Why Choose a Luxury Safari with Micato

For six decades we’ve been refining our craft, driven to overdeliver. The result? An almost impossibly all-inclusive safari, as this list tries to show.  Here are just the beginnings of The Micato Difference:

Safari Plane
Rhino Flight
Giraffe Manor Kenya
Why Safari with Micato?
Safari Trip in Safari Vehicle - Watching Elephant Experience

What Makes Micato Different?

  • Travel+Leisure has named Micato the #1 World’s Best Safari Outfitter an unprecedented ten times. No other company comes close. We were also named Travel+Leisure World’s Best Value on every poll ever taken and we’re the only tour operator in Travel+Leisure’s Hall of Fame. You can read more about that here.
  • Micato Africa founders Felix and Jane Pinto are native Kenyans who live in Africa. They, along with the rest of the Micato team, are available to consult with you at any time about whatever you may want or need. And the Pinto Family’s long history and established standing throughout Africa enables “only with Micato” access to extraordinary people, places, and experiences.
  • Itineraries perfected by our large in-country staff’s generations of experience and local knowledge.
  • Extensive safety protocols perfected by 60 years of on-the-ground expertise.
  • Luxurious camps and lodges – obsessively, continually evaluated on the ground by our Safari Directors.
  • Since we don’t own or operate the lodges and camps we frequent we’re able to put our guests’ interests first, not our company’s.
  • Only Micato includes a highly-credentialed, Silver or Gold-level Safari Director on every trip in East Africa — in addition to a well-versed Driver Guide. Two dynamic, exuberant experts instead of the solitary driver most companies provide.
  • Only Micato offers a wonder-working Concierge Team on safari, available in person or phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from just about anywhere a Micato safari will take you, from deep in the bush to downtown Nairobi. They’re poised to meet last-minute, unexpected, and unusual requests. Forgot a prescription? Lost your reading glasses? Craving your favourite snack? Just pick up the phone.
  • No tipping. Ever. No exceptions. Years ago Micato established the groundbreaking industry policy of including all gratuities, even substantial ones to Safari Directors, Driver-Guides, Trackers and Rangers, in addition to our usual inclusions of waiters, porters… and everyone else, from beginning to end of your luxury safari. We’ve completely removed the anxiety about when to reach into your pocket for a gratuity, as well as figuring out how much.
  • All meals included, too. Moreover, you may decide on-the-spot to dine at a restaurant of your choice on a Micato Custom Safari and we’ll happily pick up the tab. Africa has astonishing culinary choices and there are virtually no limits to where and how often you can indulge. And no worries about making reservations or finding hot spots before you travel; we’ve got that covered; perhaps one reason SAVEUR magazine named Micato Safaris Best Culinary Tour Operator.
  • Drinks are on us during mealtimes. East and South Africa have an evolving selection of regional wines and craft beer, so we’re delighted to include wine and beer as well as bottled water, and soft drinks. And in Southern Africa we often pick up the tab for spirits, too.
  • Valet laundry service included everywhere, every day. You can pack less and even return home with a bag of clean clothes… now that’s luxury.
  • Our small-group, non-groupy boutique luxury safaris rarely number more than 12 guests and can be as small as two. That means more personalized attention from your Micato Safari Directors and Driver-Guides at every turn.

Micato represents “five decades of refining our craft,” suggests managing director Dennis Pinto. “For us, safari is very personal. We want our travellers to see it through our eyes, through the eyes of Africans. We try and show it to you as though you’re members of our family. And simply by booking a safari with us, you send a child to school.”

Wait, there’s more!

  • Every Micato Safaris departure is 100% guaranteed to operate, even for parties of two. We have never cancelled a trip.
  • No needless drives between lodges and camps. Our use of myriad internal flights saves many, many hours of driving, giving you more time to relish the unique Micato Moments that abound on every departure, from bush cocktails to breathtaking walking safaris. Less time getting there means more time being there.
  • Easily arranged private bush flights and private vehicles for your group of friends and family – on all our safaris.
  • Every last one of our luxuriously stocked, 4-wheel drive custom safari vehicles has cool beverages and snacks, a pair of Nikon binoculars for each guest, animal and bird guidebooks, and bean bags for stabilizing long lenses. Plus every guest is guaranteed a window seat to maximize viewing pleasure.
  • With Micato, you’re always connected… our safari vehicles throughout Africa have complimentary Wi-Fi. You won’t have to wait hours to share your safari snaps with friends. And when you tag your social media posts with #micatosafaris we’ll help you rub in the fact that you’re having the time of your life.
  • Micato guests also receive complimentary Wi-Fi wherever else it exists, including every luxurious camp and lodge. You may not want to keep in contact with the outside world… but it’s nice to know you can!
  • Safari luggage you’ll flaunt. We teamed up with industry leaders to create the best lightweight, stylish safari duffel with a retractable handle and wheels, specially designed for the luggage holds of bush planes … a one-of-a-kind bag that would retail for hundreds of dollars if you could buy it… but you can’t! And the bag is roomy, too, so you’re free to collect hand-beaded jewels and uniquely carved African treasures.
  • We’re tapped into an extensive safety network: Micato is connected with top-flight security and advisory networks in the U.S. and Africa, which gives our ground teams the best resources to respond to any situation quickly. Also, the services of East Africa’s famous Flying Doctors are included in every safari as part of Micato’s comprehensive Passenger Protection Program, ensuring that medical treatment and emergency transportation are available to Micato travellers should the need arise.
  • It’s also nice to know you can work out in the privacy of your room thanks to our handy Gym in a Bag, equipped with a yoga mat, jump rope, and various stretch bands and weights. And while you’d certainly burn calories lugging the bag, you won’t have to. Your Micato Safari Director will transport it from lodging to lodging throughout your safari.
  • Micato Safaris has won five Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Awards: Three for Education and two for “Doing It All” — an unprecedented honour for any tour company. And we received the first-ever Legacy in Travel Philanthropy Award from Tourism Cares.
  • Forbes calls Micato “the Rolls-Royce of the safari world.” Need we say more? We don’t have to, Forbes does.
  • We’re fans of letting other major media outlets sing our praises, too! Micato has received high praise from Travel+Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Robb Report, Departures, AFAR, National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and many other publications.
  • Why not request our award winning, full-colour 173-page brochure? It will give you an exceptionally clear-eyed look at the high quality of our safaris.
  • We pay for an African child’s education for every guest on safari. Your safari will change a life.

 

Our mission is happily two-fold: orchestrating the world’s best safaris and, just as importantly, supporting our fully staffed nonprofit, AmericaShare. Together, Micato-AmericaShare is devoted to the idea that the most powerful tool for sustainable change in Africa is education.

That’s why we send a child to school for every guest on safari.

This commitment to hospitality, quality, and social responsibility is why we’ll never stop refining our craft. It’s how we stay different.  Join us. We’d can’t wait to show you Micato’s Africa.

People watching baby elephant taking bath
Sleeping Beauty of Leopard