What an incredibly strange time to be alive. I don’t think anyone in the world could’ve expected COVID-19 to cause so much chaos. At Tanda Tula, just like every other safari lodge in Africa, we had an almost overnight fall of bookings. We went from having guests and future bookings one day to literally none the next. For an industry as popular as the African safari industry and having worked in this industry for almost 10 years, it was absolutely astonishing!
I remember vividly, after our last guests had left, Britt, Chad and myself had a small meeting. The idea behind this meeting was how we were going to keep Tanda Tula, The Greater Kruger and of course Africa, in the hearts and minds of all our amazing past and future guests. How could we help to add to the positivity of the world as opposed to abundant negativity? With the assistance of Shara, Tanda Tula’s content manager, we developed a strategy to keep the content flowing in new and exciting ways. We developed the concepts of Sofa Safari, Sofatography, Solo Safaris, Safari Science, Safari Kitchen and our already somewhat famous Week in Pictures. At the end of the day we had an entire game reserve that needed exploring as well and believe me, we never once, and still don’t take it for granted for one second. We understood immediately how lucky we were and just how unlucky others might be. It was our sole purpose to bring joy and happiness to those that were possibly struggling to find it.
Over the next few months, we spent hours out in the African wilderness in search of inspiring content and of course, the amazing wildlife that we share this wonderland with. It was a learning curve for all of us on the team and an absolutely invaluable one that we will cherish forever. It was a chance for us to connect with all of you in a completely different way. If we couldn’t share these amazing sightings with you in person, then we were adamant to share them with you virtually! From the bottom of my heart and from all of us that have enjoyed sharing this all with you, thank you for connecting with us, supporting and spurring us on to continue capturing Africa. We will never give up this new model of content creation and even when business returns to “normal” we will still do our best to bring you all the virtual safari goodness that we can.
The past months have produced some truly stunning sightings and along with those sightings have come some great moments captured and frozen in time. So, I truly hope you enjoy going through my Lockdown 2020 highlight images. I think my favourite image is the one of the wild dog chasing the hyena. This image was taken during our first sighting of African wild dogs on a Sofa Safari. Seeing these two species interact is always so interesting and for lack of a better word, hilarious. This is because, as I said in that video, it’s always great to see hyena getting served a bit of their own medicine.
There were a few more images that really resonated with me during this time. The portrait of the little lion cub really sums up the character and naughtiness that a lion cub so often brings to the table. The rare image a rhino, an animal that we choose not to advertise all that often due to the current pressure they face in terms of poaching. We Just couldn’t sit idly by any longer and deny one of the worlds most iconic species from having its moment in the limelight and so we filmed only one episode of Sofa Safari with this most peaceful of species.
Lastly, the pangolin. An animal that I have now had the pleasure of seeing all of five times and a species that most avid safari goers will spend their lives trying to tick off, and sadly, the worlds most poached mammal. This is not an animal that we often get to photograph and so I could not be happier that I now have a portfolio of pangolin shots to truly be proud of.
People always talk about living in the moment, “forget everything else and just be present”, they say. Well, I don’t think there is anything quite as powerful in this regard as spending time in nature and with the beautiful and innocent wildlife one may encounter out there. Being on safari forces your presence, maybe ‘force’ is the wrong word because at the end of the day, you don’t even have to try.
We are so excited to welcome you back and to share these wild spaces with you once again, to be in the moment with you and to forget all the negatives of the world. Tanda Tula is ready, Africa is ready. We will see you soon.
Until next time, happy snapping,
Luke
Rates are quoted in South African Rand (ZAR) and include VAT. Rates are reviewed quarterly and are subject to change.
PROVISIONAL:
Bookings can be held as provisional for up to 14 days, after which the booking is required to release or confirm. A 20% refundable deposit is required to confirm the booking.
CONFIRMED:
Once confirmed with a 20% deposit, the booking is held on a status of ‘confirmed with refundable deposit’ until any of the following becomes true:
Final payment is due 60 days prior to arrival. Any outstanding balance on the total reservation value shall be required to be settled at 60 days prior to arrival.
All refundable deposits, commitment fees and full payments are held in a separate call account and do not become part of the operational cash flow until the guest has stayed.
The amount stated on the invoice is what must be received by Tanda Tula nett of bank charges.
CANCELLED
Cancellations must be received and acknowledged by Tanda Tula in writing.
‘Confirmed with refundable deposit’: bookings carry no cancellation fees up to 61 days prior to arrival.
‘Confirmed with commitment’ or ‘Confirmed with full-payment’: in the event of any reservation being cancelled after Tanda Tula has issued a confirmation, for any reason other than a WHO-recognised pandemic that impacts the booking, the following cancellation fees will apply:
All cancelled bookings that qualify for a refund, will be refunded less a handling fee valued at 5% of the refund amount.
PANDEMIC DISCLAIMER
Tanda Tula will allow postponement of a booking for up to 12 months, if travel is cancelled with a commitment fee or 60 days or less prior to arrival due to a WHO-recognised pandemic directly impacting the guests’ ability to travel (e.g. lockdown, no flights, guest not allowed to board a flight, guest falls ill due to a pandemic and unable to travel).
In the event of a WHO-recognised pandemic directly impacting the ability of Tanda Tula to meet its obligations with respect to the booking, all monies received, including the commitment fee, will be fully refunded (e.g. lockdown in RSA, government restrictions on trade).
Any refund is given at the discretion of Tanda Tula management and will be charge a handling fee valued at 5% of the refund amount.
All travellers are advised to take out fully comprehensive travel insurance with ‘cancellation for no reason’. This insurance must be able to fully cover cancellation of travel fewer than 60 days prior to arrival.
The Terms and Conditions are subject to change without notice.
