Indigo Safaris are experts in bespoke and package travel in Africa. As well as providing expert advice for free, we save you money, with exclusive deals and our own discounts on many trips. On others, we charge the same as the service provider would charge you directly, but reduce the number of international payments you have to make, all the while providing impartial advice covering all the elements of your trip under one roof. Whether you are a first-time visitor or an old hand, we will help you get the most out of your time in-country and your budget. Travelling autonomously or on a guided trip, you will return home with a head full of images and unforgettable memories whether you are a group, a couple, or on your own. Once you are travelling, we monitor your internal flights and connections and are always just a phone call or e-mail away should you need to contact us, any time of day or night.
We work with any group size from solo travellers up to medium-sized groups. We also act as a wholesaler to retail travel agents in the UK, the USA, France, Australia, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
Our Story
Founder Christopher Bartlett fell in love with Africa on a trip to Namibia in 1997 and after numerous visits to southern Africa moved to KwaZulu Natal in 2005 and became a safari field guide and underwater guide. When he combined these two new passions with his photography and writing skills and started doing assignments in East Africa for diving magazines, he had a grea opportunity to continue building his destination knowledge. In 2009 he had to return to the UK for family reasons, and ended up combining his knowledge and love of Africa and organisational skills to help other people discover Africa. Indigo Safaris was born.
In 2015 Christopher met Ines Moosmann on an educational in Uganda, and recognised the consummate professional in her, and asked her to become his first Senior Safari Consultant. A safari specialist with 17 years' experience garnered in Germany and London, she was poached from a prestigious London travel company where she was Senior Africa Travel Consultant. She has since become a partner in the business and is the Director of Product & Sales.
In September 2019, Matthew O'Brien joined us from another South African safari planner, having been a field guide in Namibia and Botswana prior to that. Based in Cape Town, Matthew shares his passion for African wildlife and the bush, and can blend it in seamlessly with his knowledge of city breaks. Since joining us, Matthew has arranged hundreds of trips for our clients across southern and eastern Africa, to much acclaim, and is now also managing the sales team.
Matthew Milward, a Capetonian, joined us in early 2023, with six years' experience as a safari specialist. Prior to this he travelled the globe, working on cruise ships, and then travelled his home continent extensively. Matthew is an enthusiastic and diligent trip creator and also Christopher's right hand.
Michele Addison, erstwhile resident of Kwa-Zulu Natal, and now in the Eastern Cape, has over 20 years' experience in the tourism industry as a tour guide, dive operator and tour operator, and a passion for everything African, especially its wildlife. Having grown up in Zambia & Botswana and worked in Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Namibia, her love for the bush and the people of Southern Africa is lifelong. Sharing her knowledge with others and creating the best possible safari experience is her passion.
Nelia Nyamhanza is a Zimbabwean safari expert who joined us in July 2024 with eight years of extensive experience creating luxury safari itineraries for Southern Africa. She has lived and worked in Zimbabwe and South Africa and is an avid traveller who has traveled to Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and of course, her home country Zimbabwe. She enjoys creating lasting memories for all the clients she works with.
Shannon Maclean, based in the safari hub of Hoedspruit, South Africa, brings over 21 years of experience in the safari industry. She has worked with luxury lodges in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, and Namibia, and has traveled extensively across Southern Africa. Shannon is dedicated to providing the highest quality service, finding joy in matching guests with their perfect destinations and creating unforgettable safari memories.
Samantha Kelsey, a business administration specialist from the Western Cape, joined us in summer 2024, bringing a love of numbers, data, order, and rigour, to help Ines keep our portfolio of trips, sample itineraries, and supplier data up-to-date.
In-country partners
In each country we send clients to, we have a network of tried and tested, trusted travel partners. These can lodges, camps, guesthouses, and hotels, local airlines, transport providers, and tour guides. They are chosen for their reliability, service levels, the experiences they provide, value-for-money, and compatability with our ethos for ethical and sustainable practices.
First-hand knowledge
Having lived in, worked in, and travelled around southern and eastern Africa, Christopher has considerable first-hand knowledge of the destinations we send clients to. Travelling independently and working on assignments, he has stayed in a wide variety of accommodations and creates trips to suit most requirements. He has a foot on either side of the Atlantic in the UK and the USA, but spends at least three months of the year in Africa. Ines, our Director of Product and Sales, has worked in the travel and safari business for over two decades and is an amazing source of knowledge on lodges and camps. Now based in London, she returns to Africa twice a year on inspection- and educational trips. Michele and Shannon have over 20 years of safari travel planning experience each. Shannon lives in KwaZulu-Natal, Kerry and Matthew Milward in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, Michle lives on the wild coast of the Eastern Cape but also works remotely from Zambia, Matthew O'Brien, our Safari Specialist Team Leader is a resident of Johannesburg, and Nelia is based in Zimbabwe. All have previous experience in either lodge management or guiding, so our clients are in very knowledgeable hands.
The lodges, hotels, dive centres, safari, trek, and vehicle hire companies we use have been tried, tested, and approved. All our providers are members of their respective country's tourism organisations, and we have stayed at around 98% of them.
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