Safaris, swords and stars: Covid travel with kids
• Children are not eligible for vaccines, but high-end travel firms have introduced themed getaways for families
To the long list of ways that Covid-19 has changed travel, add this one: the kids’ club just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Pre-2020, glorified day care was almost an essential component of five-star family getaways. Children could make origami butterflies or explore tidal pools under the watchful eyes of resort staffers, while parents happily got reacquainted with relaxation.
But the pandemic has raised the bar on family travel. Consider a new offering from travel outfitter Black Tomato, best known for planning exotic adventures for upmarket clients — now building entire itineraries around beloved children’s stories.
The company’s new Take Me On a Story programme is a fanciful step up from Harry Potter-themed walking tours. Its Oxfordshire trip, inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, includes a foraging class and a bespoke costume made by a top atelier, complete with hand-stitching and a fitting in a charming Cotswold cottage.
Pricing starts at R655,000 for a family of four. As part of the Treasure Island itinerary in the British Virgin Islands (from R436,000 for four), kids can take lessons in sword-fighting and celestial navigation, and participate in an underwater treasure hunt. Other options explore Arabian Nights in Morocco, Journey to the Centre of the Earth in Iceland, and Call of the Wild in Alaska.
Black Tomato co-founder Tom Marchant says the idea for Take Me On a Story dates back to 2019 but has taken time to come to fruition. Now, he says, is the perfect moment for it.
“People are looking for genuine escapism,” he explains.
Other high-end travel firms are also raring to satisfy those pandemic desires, and the willingness to splash out. After a year of lockdown, they’re
launching cruises, safaris and itineraries, all aimed at travellers with children under 18.
And yet, family travel has never been a more complicated proposition. Vaccines aren’t expected to be widely available to the under-16 set in the US, possibly not until early 2022.
Aaron Millstone, a paediatric infectious diseases physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, says Covid-19 presents an extremely small threat to unvaccinated kids, but it’s not zero. Decisions come down, in part, to how comfortable you are with a potential positive for them and yourself. “Even though I’m vaccinated, if I get a mild Covid-19 case, I can’t work for 10 days,” he explains.
The risk of spreading the disease post-vaccine, however small, also still exists, particularly in destinations with poor vaccine access or uptake where locals may be more vulnerable.
Travelling in a private car — or private plane — comes with less risk than commercial flights, though a lack of testing and tracing among airlines has made the risk of flying difficult to assess.
“There’s a lot of data to suggest that plane travel can be safe,” says Susan Coffin, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “But you could be the person who gets put in the middle of a row and have people coughing on your right and left.”
LOCAL CASE COUNTS
Millstone suggests skipping food court meals at airports, going straight to the gate just before the flight, and wearing your mask throughout the trip.
Even if you’re not concerned about contracting the virus, Malley recommends checking local Covid-19 case counts
wherever you go, not just to mitigate your family’s risk and avoid adding vectors of transmission, but to reduce potential strain on a burdened health-care system — parents and children alike can still get injured or sick from non-Covid illnesses.
“Would you want to be in a country where the medical system is in trouble?” he says.
Millstone says the wisest move is to wait, even just a month or two: “Most models are predicting that by summer, rates will have gone down.”
Parents will have more highend options then as well. Besides Black Tomato, boutique cruise company Uniworld just
launched a “Christmas in July” series of trips, designed as a do-over for the 2020 holidays. The cruises will feature redand-white décor, winterthemed cocktails and on-board holiday markets.
In March, Ker & Downey Africa started selling 10-day private safaris specifically for families that include visits to Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park and Selous Game Reserve. For R123,000 a person, clients have exclusive use of 4x4 vehicles, as well as safari camps and villas chosen for their childfriendliness. (Children, lions and luxury don’t always go hand in hand.) The itineraries respond to
a marked increase in East Africa requests from families, says Sarah Morris, sales manager of Ker & Downey Africa.
The same holds true for Roar Africa, which recently introduced a Lion King-themed itinerary in SA, complete with themed children’s activities and, of course, the chance to spot all of the animals that featured in the film.
“No-one made their summer travel plans as far in advance as they usually do,” says Roar CEO Deborah Calmeyer. “Now they are ready, and they want to go big.”
As for Black Tomato, the most extravagant trip of all may be the Call of the Wild journey in Alaska. During the nine-night experience, families can go on a kayaking safari and a custom survival course, as well as take a private helicopter to the top of a glacier, then spend the day learning how to drive a dog sled. The trip clocks in at almost R582,000 a person.
“If children are lucky enough to go on these trips, it’s going to be not only inspiring but educative,” Marchant says. “And we’re trying to create something that adults will enjoy as well.”