Our boutique business Safar Traveller came about when a hospitality and tourism graduate from Switzerland partnered with a seasoned safari expert and businessman, to curate bespoke travel journeys around the African & Indian subcontinents.
My hospitality training and my (late) father’s nearly two decades on-ground experience, tempered by our common love of travel, wildlife, entertaining and people resulted in one specific objective: to ensure that we cater to the "type" of people who hire us. Meaning, we love the beautiful wild, but we also know how to translate it for different tastes.
The word safari has its origins in the Arabic word safariya. The derivative in swahili, safari, means “to travel” or journey. Safar Traveller was founded in early 2016 and today we are based between Mumbai and New Delhi, but also in and out of Africa every year reviewing new properties and revisiting older ones. Many of the guides, camps, hotels and agencies we work with in both continents are not only safari industry pioneers, but also personal friends of ours.
BHARATI WADHWANI -
Founder & Safari Consultant
Most people travel for either work or pleasure. For me it’s always both together! I am a hospitality and tourism graduate from Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland, with hospitality experience in Bangkok, Mauritius and New Delhi at The Marriott, The Oberoi and Aman Resorts, respectively.
My first African safari was in 2008 and I’ve gone back every single year since, culminating in a year spent in working in Kenyan camps to understand the safari business in detail.
I aim to locate the best camps in the best locations, which offer a great wildlife experience while respecting your budget. I consider myself organised and detail oriented, which makes me particularly well suited to planning family safaris and honeymoons in this complicated travel destination.
I will share with you all my personal recommendations for interesting things to do or places to shop and eat, being in love with food and wine myself, with a minor addiction to tribal jewellery and African art! Book with bharati@safartraveller.com or +91 9810801222. Read my Safari Q&A and packing guide on Nicobar’s fashion blog.
IN MEMORIAM ♡ RAVI T WADHWANI
27. 01. 1948 - 11. 11. 2022
Safari Consultant, Photographer & Author
Though he spent most of his life working as a businessman in Europe co-founding MEXX, an international brand for ready-to-wear fashion, Ravi retired in 1991 at the age of 41, moved back to India and began travelling to Africa.
Our father’s travels have taken him from the Cape to Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti to the Skeleton Coast and along the way he has garnered an intimate sense of Africa’s wildlife and its ways. Photographing African game, skylines and landscapes added an exciting dimension to the lensman’s travel experience. Since 1994, the author has taken his camera on over 70 trips across ten countries in sub-saharan Africa teaching himself, along the way, the art of photography in the magical dark and light of the plains. This culminated in the book Safar, An Indian In Africa.
He has also written for several magazines, created the Safar Art Collection in collaboration with Kenya based artist Anthony Russell and acted as a safari travel guide and consultant to friends of all stripes, from delicate city slickers to luxury seekers to the more wild and adventurous at heart. Read about Ravi’s great adventures in Condé Nast Traveller.