Meet with an Expert REQUEST A BROCHURE
Meet with an Expert REQUEST A BROCHURE

 

The Path to Departure

What to expect leading up to your client’s safari

By choosing Micato for your clients, you opened the door to an experience we carefully orchestrate to be seamless and worry-free for your travellers. And for you. In addition to making safari stressless for your travellers, we also, of course, want to make it amazing, which we’ve succeeded in doing repeatedly for 60 years.

Our secret? We are laser-focused on making your clients feel special every step of the way. Which is why the following sections highlight the carefully considered communications we have with you and your clients before and after their Micato safaris.

Because we firmly believe that the journey of a lifetime begins at home.

So, under the Immediately After Booking and A Bit of Elegance Before They Go tabs below, you’ll notice we provide your clients with information and useful items to prepare them, but we want to excite them, too. Building anticipation for what’s to come on a Micato safari has long been a joyful process for us; we want it to be joyful for your clients, too, and we think it shows in what we send along.

Likewise, with what we send after safari—kindly refer to A Thoughtful Welcome Home—we want to do our part to preserve the most precious gift of all: Fond memories that we’re certain will last for many years to come.

 

The Journey Begins: A Seamless Start to a Seamless Safari 

Once your clients confirm their Custom safari proposal or secure their place on a Classic safari, we’re off! An email will arrive in your inboxes outlining next steps and what to expect every step of the way.

For starters, we will work together to get some important documentation squared away:

  • An invoice and credit card authorization form for effortless booking.
  • A guest registration form and, quite important to us, a form for your clients to indicate their travel preferences, which will help us tailor their journey as thoughtfully as we know how.
  • Waivers for exciting safari activities like hot air ballooning or soaring by helicopter over the animal-rich game lands of Micato’s Africa
  • Trip Mate Insurance enrollment for added peace of mind.

Also, in a gesture that underscores what we like to call the Micato Difference, your clients will receive a gift from us—the first of many—that might include a bag of rich African coffee and a beautifully crafted Micato elephant mug, setting the tone for the adventure to come.

Then comes the arrival of our traditional Safari Planning Information Kit, an assortment of materials designed to build anticipation and make your clients’ preparation and planning as quick and easy as possible. This includes:

  • A detailed itinerary with scheduled activities and lodge descriptions.
  • A list of safari accommodations, essential for Tanzania’s visa application and Kenya’s electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).
  • Visa guidance for every country your clients will explore with Micato.
  • A handpicked reading list with our favourite books on Africa and safari life.
  • A comprehensive packing guide, thoughtfully perfected over the years by the Pinto Family, our Micato Safari Directors, and many other seasoned old safari hands, ensuring your clients are the best prepared travellers on the African savannahs
  • A map of their safari route, sparking inspiration for the landscapes and wildlife they will soon encounter.
  • Insightful writings on the cultures, customs, and experiences awaiting them.

We have found that this level of preparation early on gives our travellers peace of mind and makes them feel they’ve begun their Micato adventure well before they set foot on the plane. So, thank you ahead of time for working with your clients and us to complete all the necessary forms soon after their deposit is paid.

Not incidentally, your clients will find along the way that all the information, handy travel items, and other presents we provide are not only carefully considered and selected, they are also thoughtfully presented and packaged, from the fonts and photos in our materials to the handsome envelopes and boxes we mail them in, to every other little gift your travellers will receive from us… in the end, we both know it’s the little things that matter, and we’re certain your clients will notice.

 

As your clients’ safari draws near, the excitement builds—and so do the thoughtful touches that make a journey with Micato extraordinary. Four to six weeks before departure, a package will arrive at their doorstep (and yours, if you also wish to receive what your clients do), filled with little essentials and extras designed to enhance their Micato adventure. 

Inside this special delivery, they’ll find:

  • A stunning coffee table book, such as The Micato Safaris Guide to Predators, offering a glimpse into Africa’s majestic wildlife.
  • A handsome Micato duffel bag with a retractable handle—crafted to meet the luggage requirements for internal African flights—along with personalized luggage tags.
  • A classic Moleskine notebook and a sleek document wallet, perfect for passports, boarding passes, and cherished safari notes.
  • A sturdy flashlight, handy for quietly navigating safari tents after dark and illuminating paths under the starry African sky.

Then, four weeks before departure, an email will arrive containing the final safari documents, ensuring a smooth and worry-free journey. These will include:

  • A concise, text-only itinerary, itemizing every accommodation and planned activity.
  • A detailed checklist summarizing visa requirements, local regulations, immunization details (if applicable), and other essential travel information.
  • Emergency contact information for our dedicated Micato team on the ground in Africa, providing peace of mind every step of the way.

Micato safaris don’t end once your clients return home. Their time on safari will linger in their memories, the stories they share, and, no doubt, in the many astonishing photographs they capture along the way.

To celebrate their Micato safari and preserve our tradition of asking our guests for their thoughts, a personal letter from Dennis Pinto will be waiting for them, along with a brief, optional questionnaire inviting your travellers to share reflections about their Micato experience. Naturally, we would love to hear your thoughts, too. 

Then, a few weeks after their return, a final touch of Micato elegance arrives—a beautifully engraved silver picture frame, a keepsake designed to hold a treasured safari memory. We hope they’ll place a favourite snapshot inside, keeping the spirit of Micato’s Africa alive in their hearts and homes for years to come.