About Us
Emerald Outdoors was born during a chat on the banks of the Nile river in Uganda. Company founders, Jamie and Colin, were working as whitewater kayak guides there when they met.
The pair have accumulated 20+ years of professional kayak guiding between them around the world. In November 2016 Colin phoned Jamie to come from Africa and explore Kenmare, a mountain-ringed town by the sea in Kerry. The plan was to cherrypick the best practices that they had encountered in the tourism industry and combine them with their passion for kayaking.
The pair have accumulated 20+ years of professional kayak guiding between them around the world. In November 2016 Colin phoned Jamie to come from Africa and explore Kenmare, a mountain-ringed town by the sea in Kerry. The plan was to cherrypick the best practices that they had encountered in the tourism industry and combine them with their passion for kayaking.
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Colin and Jamie have worked as senior kayak guides across 5 continents. Both of them have worked across Africa coaching kayaking on the world famous rapids of the White Nile and Zambezi rivers as well as numerous rivers in Kenya, South Africa and others.
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In 2015 Colin was a co-leader of Expedition Inception, an undertaking that involved driving overland from South Africa to Uganda. The expedition team accomplished numerous first descents of extreme whitewater rivers in remote locations as they worked to educate local communities on how to best utilise their water resources safely.
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Both Jamie and Colin have also spent several seasons in Asia, working a variety of jobs from kayak coaching to raft guiding and expedition leading on the Himalayan rivers of India and Nepal. They have guided people down rivers all around the world in countries including Canada, the USA, Chile and more. Colin founded the Irish Whitewater racing league and has numerous wins on the races that he helped to establish.
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In 2016 Colin was a part of a 3 man team who completed a world first, kayaking 2000km across the Arabic gulf to raise awareness about the pollution of the pristine local waters (click here to watch the trailer for the upcoming documentary).
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Colin and Jamie have an extensive list of qualifications which include: multiple kayak coaching awards under the Irish and British canoeing bodies, kayak coach education, river safety and rescue instruction, mountain bike and archery coaching and more. Colin is a pro team coach for Pyranha Kayaks and is sponsored by Kokotat Equipment. With a wealth of experience and qualifications behind them it is fair to say that they believe that the opportunities and benefits offered by a kayak tour in Kenmare Bay would rank amongst the most spectacular experiences that they have encountered, anywhere in the world.
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