Kin Travel

24/06/2026

From the salt pans of the Kalahari with the San people to the fertile channels and abundant wildlife of the Okavango Delta — this is a journey that’s hard to beat 🐘

A reminder that the most inspiring adventures are the ones that become a part of you; the ones that forever bind the people who shared it ✨

That’s what we do, so holler at us if you’re keen to bring the dream of a life-changing safari to life.

📸: VALORIE DARLING

05/06/2026

An all-time family adventure with in beautiful Botswana 🇧🇼

From helicopter views to a subterranean elephant hide, it was incredible to be truly at the feet of giants. Watching the herd thunder to water, trumpeting as they arrived, had us all glossy-eyed and speechless 🐘 It was emotional, wondrous and a photographers dream.

Our guide Zambo taught us so much about their journey, behavior and the conservation challenges in the Delta. As the sun set, we raised a glass, slipped away and drove to a set of tree houses for dinner by the fire and a night sleeping in skybeds beneath a million stars — an experience we’ll never forget.

If you haven’t been to Southern Africa, it’s extraordinary. Get in touch with our team to start dreaming it up ✨

27/09/2024

For our final evening in the bush, we decided to surprise our guests with a walking safari to a stunning ‘sundowner’ spot for a “safari reception” and wedding send-off. We made a grand entrance on Cottar’s vintage 1920s Rolls Royce, cleverly rebuilt on a Landcruiser chassis and affectionately called ‘Ndugu Ndugu.’

We wanted to honor our families along the way. To celebrate Val’s parents, who had a “champagne tower” at their wedding but filled with beer instead, we created a ‘Tusker Tower’ using Kenya’s beloved beer, Tusker. We gave a toast and it was a playful tribute to their love story and 47 years of marriage.

Then our wonderful Masai guides, who have become close friends over the years, surprised us with beautiful gifts from the Olderkesi community: a Masai spear for Brian to protect his family and a beaded wedding necklace. We stood around the bonfire, shot bow and arrows, learned how to start a fire with only sticks and zebra dung, and savored our last sunset together on safari. 

After the “reception,” we all hopped into Landcruisers for a night drive back to camp, which turned into a rowdy night drive and spontaneous dance party! With headlamps doubling as strobe lights, we sang and danced under the stars all the way to the dining tent, where the bar was raucous and a candlelit dinner awaited. It was a highlight of the whole trip for all of us.

The next morning, we were encouraged to write notes in Cottar’s guest book, where our dear friend Alana surprised us with a beautiful drawing of us arriving in ‘Ndugu Ndugu,’ surrounded by heartfelt notes from guests. It was such a touching way to wrap up the adventure. We gave big hugs to Cottar’s incredible staff, loaded up in Landcruisers, made our way to the airstrip and took off for the wedding weekend in Lamu, feeling so inspired and settled into our safari family.

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Camp: .safaris
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25/09/2024

One of our greatest joys is seeing people fall in love with safari and each other as we have. We knew when we started planning our wedding that this would be a rare opportunity to bring friends and family together for a proper amount of time and a life-changing experience to tie us all close.

We’ve loved .safaris for a long time. Not only for its incredible hospitality, abundant wildlife, and privacy but also for it’s leadership in forming a community-owned conservancy.

We spent our days tracking wildlife—weaving among massive herds of elephants and giraffes, trailing buffalos, lions, and even a thrilling cheetah chase. We visited the local school and village, spent the afternoons lounging by the pool, the evenings around the fire under the stars, ate dinner by candlelight, and danced and danced.

We worked with to make custom safari journals with wildlife checklists, conversation cards, and a personalized leather keychain we used for ‘Landcruiser assignments’ (like table seating assignments) to matchmake our friends and family. Every detail made with the intention to inspire more connection within ourselves and each other.

Our final night culminated in a “safari reception” (more to come on this) and by the time we caught our flight to the coast for the wedding we were settled in as a safari family.

29/06/2019

https://matadornetwork.com/read/sustainable-tour-companies-actually-give-back/

Travel with meaning.

19/04/2019

UPDATE from Shay (who's heading up Masaai girls sponsorship): 31 girls have been sponsored so far. We have 11 more that we have committed to help stay in school.

I know how busy life gets and though we are all thinking about ways to be more philanthropic, it sometimes takes a back seat to life.

After a trip to the Massai Mara in Kenya this past year, I became passionate about helping young girls to stay in school. Families often choose to pull them out due to financial difficulties and cultural pressure to marry them off. With the Kin Scholarship Fund, we are working to collectively solve this immense drop-out rate for female students. It is so very clear that these families would largely keep their girls in school allowing them to self-determine their own path if their school fees were covered and financial strain was not a determining factor.

$20 per month covers tuition, required uniform, school supplies, and the lunch program. If you would like to sponsor a young girls journey, enabling her to choose her own path in life, you can set up a one-time payment of $240 for the year or a recurring contribution of $20 per month for 12 months to Cottars Wildlife Community Trust using the following link. https://cottarswildlifeconservationtrust.org. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the yellow donate button. Please forward me the PayPal receipt so I can start the process. I will link you with one of the girls and send you her details, including a photo, her name, age, and grade. We are working with a team in Nairobi to get updates from the girls, including attendance, grades and personal notes to each sponsor. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
Infinite gratitude! x

24/05/2018

Haiti 2018 is coming up! We are pumped.