Jeffrey Shewell

In 1995, I visited Africa for Julie McIntosh’s wedding; it turned into one of the great overland adventures — buses from Nairobi to Arusha, onward to Dar es Salaam, across to Zanzibar, then through to Harare, Victoria Falls and a houseboat on Lake Kariba. It was hot, chaotic in places, and completely unforgettable. Africa got under my skin on that trip and has never left.

I joined the industry, and Julie, in 1997 with what was at the time Africa Travel Centre & Hartley’s Safaris – from which The Classic Safari Company would later evolve – in our first office in Sydney’s CBD. A three-year hiatus between 2000 and 2003 found me living and working in Zambia’s South Luangwa Valley for Robin Pope Safaris – a time I will cherish always that irrevocably and positively shaped my life to come. Another two years in London – the “headquarters” of the safari industry – allowed me to further learn the trade from the inside out; the destinations, the camps, the clients, the craft. I returned to The Classic Safari Company in October 2004. For me, it has always been about Africa as a passion, not just a travel destination. Sharing that passion, and remaining connected to a continent that is at my core, is what drives everything I do.

Over the years I have travelled extensively across Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda and Egypt. Luxury, bespoke itineraries are my speciality — and after nearly 30 years, there is very little about high-end safari travel I haven’t encountered.

I tend to read clients well. I listen, I ask the right questions, and I put forward what I genuinely believe will work for them. I am pedantic about the details, deeply invested in the outcome, and I care enormously about getting it right. The loyalty and trust of a long-standing client base — people who return again and again, and refer their family and friends — is the most rewarding measure of that.