Rothschild Safaris

What does it take to become Safari Tour Guide of the Year?

We were lucky enough to speak to the man who has just achieved this very special accolade to find out.

At Rothschild Safaris our trips are always all about the guide. As the luxury African safari industry changes and modernizes our number one tip has never altered: Your experience is dependent on the capability, personality, and knowledge of your guide.

How do we know that your guide will be a good match for you? We always have boots on the ground to visit all the African wildlife safari camps and spend time with the guides we recommend.

If you would like to know what the career path and daily life of a modern-day safari guide ( who also happens to be the best safari guide in South Africa at the moment) are like, please join us to listen to the incredibly personable and very professional Riaan Fourie.

Whether you have never been on safari… or have never had the Rothschild safaris experience, today our very special guest will tell you everything you need to know AND might wonder about making an African dream holiday happen.

Lynne’s story is extraordinary and you might like to read more about her long journey to arriving on a safari here. She is the quintessential Rothschild client, a person who picked up the phone and then, when the unthinkable happened, had the Rothschild team rally around her to put everything on hold until the dream could finally come true.

She is also an utter delight as a human being and we are so lucky to work with her. I especially loved her carefully considered answer to the question; What could Rothschild have done better?

When you are working your way around the world country by country, it becomes more difficult for a destination to truly impress.

 

Tanaya Lambert recently returned from her second visit to Costa Rica, and it is safe to say that this Central American country stole her heart.

 

She braved incredible properties, bathed in hot springs, and endured pristine tropical beaches - all to ensure that our guests will have the trip-of-a-lifetime when they pack their shorts and sunblock to live Pura Vida.

Dave Southwood is not a clicker.

He did start life in the wild on a farm in Botswana and today is a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

He also lives in the moment (when I contacted him to request a conversation for our podcast he hopped on the phone before I could say ‘where is my microphone’) and confesses that he did not choose to become a photographer but instead, photography found him.

Clearly incredibly passionate about the human need to keep a record of what we see and experience Dave is also refreshingly straightforward about his likes and dislikes in the world of equipment and ideas surrounding photography.

It wasn’t my first interview with a photographer and I did not expect to learn anything new. I was wrong.

Do you worry about the future of our wild planet? 

Conservation is never far from our thoughts and this week’s podcast guest lives breathes and works at the very epicenter of the most pressing concerns, where people and wilderness meet.

Krithi Karanth is the chief conservation scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in India, she wants to reduce the friction between wildlife and people living near Indian national parks. Every year, there are numerous cases which see animals and humans clashing, resulting in collateral damage, injury, and death on both sides. Karanth’s team aims to mitigate the situation by reducing threats, raising conservation awareness and providing education to local communities, as well as assisting with compensation claims through Wild Seven, a toll-free helpline.

 

Basically, her system has been successfully implemented at a local level in two of India’s premier parks and they are now scaling it up to move into six additional parks.

 

This year Krithi was one of the Rolex Enterprise Laureates.

 

Rolex has always been a great supporter of explorers and discoverers. This year they launched the Perpetual Planet campaign. The project has three pillars. Marine conservationist Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue, Rolex’s partnership with National Geographic and the Enterprise award to foster entrepreneurship, advance human knowledge and protect our cultural heritage and the environment.  

 

People who run projects that will inspire and improve life on Earth as we know it has been entering the Rolex Enterprise awards since 1976.

 

Warning: Krithi’s stubbornly optimistic view of conservation may inspire hope and joy!

You won’t meet someone like Viji Krishna often in your lifetime.

We at Rothschild Safaris all feel extremely lucky that she has crossed our paths.

She is what you would get if you could roll Marie Kondo, a spiritual guru, and a travel gourmand into one and it is impossible to think of anyone better to take care of your travel plans if you are fascinated by Asia. In this podcast, we spoke to her about her approach to travel design and talked about how India has changed and why now is the best time in recent history to visit.

Pam Langhoff recently returned from a trip to Uganda and Rwanda. So, we called her to hear all about what it is like to meet three different types of primates in quick succession and trek through the jungles of Africa when you have had no time to work on your fitness levels before you depart.

Tanaya Lambert has one of the most voracious appetites for travel we have ever encountered. She has ticked over 50 countries off her to-do list and is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Tanaya is also particularly tenacious about the details when it comes to designing travel for Rothschild Safaris guests.

In this podcast, we chat about what happens when we send a Travel Designer to a destination to do research for three months.

We might also dispel some myths about South African women… and insult a traveling chicken.

There are so many incredibly beautiful lodges throughout Africa.

Many of them in stunning locations.

I find that the people who run a property are, without fail, the crucial piece of the puzzle for me. Passionate, knowledgeable, warm, intelligent people with a great sense of humor will sell me every time.

Cheetah Plains is an outlier in every sense of the word. It is a treat, from the glorious architecture and art (also the best chairs in the business) to the very unique cuisine… it ticks every box. But, for me, what puts this property in a league of its own entirely are the human beings charged with looking after it.

Kobus de Kok has come a little way from game drives in a Kombi to managing Africa’s most exclusive property. He is such a lovely guy, we share a passion for great whiskey, disagree about Land Rovers, and I rather wish I had just one more day to spend with his team at Cheetah Plains.

Leora Rothschild has been at the helm of Rothschild Safaris for Twenty years.

She has kissed Big and been declared the best at what she does by her guests and her peers countless times. How do you sustain growth over an extended period? What is the biggest challenge today and what does she want for the future?

During a conversation that was surprisingly intimate and honest, Leora answered all the most pressing questions and gave us a unique insight into her life.