Our story
Twenty years in the bush.
What began in 2006 as a small Kruger booking site has become Safari.com, a specialist operator that has guided more than 60,500 travellers across the continent and was named Africa's Leading Safari Company at the World Travel Awards in 2024 and 2025.
In short
A safari company built by people who love the bush.
Two founders started the business in 2006 with a simple idea: that booking a safari should not be harder than the safari itself. Twenty years on, that conviction still sets the rhythm of the company. We curate, we coordinate, and we are reachable on the same number from the first message to the day you come home.
Our guests come predominantly from Europe and the Americas, and they arrive with one thing in common: limited time and high expectations. We meet them with a tightly edited shortlist of lodges and itineraries, drawn from a portfolio of more than 500 operators we have travelled with personally. Nothing in the recommendation comes from a brochure.
In 2024 and again in 2025 we were named Africa's Leading Safari Company at the World Travel Awards. We mention it because, after twenty years, it is the proxy that best captures what we have been quietly trying to do all along.
Fast facts
Two decades, in numbers.
60,500+
Travellers sent on safari
500+
Operators we work with across Africa
20 years
In business, from 2006 to today
9,850+
Lodge and safari reviews on file
The arc
From a Kruger booking site to Safari.com.
A short, plain-text history. Each step was the small, sensible next move at the time. The through-line only becomes obvious in retrospect.
- 2006
Two founders launch the business as krugerpark-direct.com, a small online travel site selling South African National Parks accommodation.
- 2007
Becomes the largest reseller for South African National Parks, the first time the brand has scale in the safari market.
- 2009
Acquires the KrugerPark.com domain. The focus expands from rest camps to luxury safaris in Kruger and the surrounding private reserves.
- 2015
Re-incorporates as AfriTrip (Pty) Ltd, relaunching at AfriTrip.com with a portfolio that now spans Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
- 2017
Acquires the Safari.com domain. The strategic step on the road to becoming the safari authority.
- 2018
CTP Caxton, a JSE-listed publishing group, joins as a strategic shareholder, providing the balance sheet for the next phase of growth.
- 2024
Voted Africa's Leading Safari Company at the World Travel Awards.
- 2025
Voted Africa's Leading Safari Company at the World Travel Awards for the second consecutive year.
From recent travellers
What guests have said.
"We’ve had a really good experience with Sara at Safari.com. She’s been great to deal with, very patient with all our changes & always quick to come back with helpful advice. She really listened to what we wanted and put together a fantastic South Africa and Namibia trip for us."
"The booking experience was flawless. I was initially apprehensive about even trying to book a safari, because August is the high season and we were less than a month away, but Izanne quickly curated the perfect trip that met the budget I had set. Izanne also demonstrated exceptional flexibility; when I requested a change to the itinerary, they quickly found…"
"So far the service and communication has been fantastic. I've been exchanging emails since February and they always reply super quickly and are very friendly. We're very excited for our experience coming up and are confident it will go smoothly. I appreciate they provide WhatsApp numbers as well just in case something happens in the moment."
"Our contact at Safari.com was fantastic. She was able to answer all my questions, or find and out then text me back. Communication using email and WhatsApp was excellent. While planning our trip we had a large change and Denise was able to work with our Safari lodge to find a solution, which solved it. Booking went smoothly, suggestions about the trip were v…"