ago, Lars-Eric Lindblad chartered a ship and brought the first non-scientific travelers to Antarctica. A year later, in 1967, he did it again in Galápagos. Regarded as the father of ecotourism, he believed that educated people who saw things with their own eyes would be a potent force for the preservation of the places they visited.
Lars-Eric was a real—as well as symbolic—father, and since 1979 his son, Sven-Olof Lindblad, grew his legacy by greatly expanding transformative travel experiences in the world’s most remarkable places. Under his leadership, Lindblad Expeditions has built the most advanced fleet of expedition ships in the world; pioneered expeditions in Baja, Polynesia, and the High Arctic, and created the most in-depth programs in places like Alaska, Galápagos, and Costa Rica & Panama. He too has grown the conservation ethos his father imbued in his company, not only making the operation 100% carbon neutral, but raising millions of dollars that has gone directly to on-the-ground projects in the places we explore.