About The African Safari Collective | South African Safari Lodges
We believe the African Safari Collective is the future of sustainable travel. As a collective, we will take you #FurtherTogether and deliver on your expectations to experience a safe and spectacular South African safari lodge holiday.
WHAT DRIVES US:
Our key mission is to save you time, give you peace of mind and deliver your South African safari lodge dream. We are a group of independent lodges who are dedicated to working together to hold each other to the highest standards so that we can deliver your dream safari. It is something we have been doing for over a century, and now collectively, we know we can take you so much #FurtherTogether.
Our uniqueness is the journeys we curate and deliver, that we call safaris, the Swahili translation. Originally from the Arabic adjective سفر) safar) meaning a journey, travelling, touring or voyaging. We achieve our mission by collectively being driven to consistently deliver our seven key S’s to all our customers, including our direct guests, agents and members. These include a simple, secure, safe, sustainable, society, spectacular and special offering.
OUR FOUNDERS:
African Safari Collective was founded in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we came together with the same overriding worry, not for ourselves but our teams, our people, our family and the beautiful and fierce creatures of Africa. We realised that if we falter, her people and wild areas would be at risk. So, ASC was born, by a group of like-minded independent collaborators who knew we could go #FurtherTogether as we preserved the wilds and bettered the lives of our communities while delivering our guests safari dream.
Born out of a shared vision, our 5 founding members, united in their passion for Southern Africa and sharing our spectacular journeys and diverse biomes and regions countless different experiences with you. Together, our founders have almost three centuries of expertise in tourism in Africa.
We look forward to welcoming you to the South African safari lodge experience of a lifetime!
OUR FOUNDERS
Nicky and Doug Rattray
Fugitives Drift Lodge - Rorke's Drift, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
#OutOfTheFireIntoTheFryingPan #FunnySpectaculaRRRRStoryteller
David and Nicky Rattray pioneered Heritage Tourism in South Africa with the opening of Fugitives’ Drift Lodge on the family farm in 1989. Fugitives’ Drift is now world-renowned for moving, passionate, detailed and remarkable battlefield tours to Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. David and Nicky’s great passion for the area, conservation, and hospitality have been passed onto the next generation with Nicky and David’s three sons, Andrew, Douglas and Peter. They are all working to continue David’s legacy, whilst also forging their own paths.
Andrew and Anel Rattray
Fairview House - Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
#GreenFingersWithRealSolutions #FarmersMakeAPlanAndAnalyse
Moving to the Western Cape and away from the Battlefields has enabled Andrew & Anel to make their own individual presence known within the Collective. Uncovering the grace and beauty of Fairview House and establishing an aquaponics farm to sustain their restaurant has set Fairview House on a long and successful road on the Garden Route. Andrew has made becoming the Farm to Fork Farmer look easy!
Cheryl and Simon Blackburn
Three Tree Hill Lodge - Bergville, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
#GoingPlacesNoOneElseWill #IntegrityEvenWhenNoOneIsLooking
With their whole life always about the travel industry, both Simon and Cheryl know every detail within their lodge and the journey it took to get there. However, their passion for being answerable to Mother Nature with anything they do means that they are the perfect ambassadors for Sustainable living and mentors for all.
Leigh-Ann and Hugh Morrison
Makakatana Bay Lodge - St Lucia, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
#CreativeArtyAndTheCostCutter #FightForWhatYouWant
Makakatana Bay has drawn human beings for centuries and has been in the Morrison family for four generations. In 1997, Hugh and Leigh-Ann were given the opportunity by Hugh’s parents, to build Makakatana Bay Lodge in a beautiful location right at the edge of the water at Lake St Lucia, close to the Morrison family home and original trading store. Leigh-Ann and Hugh are passionate about their heritage, conservation and sharing this magical park and the wondrous ocean and lake that surround it. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, with globally significant ecological importance and beauty.
Ryan and Jo Vivier
Leopard Mountain Safari Lodge - Mkuze, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
#OnlyIfItIsConservationFirst
In 1997, as the Vivier family, it was our original vision to find a sustainable solution to protect and conserve our endangered species, specifically by co-owning and running a Game Reserve. What we realised at the time, was that the only way to achieve this was to build and run a successful lodge. Thanks to our amazing team and guests, more than two decades later, Leopard Mountain has achieved its founding vision and so much more. Today starts a new chapter in our story, while we continue to passionately put conservation first, and celebrate, share and develop what so many of our guests return to again and again. We cherish the value that we deliver them, and will continue to ensure all of them leave saying, “Leopard Mountain is always so much more than what we expected”.
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