There are a lot of great reasons for working with Aardvark Safaris to plan your holiday to Africa and the Indian Ocean. We’ve listed many of them below. If you have any questions, please call or email us.

Honest independent advice from knowledgeable and experienced Africa experts.

We’ve all lived and worked in Africa and tailor make high quality holidays in areas we know and love. We use camps and lodges we’ve tried and tested, and understand the importance of working with some of Africa’s best guides and hosts. We listen to your wishes and use our experience to tailor a safari that suits you perfectly. We will provide hassle free arrangements including full itinerary planning, providing the most effective routings and avoiding unnecessary (and costly) stopovers. We are completely impartial in our advice (no-one at Aardvark works on commission).

Holidays with 100% financial protection.

All the flights and flight-inclusive holidays on this website are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions for further information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLCertificate

Our IPP financial protection covers non-flight holidays should we cease trading. Your contractual relationship with us, drawn up under English law, requires us to provide a suitable alternative if our suppliers cease trading. Please remember that if you do decide to book direct with companies in Africa, or through a non-bonded company here in the UK, your money is at risk.

Avoid the pitfalls of booking direct with an African operator.

Booking direct you have zero financial protection. Can you pay with a credit card? If so what are the hidden charges? If you cannot pay by credit card then you will have to arrange a money transfer at your expense. When you get there what happens if nobody is there to meet you? If you have any complaints with the quality of your holiday how do you try and arrange compensation, you have very limited rights. Our registration number is 3800138 and our status can be checked at Companies House.

You pay no more booking through Aardvark than you would if you arranged the holiday yourselves.

Typically there are no additional costs to you for having the benefit of our advice. Our suppliers pay us a commission for each booking which is how we make our profit. In some instances we are able to plan trips more cheaply than you would yourselves. If you think that we are charging you more for accommodation or services than you can find direct, we are happy to look at the difference and see if we can remedy the situation.

We can’t guarantee to be competitive with flight prices as sales and special offers released on airline websites sometimes undercut the rates we are given direct by the airlines. We will always break down the flight costs in our quotes and if you can find cheaper flights than us you are welcome to book these independently of our travel arrangements.

Once a trip is confirmed we will not charge you for any currency fluctuations.

The price of your holiday stays the same even if there are currency movements before you travel. We buy in our currency when you pay your deposit which means you are covered in the case of any fluctuations.

There if you need us – 24 hours 7 days a week emergency phone cover.

We provide a full emergency back up service, both from ourselves and through local representatives on the ground, in case you have any difficulties whilst you are away

Service doesn’t stop when you leave the UK, you get great service in Africa too.

We’ve worked with the majority of our suppliers for years and by visiting regularly we know we’re still working with the best. By speaking to clients after they’ve travelled we feed back their thanks, and occasionally niggles, too which helps to keep standards high.

Committed to looking after the environment.

Our holidays allow you to enjoy wildlife, local communities and remote areas of Africa, and conservation is important to us. We work hard to ensure that the benefits tourism can bring to an area are not offset by negative impacts. We offer our clients the chance to offset the carbon emission caused by their long-haul flights with a scheme in Zambia which not only absorbs carbon dioxide but also provides food and employment. We have also supported the Koiyaki Guide School in the Masai Mara since its inception, giving local people the chance to take a part in the future of their area.

Our efforts in this area were recognised by AITO which awarded us four stars for our responsible tourism work in the UK and Africa.

Recommendations are at the heart of our business and we would be delighted to supply you with a reference.

Over 80% of our clients come to us through recommendation and several of our clients are on their second or third trip with us. Although we have been in business since 1999, we are a small company and have retained our personal touch with the owners still involved with sales on a day to day basis. See the testimonials page of our website to see what clients say about us. Let us know if you would like to speak to a past client.

Door to door bespoke planning.

We listen to your wishes and use our experience to tailor a safari that suits you perfectly. We will provide hassle free arrangements including full itinerary planning, providing the most effective routings and avoiding unnecessary (and costly) stopovers. We are completely impartial in our advice, no-one at Aardvark works on commission. We’ll ask questions about everyone travelling with you, and if there’s anything in particular you want to see or do. We’ve members in the team who are experts on planning family safaris, who’ve ridden all over Africa, who know the best spots for the migration or who’ve scaled Kilimanjaro, and we’ll make sure you are advised by the best person for your trip. From your first phone call to the feedback you give when we get back, we’ll plan your trip from door to door and will look after you 24/7 while you are away.