Where passion for travel meets love for Canada
A decade of creating unforgettable moments
Margaret Chen, a former wilderness guide, launches Savanoo with a simple dream: show people the Canada that doesn't make it into postcards. Armed with a beat-up van and an unshakeable belief in authentic experiences, she starts small—really small. Like, three tours a month small.
Word spreads faster than maple syrup on pancakes. We expand to a team of five guides and start offering multi-day adventures. The van gets an upgrade, though we still argue it has character. Our first group tour sells out in 48 hours—Margaret cries happy tears in a Tim Hortons parking lot.
Savanoo officially operates coast to coast. We've got guides in every province, partnerships with local communities, and enough campfire stories to fill a library. The team grows to 25 people who all share one thing: an obsession with showing travellers the real Canada.
The world changes, and so do we. Virtual tours keep the dream alive, but more importantly, we double down on sustainable tourism practices. We partner with Indigenous communities, support local businesses harder than ever, and commit to leaving every place better than we found it.
Savanoo wins the Canadian Tourism Award for Best Adventure Tour Operator. We're honoured, but what really matters is the 10,000+ travellers who've trusted us with their adventures. We launch our scholarship programme, offering free tours to students studying environmental conservation.
We're 50 team members strong, operating year-round tours across Canada. But we're still that scrappy company that believes the best journeys happen off the beaten path. Every tour is still planned like it's for our best friend, because in a way, it is.
More than just words on a website
No tourist traps, no manufactured experiences. We show you the Canada we'd show our friends—the hidden waterfalls, the family-run restaurants, the trails where you might not see another human for hours. Real places, real stories, real connections.
We're not just visiting Canada—we're protecting it. Carbon-neutral operations, partnerships with conservation groups, and a commitment to leave no trace (except maybe footprints, but we try to minimize those too). The wilderness needs to be here for the next generation.
We work with local guides, support small businesses, and partner with Indigenous communities to share their stories properly. Tourism should benefit the places we visit, not extract from them. It's that simple.
Sometimes it rains on our hiking tours. Sometimes the moose doesn't show up for the photo op. That's nature. But we'll always give you excellent guides, thoughtful itineraries, and experiences that respect your time and trust. We aim for excellence, not Instagram-perfect moments.
Canada is for everyone, and so is Savanoo. We design tours accessible to different abilities, respect all identities, and believe the outdoors shouldn't have gatekeepers. If you want to explore, we want to help you do it.
At the end of the day, travel should make you happy. Whether that's the quiet joy of watching a sunset over the Rockies or the loud joy of s'mores around a campfire, we're here to create moments that make you feel alive. Because life's too short for boring vacations.