Wilderness entices Africans to get on safaris
Thalefang Charles | Tuesday January 24, 2017 18:02
But Wilderness Safaris, a leading local tourist company that specialises in exclusive wildlife experiences with a footprint in top pristine areas in nine African countries, plans to give more Africans access to their resorts at affordable rates.
Last week Friday at the Yacht Club in Gaborone Wilderness Safaris group chief executive officer (CEO) Keith Vincent launched the residents’ programme that he said is “generous, transparent and easy to use”.
Vincent told the small crowd at the Yacht Club that included the Minister of Environment, Natural Resource Conservation and Tourism Tshekedi Khama that the resident programme is their initiative to give back to Africa and encourage many Africans to experience their camps.
“It’s time to take advantage of being an African. We would like to reward our local supporters with membership to our Wilderness Safaris Programme,” Vincent said.
Vincent revealed that the programme membership costs P4,500 for Batswana.
He said that membership comes with benefits to members, their families and guests for two years. He further noted that the membership fee is a charitable donation to the non-profit organisation Children In The Wilderness (CITW).
CITW is a life skills, educational and environmental programme for children who live in the neighbouring villages around conservation areas.
Vincent highlighted the benefits of the residents programme membership saying that it provides access to all Wilderness-owned properties at best available rates and discounts of up to 50% including on flights and road transfers.
He said more details about the programme could be found on their website, www.wilderness-residents.co.za.
The CEO also narrated the journey of Wilderness Safaris from their first footprint in the Okavango Delta to their current status of being one of Africa’s best safari operators now in DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
For his part Minister Khama thanked Wilderness Safaris for contributing in making Botswana one of the best places to visit with their products. He said for the past two years Botswana has been voted in top travel charts because of the exceptional service and product offered by local tour operators like Wilderness Safaris.