Few people can tell the story of Charles Darwin's journey through Australia quite like Chris Darwin. A great-great-grandson of the legendary naturalist, Chris has spent more than three decades guiding in the Blue Mountains, where Charles Darwin travelled during his visit to New South Wales in 1836.
On Sydney Bespoke Tours' private 'Darwin on Darwin' itinerary, guests embark on a full-day excursion with a dedicated guide, joining Chris as a special guest guide along the way. Yet exploring this landscape with Chris is about much more than retracing his ancestor's footsteps.
"It is an exploration of curiosity - how we observe nature, challenge established ideas and allow wild places to change the way we see the world. Sometimes I come to the end of the day and genuinely wonder who got the most out of it - me or the guests," Chris says.
Chris's fascination with nature began in Central London, where a tiny back garden and a resident robin provided an unlikely introduction to wildlife. His mother encouraged his curiosity, taking the family into the countryside whenever possible, while Chris developed a particular fascination with birds of prey. Coming to Australia opened an entirely different natural world.
"When you come to Australia, it's the next level up. There are so many more plants, so many more birds. It's fascinating."
Chris began guiding climbers in the Blue Mountains in the early 1990s, turning its cliffs, forests and sandstone escarpments into his office. It was during those early years that he was unexpectedly assigned to guide a group along the Charles Darwin Walk. More than three decades later, Chris continues to share Darwin's remarkable Blue Mountains journey with guests.
Image: Destination NSW
What began as a walk exploring where Darwin travelled and what he observed developed into deeper conversations, as Chris researched Charles's approach to ideas and began incorporating his way of thinking into the experience.
"The fundamentals of Charles' thinking were seeing something which was actually incredibly obvious, but no one wanted to see it," Chris says. "And we often get into: what are the things in the modern world that are incredibly obvious, but no one wants to see?"
Those conversations can move from science into philosophy and contemporary life. For Chris, following Darwin's journey is about encouraging guests to see the landscape through fresh eyes. At one lookout, he asks guests to write down their observations on paper, before revealing what Charles recorded in his journal while looking across the same landscape almost two centuries earlier. "That starts a whole conversation," Chris says. "People say, 'Wow, I didn't think of that.' Charles was such an inquisitive and deep thinker."
One encounter during Darwin's time in Australia is particularly significant to Chris - observing the enigmatic Platypus. The animal presented Darwin with an intellectual puzzle. He questioned why animals occupying comparable ecological niches in different parts of the world could have such radically different forms.
"He didn't at that stage have a theory," Chris explains, "but he just couldn't understand." For Chris, the significance lies in this moment of questioning - when Darwin began to challenge the prevailing explanations of his time. "I very much take guests through that epiphany."
Chris's life beyond guiding is deeply connected with conservation, particularly protecting Australian biodiversity and preventing species extinction, including his association with Bush Heritage. "I'm a very active conservationist, but rather than lecture guests, I try and let the landscape speak for itself and that connection to facilitate a deeper care of the natural world."
Image: Sydney Bespoke Tours
The experience concludes with Chris giving guests a copy of Charles Darwin's autobiography, with an invitation to take one aspect of Darwin's way of thinking into their own lives.
"I want guests to have a great day, to come away thinking more clearly and hopefully take something from the experience they can carry into their everyday lives."
Sydney Bespoke Tours
Sydney Bespoke Tours has been offering unique wildlife viewing experiences since 2009 in the Southern Highlands, just southwest of Sydney. Over many years, the organisation has gathered an exceptional team, made up of fabulous guides, creative trip designers, and wonderful locals ready to showcase the natural wonders, unique wildlife and vibrant culture of Sydney and surrounds.
With an abundance of parks, forests, coastline and natural attractions on Sydney's doorstep, the team delights in educating guests via diurnal and nocturnal wildlife encounters; explaining and contextualising behaviours observed, the interaction between wildlife, human-modified environments and introduced species, and the challenges and threats faced by native wildlife, along with conservation efforts and government policy.
By combining the team's passion, insider-access and creativity with guest interests and passion points, the organisation is recognised for producing tailor-made itinerary perfect for curious travellers from around the globe.
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