Every travel company says they’re brilliant, and we’re sad to say that (in this respect only) we’re no different. Where we feel we’re head and shoulders above the rest is in what you get out of it. We aim to make booking with Extraordinary Africa a smooth, seamless experience, that fills you with excitement and confidence in the holiday you’re taking.
Bespoke holidays-Â Each of our Africa holidays is created from scratch, so you can be as involved or hands-off as you like. If you love getting stuck into the planning, we can tweak every single part of your trip to make it your way. We can spend hours on the phone talking through ideas with you, giving you complete flexibility alongside full support and back up. And if you just want to be presented with something splendid? Well, we can do that too.
Service- There’s nothing to take the joy out of a holiday like stress of chasing people who you’ve paid weeks ago, the niggling fear that you’ve packed the wrong thing or are travelling completely without back up. Â It’s been mentioned that our attention to detail’s a bit on the obsessive side, but we like it that way- that’s what gives our clients confidence that everything will run smoothly, so you can concentrate on the fun bits. On top of that, we’re a small company so you won’t be going through a giant call centre each time you want to ask a question. You’ll have just one person to contact and their direct line to call them on. The same person who helped you plot your adventure is also there to talk you through your packing list and book little extras along the way. Just see what our clients say if you want to know how this makes a difference.
We’re based in the UK-Â This means we’re subject to the laws and regulations of the UK travel industry. Not such fun for us filling out the paperwork, but it means that you, our customers, can have confidence in us and know that the money you spend on your holiday has proper financial protection. Not only this, but our location means our phone lines are a little more reliable than some African countries- if you need us, just call us, we’re here. In fact, if you’re away, there’s someone here 24 hrs a day. And if that means chartering planes in Botswana when it’s 3am- we’ve done it before, and if necessary, we’ll happily do it for you.
Experience and Independence-Â If you’re travelling in Africa, experience matters. It’s crucial to know which flights don’t stop on schedule (no matter what the timetable might say), what the safari camps are really like (we’ve never yet read a website that says “actually the rooms are terrible, but the guides are so wonderful you should come anyway”) and how experiences compare across the continent. Unlike an online reviewer or magazine article, when we go to Africa, we’ll stay in several different camps in each reserve and visit many more (for a tiny flavour of where we’ve been just see here). And, as we don’t own any of the camps, we’re free to recommend the ones that we think are best, just for you.
Value– it’s fair to say that we don’t aim to be the cheapest. But to be honest, who’s ever loved something purely because it’s cheap? Certainly no-one who’s ever tasted cheap “butter”. We’ve got a detailed section on our site covering prices, but suffice to say, years of experience in Africa have taught us that cutting corners purely to lower costs can create the sort of problems that can ruin the holiday of a lifetime. Instead, we aim to deliver excellent value, reasonable prices, and an experience that’s worth every penny.
Imagination– much underrated this, but we feel it’s essential to the way we run our business, and how we create the adventures our clients love. Â Why drive between camps when you can travel by camel? Wouldn’t it be lovely if someone had thought to surprise you with dinner under the stars? Why have a shower when you can watch an elephant from your bath instead?
Read a personal letter from our founder about what we want to deliver or
EXTRAORDINARY AFRICA 