Ok, let’s start with ‘OMG! How awesome was that!!!!!!!’ – Nik Barratt.
Due to the world travel ban, &Beyond has had to think outside of the box to keep all of our guests enjoying the wildlife that South Africa has to offer. Meaning if you guys aren’t currently able to come to South Africa’s and enjoy our wildlife reserves, we need to bring them to you through &Beyond’s WILDwatch TV
During the beginning of Covid-19 Lockdown we teamed up with Wild Earth to broadcast live safaris in the northern Sabi Sands , which was then extended to &Beyond Ngala Private Game Reserve and &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve as well as at Tswalu Tarkuni and Tswalu The Motse
One of the different, more exclusive options that we at &Beyond offer our guests is the opportunity of having the luxury of sitting in on a virtual session with an expert &Beyond guide who will interpret the incredible sightings of a recorded WILDwatch Live drive with you.
What we love about this experience: Can be tailored to your preferences i.e. Species specific chats, birding, conservation etc. Private Zoom virtual session, which you can either enjoy exclusively or you can send the link to five of your friends and family to join. Max 12 guests / 6 private links
Below is an excerpt from some feedback I received after hosting my first virtual safari for some very special people celebrating a milestone birthday. Well I actually hosted 4 virtual safaris for them in just 1 day…which I thoroughly enjoyed!
“Let’s start with how I felt very shortly after jumped online and booked all 4 of the time slots available on Angela’s 50th birthday. Initially, when I got a few more details, I was a little concerned. The reason for this was I realised afterwards that it wasn’t going to be live, like the WildEarth transmissions.
However, once we had thought it through we were far more comfortable. Game drives can be unpredictable and the last thing you want is a quiet drive, or for technology to fail.
The communication leading up to the day was excellent.
Lion at &Beyond Ngala and Aardvark surprise for my guests seen at Tswalu
As for the game drives themselves, let me give you our thoughts, as well as those of our family and friends:
- Absolutely every single person who joined us loved it. The way Tiff made them all feel welcome was excellent and then how the Guides interacted with the guests was fantastic. Having the background information really helped make a difference and they all commented on how personal it felt.
- The blend of letting the Guides from WildEarth speak when they were saying stuff that was relevant and interesting (mainly Dylan at Tswalu, or the &Beyond Guides) and muting when they weren’t was really well done.
- The Guides running the drive for us would then interject and add real value, answering questions and making it feel as close to a real safari as you can get via Zoom.
- The variety of game was incredible, especially the little stuff from Tswalu, which both Angela and I absolutely loved. This has made us determined to go back.
- The guides were fantastic. Our family and friends could not praise them enough. When you take into consideration that this is all new to them and they are getting to grips with technology, personalising it to us, working out when to pause when to let it run, when to mute, etc. they did a truly unbelievable job.
Hyena Den
In Summary:
This is as close to being in the bush as you can get, without actually being able to be in the bush. Having the Guides there to answer your questions, engaging with you and your family and friends was fantastic.
We loved the theme to Seth’s one in particular, building the tracking story, going off to look at something else, coming back to the tracking, going back to something different and finally following the tracks to a Leopard with her cub, was absolutely sensational.
In the morning, after a fantastic drive, having Andrew take his laptop to show us the view from his tent only to see the amazing &Beyond team all sing Happy Birthday to Angela and even having baked her a cake was really emotional”
…Nik Barratt
If you want to experience an exclusive virtual safari during the current travel ban, please contact me to organise your booking.