Africa Wildlife Safaris bookings soar

AFRICA Wildlife Safaris is riding high on the popularity of Africa among travellers, with the company’s ceo Stephen Cameron telling TD the business had its best calendar year ever in 2017.

“And we’re about to have our best financial year,” he forecast saying the first two months into the 2018 CY were already up 38% on 12 months ago.

“Africa is red hot right now,” Cameron told Travel Daily.

“We’ve got lots of other destinations in our portfolio but Africa is absolutely booming at this point in time,” Cameron said.

Sales are strong for destinations such as Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya.

Among a “whole range of reasons” for the growth in Africa sales was the Australian dollar sitting around $0.80.

“When the dollar sits higher it’s always going to encourage people to travel because against the US dollar-priced arrangements in Africa, it’s going to be cheaper.

“Definitely at this point in time it is extremely popular and things are extremely buoyant.”

The head of the tailor-made holiday specialist says clients are booking earlier, especially for “upmarket properties” such as the recently rebuilt boutique Mombo Camp in Botswana.

“It’s terribly expensive...and if clients are going to go, they need to consider booking up to 12-24 months in advance.”

Cameron said some Australians were booking iconic properties like Mombo three years in advance to secure space, regardless of cost.

“We don’t even know the price, but these clientele don’t worry.

“They know the price will be what it is,” Cameron explained.

Another example is Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya, where guests may have visits from the on-site resident Rothschild giraffe who stick their long necks into windows in search of treats. Giraffe Manor has 12 rooms. “It added a couple more rooms late last year so they managed to get a bit more availability but the scenario is that it is just incredibly popular. There’s nothing else like it. If you want to experience that, you’ve got to stay there.”

The AWS boss explained that due to the small scale of the properties it could sometimes be challenging to obtain the best combination of camps for clients, especially during high season.

“Your upmarket properties are going to max out at about 20 people. Some might allow 16, others might permit 24.

“It’s for that reason we’re encouraging agents to ask clients for their Africa booking sooner than later,” Cameron said.