There are a couple of common fears and questions that people have when deciding whether to book their safari with an African safari company, or one from their own country. I have written this blog to try and answer some of those questions so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.
If I decide to book through an African safari company, will the service be as good?
Most safari companies from outside of Africa sub contract out their safari's to African operators (just like us) they trust. So the simple answer to this question is yes. Whilst I will admit that a large amount of local companies do not provide the service you would expect, as long as you choose wisely and choose a company that prides itself on their service (like East African Discovery), the service will be just as good and you will save yourself a large amount of money by cutting out the middle man.
Is my money protected if the company goes out of business?
I want to stress that we have absolutely no plans to go out of business, and the nature of the industry means that we are very unlikely to ever go out of business. But if this very unlikely event does happen then the answer is quite simply no. There is no government financial protection scheme if the company goes out of business between paying for your safari and actually going on your safari. However, there is a simple solution to this problem: buy your travel insurance before or soon after booking. Just be careful when buying your policy that it covers you for this as not all policies will. We feel this extra effort is a small price to pay when you could be saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars by booking through an African operator.
If you have any more questions on this topic then we would love to hear them, just leave a comment below and we will get back to you!