Hey everyone, well, if honest, there’s not an awful lot we can add at this juncture, but in the interests of trying to alleviate a bit of boredom, here’s a bit of an update. At present, all remaining trips this year (with the exception of the Chobe Explorer for operational reasons) remain fully open. There are of course a whole range of challenges ahead of us as we sit here today, but we have to remain optimistic up to the point at which things are simply not possible. Our approach is to continue dealing with all of you booked on trips this year on an individual basis, and as such, rest assured, you will continue to hear from us directly as and when things change and develop. So far, we’ve had to reschedule two trips: Baffin to 2022 and Yellowstone to 2021.

There are a number of issues to consider, but the principle ones essentially revolve around border controls and quarantining. These are of course out of our hands, but as we sit here today, travel to/from Canada, Southern Africa and Brazil – in other words, everywhere we are going this year – is suspended. Not only are there limitations by domestic governments advising against travel overseas, but also from all our destinations restricting in-bound visitors. Canada even has a policy of stopping inter-province travel as well. So, all in all, you’d think it looks a bit bleak. However, so much has happened in the last 9 weeks, that none of us can realistically predict the following 16. We will therefore continue to watch, enquire, and above all, hope, that things will open in certain areas sufficiently for us to at least realise some of these adventures for you all this year.

As I’ve already said, we’ll keep dealing with you on an individual basis so you will get your own info about the trip you are booked on, and what the options are. We have worked flat-out to secure all trips for next year as a fall-back, and for the most part we have managed to do that whilst ensuring that the guiding stays the same and the optimal dates we select remain in place too. This is where the advantage of many years of working with these fantastic people has come in very handy indeed. We are also committed to supporting them, and their efforts for conservation, at this difficult (some say impossible) time too.

In terms of “what to do” from your side, well, carry on as if the trip is going ahead. We’ve been through the “actuals” of the situation in previous posts, but the best thing to do is to continue the final payment schedule on time, and then if the trip cannot take place, you will either have the chance to re-locate onto the same trip next year or beyond; a different location perhaps, or receive that payment back as a refund. That way we can assure the places stay open for as long as possible with the camps and lodges.

We know what a pain all this is but your help and support, patience and understanding has been a huge lift and we’ll continue batting on to make as much possible as we can. As always, any questions, give us a shout.