With personal involvement being key to experiential travel, the concept would seem to count large groups out of the equation. Michelle Colman investigates.

To be fully immersed, the traveller needs to be ‘up-close’ to the experience, all senses engaged.

Large groups, however, are not generally characteristic of Africa’s safari industry, where lodges are small and resources protected from the impact of too many feet.

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While some of the stakeholders Tourism Update interviewed for this feature believe there is a number where groups become impractical for experiential encounters, some felt quite the opposite – that groups too small were impractical for community visits and other activities. Most, however, said they simply split groups down to smaller ones, and ran experiential activities back-to-back.

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Sales & Marketing Director for Welcome Tourism Safaris, Alessandra Allemann, says it is possible to build experiential activities into group itineraries, however it only works with certain experiences.  “Once the number of passengers in a group exceeds the maximum per activity, then it becomes impractical to do that particular activity.” On a trip for 22 passengers earlier this year, the tour operator was able to include a Harley-Davidson tour, a canopy tour in the Western Cape and hot-air ballooning in Pilanesberg.

Katherine Greathead, Marketing Manager for Ecotraining, is also of the opinion that groups and experiential travel go together, if the group consists of no more than 20 participants. At 20, the group will be split into two groups of 10.

“The largest group possible at Bateleur would be 18 people at Mobile Camp,” comments Andrew Iles, CEO of Ashtons Tours, Safaris and Shuttles. “In such cases the group would be split into two or more smaller groups for the experiential activities.”

A spokesperson for Kim Beyers Representation, which markets The Hide in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, says groups are usually preferred when making community visits, and too small a number of visitor makes it impractical. Arrangements are made for groups to lend a hand in community initiatives such as planting, building, painting or craft skills. Bigger groups also make it viable to meet with a local lion researcher in the park, who will present a talk on his work.

Large groups, up to 52 guests at a time, are accommodated on community visits at Pafuri camp, where, ReturnAfrica offers the Makuleke village experience. Daily walks are always suited to groups, as well as bird-watching and team-building exercises that focus on the fauna and flora of the area.

Although not suited to large groups, in Botswana Wilderness Safaris has launched three new, privately guided explorations for two to seven passengers. Commented Simon Stobbs, Explorations Manager: “Rather than simply being spectators, today’s experiential travellers tend to seek out highly personalised offerings that allow them to participate in the adventure. Our Explorations, most of which take place in private wildlife concessions exclusive to Wilderness Safaris guests, have been created with this in mind and include a range of activities that allow our guests to experience the bush in a completely immersive way – whether it’s tracking wildlife on foot, or enjoying a dinner in the middle of the wilderness.”