The Ultimate Luxury Family Safari

Planning a luxury African safari vacation with your children, grandchildren, or extended family? Do it in style with Micato’s exclusive, custom itineraries for the ultimate luxury-seeking tribes.

Round the dinner table, over the phone, via the vibrant, intoxicating waves of cyberworld, families spend a great many moments deciding where to travel. Micato’s founding family, The Pintos, are no different. Their three generations may be slightly biased — yet wholeheartedly correct — in knowing that safari is the most wonderful where of any where on earth. And when you decide to travel with Micato, you’ll soon agree it is also the most enriching, indulgent, and truly carefree way to travel.

The most elegant camps. The easiest access to the most spectacular animals. The most knowledgeable, flexible and charming Safari Director. To travel well isn’t merely about luxury, it’s an investment in heirloom-worthy memories (as the Italian poet Cesare Pavese wrote, “We do not remember days; we remember moments”) and unforgettable adventures for every family member. From young children to teens, to parents and grandparents, a five-star safari is a shared experience to be savoured forever.

Picture it.

Snow-capped Kilimanjaro stands sentry in the distance as your private helicopter skims low over the African bush, making for home. We say home, and home it is. Perhaps a private exclusive-use lodge is to your taste — Micato has several in mind: each meticulously inspected and selected by the Pinto Family; each beautifully designed, lavishly equipped and professionally staffed to welcome you and your family. To give you the tiniest sneak-peek of the many styles on offer, consider this…

Ol Jogi – a raffish, lovingly designed exclusive-use lodge built by the Wildenstein Family, set deep within a massive private game reserve that pulses with all manner of wonderful Kenyan wildlife. The family friendly decadently curated camp sleeps 14 in seven unique villas, complete with swimming pool, fireplaces, a French chef and full staff. There are bush walks and horse riding, magical candlelit dinners, as well as much to learn about anti-poaching and conservation efforts at their state-of-the-art wildlife rescue centre.

Or maybe this…

Campi Ya Kanzi – set amidst a beautiful game reserve, this traditional camp reserves Kanzi House for exclusive use. With it, the option for an adventurous hands-on day trip—your family takes a private flight into lush Tsavo National Park to observe, even bottle feed, elephants in their second phase of being reintroduced to the wild, made possible through the good works of the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.

Herein lies the magic. Safari has a built-in educational syllabus for pupils, students and post-grads of all stripes. As subtle or as rigorous as you please: from the pride of lions lounging under a thousand-year acacia tree that ensures your kids forget their screens; to flying by helicopter to fossil hunt in the study of humankind with world-famous archeologist Louise Leakey at her northern Kenyan field station, a family safari guarantees enrichment beyond the realm of reason.

Aside from family friendly sumptuous camps and lodges, one of the biggest trends in safari life is the use of helicopters. Not only do they obviate the need for hours of road travel, they make the journey as exciting as the destination itself. From whale watching in whitecapped splendour from the skies off the South African coast, to skirting Rwanda’s jungle-laced hills to meet the magnificent gorillas, flying by private heli is the ultimate way for families to travel well.

Indeed, Micato arranges entire custom private safaris via air – from private helicopter to private jet (South Africa in particular, has many smaller jet options). Not to be overlooked, the romantic rush of nimble fixed-wing planes, the wily workhorses of Africa, readily to hand to ferry us from one opulent lodge to the next swanky camp in true Out of Africa style.

On a custom family safari, it is your family’s interests, hobbies and backgrounds that shape the days and give character to the nights. Feeling the need for something exotic?

• Make a mega yacht sailboat your family’s base, all the better to indulge in fly-in safari by day and sophisticated Cape Town sundowner by night.
• Hikers may enjoy a private walk with a local bushman up Table Mountain.
• Ride the waves with private surf lessons.
• Challenge yourself to a slightly extreme 19th hole (hop in your helicopter to zoom to the clifftop to play the par three hole of your life).
• Most tourists see penguins on land—why not form a merry flotilla of kayaks?
• How about heli wine-tasting across a rolling vine-laced landscape?
• Be a part of the bigger picture: sponsor and participate in the transfer of an endangered rhino, or dart and relocate a lion or a giraffe. Or meet the child you sponsor through our charitable society, AmericaShare. (We’re no end of proud that through their contributions, Micato guests have helped to build everything from libraries to basketball courts.)
• Or, for a magnificent 24-hour diversion, fly to the Antarctic where the exotic icy furls of the White Desert present a treasure trove of natural geology — surely the definition of ultimate cool, no matter your age.

Consider this menu just a start to the ultimate African luxury family safari of your dreams. Contact a Safari Specialist to schedule a consultation today – you won’t regret it.