– Victoria Falls

To survive in any industry no matter your chosen career path, there has to be a whole lot of passion and purpose involved to make sense of it all.

I’m sure you will agree that it’s not just about the turnover or the stats but sometimes more about the sheer joy and feedback we get from clients after they have experienced our creation that fuels the fire and keeps our passions alive. This is what has kept me going for 20 years now in the safari industry.

Have you ever done a production for a client that ticked all the boxes in such a spectacular way, you could hardly call it a job? It’s pretty cool to say the least and what keeps driving me to push the envelope and go beyond producing anything ordinary.

Despite the challenges I have had as the pioneer of this 5 Star Grand Safari tented camp concept, my team and I always strive to deliver a tented safari camp experience that supersedes each client’s expectations. That’s the bottom line – Ban “Ordinary”!

 

I’ve worked with some amazing producers and we’ve created grand safari events that are beyond extravagant. But some of those projects stand out a little more than others. Our now famous BMW X 5 launch that toured southern Africa and set up in 3 world Heritage sites – a total of 7,500 km with a back to back guest camp experience which hosted 2,200 guests in total. Or the time we hosted the most famous American Talk show host Oprah, under the auspices of Mr Colin Cowie, Event Director Extraordinaire (USA) for 200 African American artist in the heart of Pilanesberg, slap bang in the middle of Big 5. Then of course the International Award winning General Motor’s ISUZU launch working with one of South Africa’s leading Event Directors, Graham Edmund was another such experience…

May I briefly share with you what A GRAND SAFARI CAMP involves?

Typically we host groups of around 80- 200 guests in an authentic tented camp safari experience (We’ve done smaller groups of 20 or so). VIP groups of 100 singles or 200 sharing. Accommodation in two styles of expedition tents – both with en suite showers and toilets and similar furnishing.

We have 30 x Presidential Expedition Tents (32m2) with double bed or two single combinations and a further 70 singles or 140 sharing, in our Classic Safari Hemingway-Style Expedition Tents (21m2). From time to time we combine both styles of accommodation and sleep up to 200 guests in total – Africa’s grandest grand safari camp!

Then add to that our central dining area (all under canvass) which includes:-

• A 60 to 200 seater GIN TENT, to handle 5-8 course dinners.

• Cloakrooms, kitchens and lounging areas included,

• A full Safari Club tent ideal for board games, cigars, library and lounging,

• A full 20m x 10m Indaba tent ideal for bush conferences in grand safari style.

• A fully kitted out Communication Centre.

• A safari spa – ideal for stress release.

So no matter the job spec or where we need to set up our grand safari hotel we are fully on call to make your next exclusive use safari event an absolute pleasure and I dare say, an award winner.

As a matter of interest – a full camp of 200 guests requires a crew camp of 90 as well – so it becomes quite a task locating such a Grand Safari camp to ensure it is as safe as possible, staff are well taken care of and can deliver an exemplary eco friendly 5 star service.

For economical viability, a  Hayward’s Grand Safari Camp needs to be utilised on a 2 – 3 night basis at least. Some of our safari camps have had over 1 500 guests passing through them on a back to back basis in incredible locations such as Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls, Namibia’s Swakopmund, The Kruger National Park and Cape West Coast National Park to name but a few.

With 5 – 8 course dinners, full breakfast and roving picnic lunches we have to be well prepared and take tons of fresh breads, vegetables, meats and fish, laundry supplies and hardware.

A grand safari uses up to 30 000 litres of water a day for guest and crew showers, an interesting challenge in itself.

Once a huge safari event like this is over we do a military-style extraction, and together with Nature Conservation a full environmental impact assessment is done – the result? No one can find the campsite that had accommodated over 2 000 people – an amazing testament to our environmental conscience!

It’s taken me a while to create and perfect the Grand Safari experience – a safari that stands alone as truly authentic, absolutely private and fully functional.

I look forward to being of extraordinary safari service to you.