Julie McIntosh

My love of safaris began at an early age, watching elephants from the window of our family Kombi in Kruger National Park, in 1974. I was a child, sitting alongside my mother, father, sister and brother, and I can still picture it clearly. That encounter never really left me. In many ways, everything that followed — every journey, every itinerary, the company itself — traces back to that moment.

I founded The Classic Safari Company for one reason: to share Africa’s wilderness and wildlife with people who hadn’t yet had the pleasure of experiencing the raw energy this continent ignites. Not the standard circuits, not the obvious options, but the real thing — the kind of travel that moves you, challenges you and stays with you for life.

Designing journeys that sit well outside the mainstream has always been at the heart of what we do. In many cases, we were trailblazers — introducing our clients to new corners of Africa, to India, to South America, long before these destinations became part of the broader conversation. That spirit of discovery is something I’ve never lost.

Among the journeys that have shaped me most, a few stand out above the rest: hiking the Colca Canyon in Peru, trekking the Johar Valley in the Indian Himalayas, walking the Great Walk of Africa along the Galana and Tsavo Rivers, and riding horses through Africa, India and across Patagonia. They are all, in their own way, journeys from A to B — through wild, humbling, extraordinary places. That is the kind of travel I love most, and it is what I have always sought to share with our clients.