Get to know Go Ape

Founders Rebecca and Tristram Mayhew announced on 23rd October 2021 that 90% of Go Ape shares have been transferred into an Employee Ownership Trust to benefit all current and future employees. Rebecca and Tristram will retain the remaining 10% of the business.

So every Go Ape employee, whether full time, part-time or seasonal worker, is now a co-owner of the business.

Our Mission is to ‘Create adventures and encourage everyone to live life more adventurously’. This applies equally to customers and co-owners.

Throughout our 20 year journey delivering on our mission, our plans and decisions have been guided by our values which are summarised in three main groups: keep the ‘adventure’ in adventure; be socially and environmentally responsible without being preachy, and do the right thing.

It’s nothing overly complicated, adventure is at the heart of everything we do, and adherence to our values is the acid test for every decision that we make along the way.

The origins of Go Ape began with an adventure. Becs and Tris Mayhew were slow traveling through France with their six-month old daughter when they discovered a family swinging through the trees. The teenagers were loving it, but so were the parents. “Look at their eyes, they haven’t had this much fun together in years. We should be doing this!”.

Jettisoning the comfort blanket of their corporate careers, they quit their jobs, sold all they had, borrowed more and risked it all on becoming on-tree-preneurs. There was no financial safety net. It was succeed or lose everything. Friends and family fell into two camps – those who thought they were mad to go for it, and a handful who said they would be mad if they didn’t. Ex-soldier Tris said: “Military training encourages bold ideas, seizing the initiative and managing high risks. I wasn’t afraid of failure but was afraid of not trying.”

Becs and Tris set about creating a company they could be proud of, over 20 years, 37 UK locations and more than 10 million customers later, the adventure continues. In 2021 Becs and Tris handed the reigns over to the tribe, and Go Ape become employee owned.

From our Suffolk base we’re plotting ways to get the whole world swinging through the trees. We still have plenty of big hairy goals and our mission remains to be the best adventure company on the planet.

We’ve grown up a lot since we launched at Thetford Forest back in 2002, but that doesn’t mean we’ll rest on our laurels. We’re committed to creating outdoor adventure that all will adore. Why not join us, and live life adventurously?

Giving something back isn’t about being worthy – we just think it’s the right thing to do. And, because a belief in the benefits of adventure is at the heart of Go Ape, that’s reflected in our charitable work.

In 2024 we took the next step in our charitable journey and established the Go Ape Foundation. Working with the charities, Go Beyond and Free to Be Kids we will help people to overcome financial challenges to access adventures.

We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the great outdoors, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. That's why we celebrate Pride every single day.

We're a friendly bunch here at Go Ape, and we believe in rewarding our Tribe accordingly. As well as an exciting environment, we offer our employees a host of benefits, so, if you have bags of energy and passion then we want to hear from you.