MANDIP SINGH SOIN FRGS

Founder & Managing Director, Ibex Expeditions (P) Ltd, India

Explorer, Mountaineer, Environmentalist, Adventure travel & Eco tourism guru, Motivational Speaker

Mandip has over 35 years of climbing and exploration experience in India and other parts of the world. He has instructed at outdoor schools in Scotland and Wales, climbed in the Alps and made first ascents in the Indian Himalaya as well as led elephant and camel expeditions.
The Limca Book of records nominated him 'India's most versatile Expeditioner '. He was conferred the Ness Award for expeditions and explorations by the Royal Geographical Society, London.
As an Instructor with the 1989 ICEWALK International Students Expedition in the Canadian Arctic near the North Pole, he studied environmental impacts of pollutants in the ice and the increasing ozone hole, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In 2002, the year of the Mountains, he participated in an Indo Pakistan Friendship expedition in the Swiss Alps under the IUCN and UIAA and has been campaigning to save the Siachen Glacier from environmental degradation due to the two armies present .
In 2007 , he undertook a ecotourism river expedition with the Government , in the state of Madhya Pradesh to try and convert bandits into tourism guides and naturalists in this biodiverse rich but bandit ridden area.
Mandip Singh Soin FRGS , is the Founder and Managing Director of Ibex Expeditions Private Limited. Established in 1979, Ibex is a specialist tourism company in India that specializes in Ecotourism, Adventure, Luxury & Safari Travel.
Ibex received the Green Globe Distinction Award & the PATA Gold Award in 1999 for Outstanding Environmental Achievements. The World Travel Environmental Company Award in 2000 and in 2001 they received the National Award of Excellence by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for being the most environmentally friendly organisation .
Mandip has been Chair of the Environment & Eco Tourism Committee of the PATA India Chapter since 1998 and helped draft the National Eco Tourism guidelines as well as was the Convenor for its Action Plan.
He has edited the four issues of the Environment & Eco Tourism handbook published by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
He is the Founder President of The Ecotourism Society of India ,launched in 2008, Vice President of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India & Trustee of the Himalayan Environment Trust of which Sir Edmund Hillary was its Patron.
He lectures worldwide on responsible and ecologically sound tourism and is deeply committed to being a good trustee of this earth.
His other passions, when not on expedition, are listening to Beethoven, fly fishing, indulging in puns, flipping omlettes to perfection and for relaxation he takes the occasional bungee.