Where the wild profits are

It can be a surprise to safari novices that the most terrifying charge they witness does not come courtesy of our four-legged friends, but of the person who presents the bill.

Wilderness is certainly not averse to charging like a particularly musthy Loxodonta africana, but the punters are queuing to pick up the big tabs because of the astonishing quality of the experiences Wilderness offers, and the company matched its best-ever occupancy rate in the interim period.

Wilderness attributed its success to a strong US market — 46% of its revenue. This was boosted by the dollar’s appreciation.

Its Mombo camp in the Okavango reopened after a rebuild, while political stability in Kenya put that destination back on the shopping list. There may also be a sense that despite global political and economic risks, the climate remains benign for the older, richer tourists who are Wilderness’s target market.

As well as operating camps, Wilderness aims to own the client by offering a vertically integrated business model including transport services, marketing, sales and reservations. This helps to create a complete guest experience, and its professionally run aircraft operation offers reassurance in an environment like Maun, where some pilots have been known to measure their bottle-to-throttle limits in minutes rather than hours.

Wilderness’s operations revolve around a strong conservation and community involvement ethic, and its new lodges in Rwanda will add mountain gorillas and the truly peculiar shoebill to its fans’ must-see list.

Wilderness is not averse to charging like a particularly musthy Loxodonta africana