Department
Safari is a people business. The guides, housekeepers, chefs, reservationists and managers who actually deliver the experience deserve serious attention, not romanticisation.
My father advised me to explore life before returning to safari. I spent years in finance, marketing, IT, production and software engineering. When I came back, I brought a different question with me.
The safari industry operates largely on African land, with African guides, in African ecosystems — but ownership, capital, brand and cultural authority have not always reflected that. This is not a simple story, and it doesn't have a simple ending.
A good guide carries an enormous amount of operational knowledge in their head. A CRM carries a different kind of knowledge. Neither is complete without the other, and neither currently has a good way to share.
The Operator's Brief
One useful idea about the business of safari, delivered regularly.