Grand safari greetings,

I trust you have been keeping well and have been living life to the full since our last fireside conversation.

Having just recently done a truly model safari camp in the heart of the Kruger National Park for an international group of top one hundred performers (scoring an unbelievable 96.8% Guest Satisfaction feedback), it got me to ponder a little deeper as to how this was possible.

Why would it score so high? (when most Five Star Venues score maybe only 90% at the outset)

It becomes even a bigger question when you realize that this group had no idea they would be staying in expedition styled mobile tents – in a completely wild and un-fenced area of Kruger. For one, they arrived each with enough luggage to fill the Presidential Suite at the QE2, never mind an assortment of interesting safari gear!

Add to this that the grand safari camp my teams and I built especially for this event was chopped from an ideal four nighter, to a very compressed 2 nighter so you can understand my frustration in trying to ensure the compressed wildlife experience would be as productive in a park as vast as Kruger.

Luckily the sector we were encamped in had its fair share of buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, hyena and rhino and our guided walks out of camp were amazing as were the game drives, all relatively action packed. So this was a big tick for our guests. Phew!

But what else could have pushed all the other right buttons? Food… wine… entertainment… what else in your opinion pushed it into the +95% Guest Satisfaction zone? Well, here’s a clue for you. The definition of the word safari means “to journey”. What is the definition of the word “journey”? Get this one right and suddenly we are out of the world of tourism and into the world of exploration, exploration at every level.

And that epitomizes my philosophy of the grand safari camp experience. Journeys that keep on unfolding one moment at a time. For each and every participant on the journey with us. How many layers make up this safari cake?

I’d love to read your feedback, if you have a moment, of what hospitality points have impressed you the most on one of your most recent getaways – what got YOU to give the venue a +95% across the board? Click here to provide your feedback and input.

Let’s take this further around our next fireside chat?

Keep exploring,