About Us
Conservation Safaris was born from a dream to help protect our world's precious wildlife and pristine nature.
Knowing that people will protect what they love, and they can only love what they know and have experienced, we chose to do this through wildlife-focused travel.
We aim for all our guests that join us on safari to have the most amazing, authentic wildlife & nature experiences. We want to you return home rejuvenated, with a renewed spirit, a personal connection to the places you visited, and a sense of connectedness with our environment.
Our dream is to inspire our guests to continue to make a difference once they return home - whether this be by just being mindful of the difference we can make with our daily decisions, by supporting a local conservation or sustainability initiative back home, or by supporting a conservation or community upliftment project in the areas they visited.
Our passion is wildlife & wilderness.
So we support & promote conservation initiatives that help safeguard our world's most precious pristine wilderness. We offset our carbon emissions through tree-planting that has triple benefits: biodiversity protection, community livelihoods, and carbon sequestration. We have a paperless office, we host our website with a company that buys 300% renewable energy, and we even eat local to support local farmers and reduce food miles!
Detail is important to us, as is conveying what we as a company stand for. That's why we chose ancient symbols used by tribes, such as the Maasai, through the ages, to be part of our logo.
The circles within a circle
represent unity within a community.
The waves represent our natural environment.
The paws represent the wildlife.
Putting these symbols together, we are a company that believes in bringing together and sharing our wildlife & natural heritage with our global communities.
Our People
At Conservation Safaris, we are driven by our passion for our world's wildlife & nature, and sharing that passion with as many people as we can.
And so, with us, you are looked after by a group of passionate professionals that love exploring our world's wild places, and have been doing so for over 30 years. Our team brings valuable skills from our diverse range of backgrounds, which include the tourism industry, corporate banking, corporate management, and wildlife conservation.
Our combined expertise and experience gives us a unique perspective on wildlife & wilderness travel... which we share with you, our valued guests, on your Conservation Safaris adventure!
Our international team:
Our company ethos is to support capacity building and skills transfer within the countries in which we operate. We do this by partnering with reputable local companies in each country or region, which we have personally hand-picked. In so doing, we support their development along with ours.
Our office staff look after all your reservations, from camp, lodge & hotel bookings, to internal flights, airport transfers, and arranging even the smallest details such as your packed lunches. They deal with all your local logistics & operations within the country.
Our field staff are those that look after you on safari, from meeting & greeting you at the airport on your arrival, to guiding you through your fabulous adventure, and finally bidding you a sad farewell upon your departure - hoping to see you return again soon!
Our professional local guides are an integral part of your experience. Our local guides have many years of experience taking and looking after our guests on safari.
They have a passion for wildlife, as well as the people & landscapes of their country - and they love sharing their passion with you. They are highly trained within their field - some with special interests such as birding - and can share with you their extensive knowledge on wildlife, plants, their culture, and their country.
Our safari hosts - we also have specialised, experienced safari hosts from Australia, the UK and the US that you can request to join you on your adventure. They will host you during your trip, and look after every detail so you don't have to.
They bring with them a wealth of wilderness travel experiences - and interesting stories - from around the world, which they will happily share with you around the campfire, under the stars, out on the pack-ice, in the rainforest, or wherever your journey takes you. Some of their particular specialities & interests include photography, videograph, horse-riding, marine adventures including scuba-diving, kayaking, hiking and tracking.
Our Founders:
Combining their passion for conservation with their love for safaris in the African bush, they founded Conservation Safaris, focused on conservation-based wildlife safaris in Africa. They spent years living in East Africa, developing the company, researching and travelling to out of the way places to find the best locations, adventures and conservation projects for their guests. Taking a holiday from lions & elephants, they went searching for polar bears on the pack ice in the Arctic circle. It was such an amazing experience, they decided to take up our past guests’ challenge of offering our particular style of travel to include the best wildlife experiences around the world. We now continue that passion for sharing these incredible, authentic wildlife experiences, whilst continuing to support and promote conservation around the world.
Bansi Shah is the driving force behind our conservation focus and initiatives, carefully selecting the projects we support. She is also always on the lookout for new wildlife destinations that would benefit from responsible tourism. Bansi was born in Kenya, where she spent her childhood years on safari in Kenya's national parks wildlife-watching. She later studied to become a Wildlife Biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, with a particular interest in reptiles. She has worked on many conservation projects, ranging from studies on platypuses, to flatback turtles, Carnaby's cockatoos, lions, elephants, and more. She has a particular soft spot for geckos!
Mark Galley brings many years of business experience from his former life in the corporate world in the UK and then Kenya, working for a large US-based corporation. Over years of feigning interest at management meetings, he got to thinking about the meaning of life… and decided to take a year out to sail the Pacific Ocean to ponder this question. He didn’t find an answer, but he did develop a passion for adventure and nature. He became an avid scuba diver, adventurer, and spent much of his time out on safari in Kenya & Tanzania's National Parks. Mark has a particularly soft spot for hyenas.
Why Us
By choosing to travel with us, you are helping make a difference.
And, we love taking you on incredible wildlife adventures!
Horse Riding with Giraffe... done it!
Diving with Tiger Sharks... Wow!
Walking in the Outback... come and join us!
We are so much more than just another travel company.
With our approach, experience and background, we combine aspects of travel - life experience, conservation, sustainability and community - to bring you a unique and superior experience that goes way beyond just another vacation or holiday.
We are passionate about, and support, wildlife conservation & community development.
We love our planet's wildlife & nature, which we love sharing with you, our guests - that's why we do what we do! We support community-based conservation projects in the field; see our Conservation and Social Responsibility tabs for more information about what we do.
We have lived, or travelled extensively, in the places that we promote.
We don't just race around lodges for one week a year & then call ourselves an expert! We get to know the places, the wildlife & the people intimately, which means you get the best of our insider knowledge for planning your great adventure.
Your safety & comfort is our priority.
We have full, in-country back up & support for those inevitable times when things don't go quite to plan (eg. a cancelled or missed flight). This means we can provide the logistical back up to get your holiday back on track with minimal fuss.
We have over 20 years of experience planning, designing & taking guests on wildlife adventures.
We look after you every step of the way from planning to coming back home from your adventure - so you have an enjoyable and stress free holiday from start to finish.
You have your own personal Travel Consultant - you're never just a number to us.
Your Consultant will work closely with you to understand your personal needs - because only then can they plan & organise your perfect adventure. Or, you can just give us your broad brief, and we'll come up with the best ideas for you.
We are independent from hotel chains or group associations.
So, we don't just fit you into a standard route march or circuit. Instead, we offer the best, unbiased advice on when & where to go, based on your personal interests, needs & style of travel.
We recommend accommodation in each location to match your preferences, not ours.
This means we'll find you something to suit, whether you want totally wild, or totally luxurious - and anything in between! We select accommodation in the best locations within any given park or region based on season & wildlife movements so you don't have to drive for hours to get to the main event. We also recommend authentic, low-impact accommodations, with the right principals: to be green, operate sustainably, and treat their staff fairly .
We don't just sell you a package and forget about the little details.
Small things like missed airport transfers, a missed lunch here or a dinner there can make a big impact on the enjoyment of your vacation, especially in developing countries where alternatives can often be difficult to arrange. Our processes are very detailed - we think of everything, so you don't have to!
We tell you clearly what's included & what's not - no hidden small print or extra costs along the way.
Isn't it annoying when you think you have a great vacation at a great price, then later discover the hidden extras that are essential to the holiday, such as internal flights & conservation/ park fees? No hidden extras with us - guaranteed!
Come join us on a Conservation Safaris adventure. We would love to have you!
Conservation overview
We believe that a strong, sustainable conservation focus today is essential if our world's wildernesses are to survive into the future. That's why we support conservation in the field, to safeguard these precious areas through both wildlife & habitat-focused conservation, and community-based education & sustainable development.
By choosing to travel with us, you will see and learn about our world's unique wildlife, and at the same time you will be helping us to make a difference. If you join one of our specially tailored Conservation Safaris, you will also have the opportunity to visit conservation programmes and learn how you can continue to support these and other programmes when you return home.
Here is a brief summary about our conservation ethos, the conservation projects we support, and our future plans. For more details, visit our Conservation page.
Conservation & Community projects:
We support a number of carefully selected conservation projects in the field that focus on both wildlife and communities, because we believe that in the long term, conservation cannot succeed without the support of the communities living with the wildlife. Below is a short list of the projects we support, with further information on our Conservation page, including the option for you to donate directly to them.
Ruaha Carnivore Project, Tanzania
EWASO Lions, Kenya
Painted Dog Conservation, Zambia, Namibia & Zimbabwe
Okapi Conservation Project, DRC
Satpuda Foundation and Satpuda Tiger Programme, India
The future:
We are passionate about conserving our world's precious remaining wilderness areas. We are therefore working on setting up nature conservancies in areas of high conservation value. This could mean that the land has endangered or threatened species on it, the land forms part of a migratory corridor for wildlife, and/or extends existing protected lands, thereby extending the range area for wildlife. Our initial focus is on East Africa, Borneo & Australia.
Read more about our conservation ethos, the conservation projects we support, and our future plans.
One Planet, One Home, Our Shared Responsibility.
Social Responsibility
We believe every company should act as a socially responsible citizen in each of the environments within which they operate. We take our social responsibility seriously.
We use in-country partners that we have personally hand-picked, rather than overseas agencies for your in-country logistics & support.
We use local guides & local staff as far as possible in each country to empower the country's local people & economies.
We offer, & encourage you to use, authentic, low impact accommodation - this doesn't mean poor quality accommodation, as these are often the best camps & lodges within the country!
Our philosophy is to do the right thing...
... by you, our valued guests, without whom we would not exist.
... by the local people, by working with those who treat their staff fairly & equitably.
... by choosing accommodation that has a commitment to green principals.
... by supporting local enterprises that support conservation & protection of the environment.
We do have one other philosophy...
Have Fun! :)