Micato’s Africa - An experience unlike any other. Founders Felix and Jane Pinto treat their guests, as Travel+Leisure noted, like “well-loved, out-of-town relatives.” Voted World’s #1 Safari Outfitter by Travel + Leisure, Micato offers small group travel or private journeys throughout Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Victoria Falls, Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique, and Zanzibar.

Micato sojourns are deliberately luxurious. Safari lodges enchant with such unadulterated luxuries as private plunge pools and personal butlers. Itineraries offer an irresistible array of experiences from the sophisticated pleasures of Cape Town to the celebrated savannahs of the Serengeti and the near spiritual beauty of the Kalahari.

So with Micato, every need is anticipated and every day offers pleasant surprises. Vehicles are outfitted with binoculars, beanbags for photographers, field guidebooks and more. Thoughtful gifts appear on pillows every night. Hot coffee offered on morning game drives, wine and cheese in the afternoons. Throughout, the Pintos’ presence adds a familial warmth to exquisite luxury. Micato’s dedication to guests’ enjoyment and welfare isn’t a corporate policy. It’s a family pledge.

When to Go

East and Southern Africa enjoy glorious climates and both can accurately be called year-round destinations. In Kenya and Tanzania, a blissful 70 degrees Fahrenheit greets the day and rarely does the temperature vary throughout the year. It is one of those exceptional areas of the world that enjoys “eternal spring.” The elevated altitudes keep temperatures utterly balmy and comfortable, even calling for sweaters and jackets every evening and morning.

Southern Africa experiences more noticeable changes in its seasons. April through November is Africa’s winter when daytime temperatures are a fresh 60-75 degrees with little rain. During the height of Africa’s summer (December through March), temperatures are warmer and some rain may fall, making the bush lush and green.

The Micato Difference

• Guaranteed departures. • No Tipping, Ever - Not at safari’s beginning or end, not in hotels, lodges, camps, airports, or anywhere in between. • Sundowner cocktails in the bush. • BushWalk with an expert naturalist. • Dining at home with Felix and Jane Pinto in Nairobi or with friends in Cape Town and Johannesburg. • Micato Personal Concierges available 24/7, in Cape Town, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Arusha. • Special guest lecturers address all Micato groups.

All Beverages and Meals Are Included, Everywhere, Every Day

From the moment guests arrive in Africa until departure, all beverages and meals are included as part of the all-inclusive safari cost—an extravagant savings and an enormous convenience.

First-time safariers are often nearly bowled over by the quality of the meals at the lodges. Meats, vegetables, and fruits are delivered daily, fresh from the surrounding area’s farmlands. Early-morning coffee is served before the typical sunrise game drive, followed by abundant breakfast buffets luncheons on the lodge’s veranda, and a classic afternoon tea. Dinners are scheduled to give guests time to refresh after an afternoon game drive with a shower, a little downtime, and a sundowner in the lounge or around the campfire. And one of the most memorable meals on any Micato safari is the welcome lunch or dinner at the home of our founders, Felix and Jane Pinto, or at the homes of our friends and hosts in South Africa.

Micato Dining Program

• All meals included on every program, featuring leading restaurants. • Complimentary bottled water and soft drinks at all meals; local beer, wine at most Southern African bush lodges. • Lunch or dinner at the home of Micato’s hosts in Africa. • Epicurean luncheon in South Africa’s winelands.

Every safari offered by Micato includes a very special event—sundowners in the bush. Thus, as guests conclude the afternoon game run, they are diverted from the route back to the lodge, beckoned by the shimmering flames of a glowing campfire high on a hill. Bush cocktails are extraordinary, whether an elaborate affair or a powerfully private experience, as in South Africa: just a few of you alone in your Land Rover, lingering along an idyllic river filled with hippos bobbing and lumbering into the sunset, while your Game Ranger prepares your preferred sundowner and regales guests with tales of Africa.

Every Safari Departure Is 100% Guaranteed

Every Micato program is guaranteed to depart as scheduled, regardless of group size. Once a departure date has been confirmed and the deposit sent, the safari will take place. It is an unusual offer to find these days, but it’s a guarantee Micato takes great pride and pleasure in providing.

Inclusions

• Only the most deluxe hotels, lodges and camps selected for all programs, with preferential rooms. • Three to seven time-saving flights per safari. • Safari vehicles carry binoculars, cold drinks, mineral water, bean bags (for telephoto lenses) and field guides. • Complimentary airport transfers and porterage included at hotels, camps and airports. • Travel amenities include safari duffle bag, authentic bush hat, luggage tags, document wallet and flashlight. • Pre-tour documentation with extensive travel information. • Welcome kit in Africa with detailed park maps, bird and wildlife checklists, stamped postcards and more. • On-site shopping, packing and shipping assistance. • Game park entrance fees always included. • Flying Doctor services in Kenya, Tanzania and select Southern Africa lodges.

Small, Intimate Groups

In keeping with the Micato commitment to personalized service and exclusive arrangements, a Micato safari is always small and intimate in size—carefully designed to avoid any “big-group” feel. In select destinations participation is limited to 12-14 travelers due to the capacity of our small, luxurious lodges, while there will certainly never be more than 24 on any program. Every traveler is additionally assured of a window seat directly under a pop-up roof in East Africa or in an open-top vehicle in the Southern African bush. The Micato Grand Safari and Southern Africa trips limited to 12 guests.

Micato’s Concierge Service

Micato’s concierges are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from just about anywhere a Micato safari travels, from deep in the bush to downtown Jo’burg. They are on call in Nairobi, Arusha, Cape Town, and Johannesburg, ready to pick up prescription medicine, make flight changes, return forgotten items, or arrange a dinner reservation.

Immediate Hotel Check-In

After flying all night, Micato understands the importance of proceeding directly to the room, avoiding the lines at the front desk for weary travelers. When guests book their international flight through Micato’s Preferred Air Supplier (ask Micato or your travel consultant for details), this unheard-of perk is guaranteed.

Select Camps and Lodges

Micato only uses East and Southern Africa’s most top-notch camps and lodges. Micato guests are customarily accorded preferential treatment, and are greeted as good friends of good friends. All East Africa Classic Safaris include at least one stay in a luxurious tented bush camp, as befit a classic safari experience. Safari Directors: Guide, Helper, Friend

Safari Directors have a deep knowledge of the region’s natural history, and they’re fluent in South Africa’s cultural history, plus its current affairs local art, and culinary and winery scenes. But Micato Safari Directors’ real talent lies in their proven ability to make the logistics of travel calm and effortless for Micato travelers. Seasoned professionals with an average of ten years’ experience in the bush, they work exclusively for Micato. All are graduates of Kenya Utalii College or the College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka—prototypes for wildlife training institutes around the world. In addition to guiding forays into the bush, our Safari Directors lecture on flora and fauna, deftly handle logistics, and impart fascinating nuggets of African history, Swahili, and tribal folklore for good measure.

Africa’s Best and Brightest

No company is consistently named the #1 World’s Best Safari Outfitter by Travel+Leisure —and a host of equally expert observers— unless its staff on the ground is unfailingly first-rate. Micato’s Safari Directors and Driver Guides (most of whom have been with Micato their entire careers), and everyone in front of and behind the safari’s scenes, are the industry’s best, for one shining reason: In East and Southern Africa, we have the luxury of choosing from the brightest and best safari staff because the company founded by the deeply respected and loved Jane and Felix Pinto is unquestionably the company to work for.

Driver Guides, Tops in Their Field

A Driver Guide is part of the Safari Director’s team on every Micato Classic Safari in East Africa. All Kenyan Driver Guides hold at least a Bronze-Level certification from the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association, and many are Silver-Level certified. Micato is one of the very few safari companies that operates its own in-house training school, with regular training and brush-up classes in conservation techniques, the latest news from East Africa’s world of paleoanthropology, guest relations, and many etceteras (including CPR training; every Safari Director and Driver Guide is fully certified).

Guest Lecturers

Special lectures and presentations on safari make the experience even more meaningful. A comprehensive Safari Briefing is delivered by the Micato Tour Leader or Safari Director, providing details on every aspect of the trip, and a guest lecturer also presents a fascinating program of information. In East Africa, Maasai Elder Rakita Ole Nkere (singled-out by Travel+Leisure as one of Africa’s most sought-after safari guides) speaks on ancient Maasai traditions and culture.

Giving Back

In addition to providing every traveler with an incomparable safari experience, Micato is dedicated to providing impoverished children with an education. Hence, the groundbreaking Micato “One for One” Commitment. For every safari sold, Micato will pay the school fees for an African child who would otherwise stay home due to extreme poverty.

Contact

Micato Safaris 15 West 26th Street New York, NY 10010 Tel: 212-545-7111 Toll-Free: 1-800-MICATO-1 Email: inquiries@micato.com Website: www.micato.com