Zen Quest Adventures Limited was founded by Eben Farnworth and Edward Lau in 2012, to run high end outdoor education programmes for Shantou University and a range of corporate, school, charity and other organisations. Many programmes travelling to some of the most beautiful and hard to reach parts of the middle kingdom have since been established. These range from comfortable and easy to reach programmes in Hong Kong, Yangshuo and Lijiang to wild adventure locations in the deserts of Inner Mongolia and the mountains of Sichuan.
What Our Clients Say
"In my role as Director of Global Programs, the thoroughness of your document has given me absolute peace of mind that you operate a 1st class outfit. I am assured that the safety of the students and faculty are at the forefront but will not detract from you being able to provide them with a phenomenal experience."
Jesica Parker, Director of Global & Off-Campus Programs, Shady Side Academy, Pennsylvania
Earthships
The first ever Earthship and environmental technology centre in China
The Earthship idea has been developed and refined for over 30 years. It started with an american architect called Michael Reynolds who started building his alternative buildings in the deserts of Taos, New Mexico. The Earthship is an all-encompassing off the grid building that provides: heating, cooling, electric power, drinking water, water heating, vegetable production and sewage treatment in one self sustained unit.
River & Field Studies in China
Geography River Studies
Our geography river studies program brings student learning to life, with innovative program design, real world experiences and expert staff. We take our experience in the outdoors and in education, fusing them together to create the best facilitated learning experiences ever!
Week Without Walls (WWW)
For many years, a lot of schools have defined their outdoor activity week as 'week without walls'. So a week without walls in its broadest sense, is a week where students can participate in activities outside the school classroom. This could include such activities as; service learning, trekking, rock climbing, canoeing, camping and much more. Here at Zen Quest we strive to make WWW a week your students will remember, where they'll learn and grow as individuals.
Yangshuo
Yangshuo (阳朔) is a fantastic venue for outdoor sports. It's located near Guilin (桂林) in Guangxi province and is easily accessible by bus, train and plain. Yangshuo and Guilin have been popular tourist destinations for many years, with thousands of visitors every month coming to see the incredible Karst Limestone towers that dominate this magnificent landscape.
Experts of China
Our experienced team have travelled the breadth and width of China and much of the world in search of the most interesting and rewarding programmes both for outdoor adventure, business education and cultural/environmental diversity.
Safety
Safety at Zen Quest Adventures
Safety is our main priority in everything we do; from the staff we employ to the equipment we use, to the locations we choose. Our Technical equipment is CE approved and constantly checked by expert staff hold world-class qualifications. Our equipment is carefully stored, well maintained and logged with extra attention given to technical equipment for rock climbing and mountaineering.
Management Development
At Zen Quest we offer a range of programmes to suit both your company and your career needs. Our team of dedicated professionals combine top academic knowledge, real life managerial experience and deep expertise in the outdoors to construct individualised programmes to suit the specific needs of your company or career aspirations through our unique modular Outdoor MBA (TM) courses that teach real life business functions in an amazing outdoor setting.
Modules include:
Global Issues
Global issues; how to create leaders equipped with both a global vision and a willingness to work with others, the groundwork begins with education.
'Photos taken by Ed Lau in Antarctica with Shantou University'
Outdoor Education & Service Learning in Shaxi
Shaxi (沙溪) Valley is located in the Himalayan foothills of North-western Yunnan, China. Its inhabitants are the Bai and Yi tribes who are the guardians of one of the last surviving market towns on the tea horse caravan route coming in from the Himalayan Plateau.
Outdoor Education in China
Why outdoor education?
Young people growing up in this part of the world have a high pressure school system. Virtually all the emphasis both at home and in school is on classroom learning. Although the classroom is and always will be the backbone of school education, to build well rounded members of society, it's critical to engage students with real world experiences.
IB, A Level & GCSE
In Curriculum outdoor education and field studies
We liaise with many international schools and their teachers regularly in China, Hong Kong and the USA. One thing that comes up time and again is justifying their field studies, outdoor education and extra curricular activities to the education board, the parents, and the schools examination system.
Microcampus Outdoor Education
Micro Campus (Microcampus) setup in China
Don’t just visit, stay and change your students' global perspectives.
The Microcampusing idea comes from Craig Tafel, a teacher from Shanghai American School (SAS) who uses a luxury mana house retreat ‘The Linden Centre’ near Dali to run microcampusing for SAS students. Our vision for microcampuses see’s many schools across China making use of multiple locations for running extended microcampus programmes.