Bushtracks Africa, a luxury African tour operator, offers exclusive expeditions and experiences centered on the beauty of Africa and its natural resources with tour offerings including private jet trips across the continent, elegant dinner train rides through game reserves and personally crafted safari excursions.
Simon Teede is a sales executive for Bushtracks Africa, and says that the company has more than 30 years of experience with a team that has in-depth knowledge of tailormade experience in a competitive field. The company has been run for more than six generations with African heritage via the Tett family, and it employs top-tier guides and advisors to focus on its passion of bringing African adventure to the world. Bushtracks unveils new bespoke expeditions every year that clients eagerly await, in addition to offering a staple of unique opportunities.
“It's family run, and although it's become quite a large corporation, it still maintains a very personal element within the company,” Teede said. “It's one of the best companies to work for.”
Bushtracks’ signature experience is Bushtracks Express, a four-hour dinner train trip onboard a 1940 steam locomotive with original wooden carriages. The experience takes guests on a historic journey to Victoria Falls Bridge to enjoy the picturesque sunset and a delicious seven-course meal.
Another one of its premier offerings is its river safaris.
“Our cruises navigate where no other boat operator can navigate, which is the islands above the [Victoria Falls],” Teede said. “It takes you back to the way that Victoria Falls was found by David Livingstone as he approached in a dugout canoe.”
When it comes to sustainability efforts, Bushtracks serves as a Corporate Social Responsibility partner to Ele-Collection, a social enterprise that was founded by Teede and his friends and partners, Rainer von Urff-Kaufeld and Ben Norton. The team devised a plan for cleaning up ecologically sensitive regions in Southern Africa (such as Victoria Falls), in which plastic is collected and then converted into an aggregate for concrete. Both the cleanup and the resulting concrete benefit communities in the area by limiting waste in their hometowns and providing materials for construction purposes.
Through Bushtracks’ partnership with Ele-Collection, the company incorporates a $10 plastic pledge into every itinerary Bushtracks creates, which directly supports plastic recovery efforts, according to Teede.
“We are going to clean up all the plastic in Livingstone [in Zambia], Hwange [in Zimbabwe] and Victoria Falls,” Teede said. “The goal is to recover and process 300 tons of plastic waste in a month and to make Victoria Falls, Livingstone and Hwange the cleanest towns and cities in the whole of southern Africa.”
For advisors looking to book with Bushtracks Africa, Teede says that they can connect directly with him (at simon@bushtracksafrica.com) to form a relationship and find the right person or department for client inquiries.
“Everybody needs something different, and I'm the one who helps you fill the holes in your knowledge and your organization's needs,” Teede said.
