BUSINESS BITS

Big time safaris
Luz Baguioro

Going on safari is more than a hobby to Victor Dizon, a former investment banker and now majority shareholder and managing director of Asia to Africa Safaris, a company packaging customized safaris in Africa. Dizon, 36, got the idea for the business as a result of a safari trip to Botsawana eight years ago.

“It was an eye opener and I kept going back,” he says. At the time, the companies organizing African safaris were based either in the United States, the Unites Kingdom or South Africa, so visiting the continent was a hassle to Asia-based enthusiasts.

Challenged, Dizon tapped some friends and started organizing trips for families and other friends. Soon, safari operators in Africa broached the idea of going into business together, but Dizon took the idea seriously only when he quit banking in 2002. While contemplating what to do next, he volunteered to work as an apprentice ranger and conservationist in a South African game park.

A four-month stay in the bush led to an epiphany. “It made me realize that I’m really passionate about African safaris, that I wanted to do something related to safaris,” he says. On coming back, he got in touch with two friends, a Filipino and a Malaysian. They were both safari enthusiasts and equally tried of investment banking, so they both quit their jobs to help Dizon establish Asia to Africa Safaris in 2002.

Unlike most travel agents, Dizon and his associates arrange customized tours. After an initial meeting or phone conversation with a client, the company representative draws up a proposed itinerary given to the client’s budget and preferences.

“It’s important to understand what the client wants and to gauge his personality,” says Dizon. “Does he like luxurious stuff? Is he the active kind? The trip costs a lot of money, so we want to make sure he comes back satisfied. If he wants a particular bottle of wine or dish, if he wants to ride only in a certain plane – no problem.

We provide whatever he wants, but he would have to pay the additional costs.” A safari can last one to two and a half weeks and cost $5,000 to $10,000. A package would take you from the South African capital of Johannesburg to remote camp by private plane.
It could take you to three or four camps – all not necessarily within the country – where you could order your favorite wine or pasta any time of day. You may then wish to end your safari in Capetown to ease your glide back to civilization. “A safari gives you adventure,” says Dizon. “And people who appreciate safaris are usually well traveled, having been to London or Paris more than ten times. They look for excitement.”

One client to Botsawana’s Okavango Delta for her honeymoon last January says there were no phone lines, hence no internet access and no GSM coverage. Shy Sala says “it was hardly rugged. In fact, it was too luxurious at times, which is incredible when you consider that the camps are literally in the middle of a bush. The standards were similar to what I would have expected from a Four Season or an Aman Resort.”

Dizon’s company targets captains of industries or businessmen aged fifty-five to sixty-five, young professionals, and the so-called “older honeymooners” – people who marry past the age of thirty. It aimed at Hong Kong and Singapore initially, but the Philippines proved to be an equally lucrative market. Mainly by word-of-mouth, Asia to Africa hooked 60 clients in its first year – half of them from Hong Kong and a quarter from Singapore and the Philippines.

To boost sales, the company produced a twelve-page brochure and a DVD feature in April to hand out to prospective clients. It also tied up with a bridal company in Hong Kong that advises newlyweds where to go for their honeymoons. It plans to publish a book on Asian travelers’ safari experiences and to host safari tours for journalists. “We’ll be much more aggressive,” says Dizon. “We’ll be casting a wider net.”