Special Report
throughout the redesigned lodges to keep with andBeyond’s sustainability strategy and will play a part in all future projects. At Sandibe, 70% of the energy used for electricity and hot water is from a renewable source with no carbon footprint. Debra Fox, of Fox Browne Creative, has been
working with andBeyond for many years. “With a hospitality ethic of ‘whatever, wherever, whenever’, guests dictate their own schedule, including meal preferences and where they’d prefer to eat so part of our job is to map out the guest experience from the moment they arrive to the time they depart, effectively designing every aspect of the safari experience,” she says. This all sounds terribly expensive, but Kent
believes that Kichwa Tembo, situated in a private concession within the famed Masai Mara, offers the best value safari in East Africa. “While our lodges may be differentiated in the
level of experience that they offer, there is a golden thread that runs through them all. So, whether we are offering an extremely exclusive product for $1,900 a night, like andBeyond Sandibe, or the more accessible, but less private andBeyond Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp priced at $400 a night, there are very strong similarities common to both,” he says. The Mara location is close to his heart as he was born and raised in Kenya and his family is woven into the original camp’s rich history. Spacious new luxury tents have been cleverly repositioned to enhance the guests’ sense of privacy and maximise the Mara views. “You’d never guess that there are 40 tents here,”
muses Kent, and it seems that both families and honeymooners will feel equally happy here.
The success of Sandibe and the new-look
andBeyond Kichwa Tembo camp in Kenya’s Masai Mara are the result of a collaboration between Fox Browne Creative – which consults on all aspects that touch the guest, from design through to operations – and architects Nick Plewman in South Africa, which designed the original lodge, and UK- based Michaelis Boyd. They specialise in environmentally sensitive architecture and have also worked on several Soho House projects and many restaurants, so bring with them an idea of what chic urbanites look for these days too. “The unusual and groundbreaking design that
we adopted for the lodge reflects where I think things will go in the future,” says Kent. “The overarching effect is an organic one that seems to be at one with nature but also contemporary in feel. There is no airbrushed reality here – the design brings nature into the experience, as opposed to excluding it.” The main area, a Frank Gehry-style design, is
intended to be a cathedral to nature –a contemplative space but one that is also fun and interactive, he explains. Cutting-edge technology is being deployed
Coasts and cruises Off the southern coast of Mozambique, andBeyond Benguerra opened in June and is an island retreat with an unbeatable sense of place in the Bazaruto archipelago. Horse-riding along the beach, sea kayaking, fishing, catamaran sunset cruises, and snorkelling and diving trips to Two-Mile Reef are some of the attractions here. Increasingly, family travel is a strong focus. At
some of the lodges, such as andBeyond Phinda Mountain Lodge in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, additional family suites have been added or are in the pipeline. Again, Kent likes to challenge conventional thinking, proposing a blow-out multi- generational family itinerary that links the likes of the Homestead at Phinda to exclusive use of the four-suite Leadwood Lodge in the Sabi Sand, before flying over to the family villa on Benguerra. Thought-provoking design and alluring interiors
aside, what also sets the company apart is its determined focus on placing interpretative guiding at the heart of the guest experience. It is underpinned by a rigorous, in-house guide
training programme that has expanded in the past year to include specialised guide training in every region in which it operates. These days, the safari experience is far more than just sitting passively in a vehicle on game drives and has instead become a fully immersive, interactive experience that may include tracking on foot or walking among
potentially dangerous game side-by-side with an expert walking guide. The company is also meeting a growing demand for specialist guiding in photography or birding, where a guide’s knowledge and expertise adds even more depth to the experience. AndBeyond guides are trained to offer guests the opportunity to get involved at a very real level, whether that be visiting one of the Africa Foundation’s community projects, participating in conservation activities, such as the collaring of lion or elephant – even rhino notching. “So far, guests who have seen this impactful
conservation project in action have experienced something that money usually can’t buy,” says Kent. “The emotional engagement you experience over and above the adrenaline and excitement factor is what remains with you forever.” Kent says another key way in which the company
sets itself apart is its generous and down-to-earth approach to hospitality. “Guests feel as though they are part of a family,
as opposed to the traditional and rather stuffier style implemented by some of our competitors, where interactions between guests and staff may be more stand-offish,” Kent says. “And we like it this way. It is more personal and results in a far more engaging, interactive and enriching experience.” Next up is a $2 million rebuild and renovation of
andBeyond Ngala Safari Lodge in South Africa, which shares unfenced borders with Kruger National Park. Scheduled to reopen in June, the thatched suites will be more spacious, filled with natural light thanks to floor-to ceiling glass windows, have larger bathrooms and bigger private verandas for private dining. Botswana Expedition, comprising six new mobile
camping safaris through the most iconic wildlife areas of Botswana, also launches next June. These all-inclusive safaris, ranging from six to eight nights, will depart on set dates throughout the year, can be booked for small groups or individual travellers, and are fully inclusive with a minimum of two and maximum of six guests per departure. While all the options include mobile camping, some of the safaris end with a few nights at one of andBeyond’s luxury Okavango Delta lodges. But it’s not all been positive, with unavoidable
business challenges impacting on tourist confidence, such as health fears surrounding Ebola and the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks in East Africa. But andBeyond still manages to champion the positive in what it does, such as its involvement in the Rhinos Without Borders project, now into its second phase of fundraising which will help with translocation of the next batch of rhinos from South Africa to Botswana. “We are creating a new breeding population of rhino in Botswana as an evolutionary ‘insurance policy’ against the possible extinction of the species,” explains Kent. And meanwhile in a continent far far away,
there’s expansion into South American countries such as Chile and Argentina.
Pictured 1. AndBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge, Botswana 2. Chief executive Joss Kent 3. AndBeyond Kichwa Tembo, Kenya
BUSINESS OF TRAVEL WINTER 2015
TTGLUXURY.COM 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86