Our Ethos

Thirteen years ago, William Fortescue arrived in Kenya as an eighteen-year-old intern with Governors' Camp Collection. He had little idea what he was doing but a great deal of enthusiasm to compensate. Originally due to stay three months Kenya kept him. Three years living in safari camps followed, guiding, learning and - crucially - building a contact book full of the kind of people who know how to get a helicopter to Lake Turkana on short notice or who to trust on a walking safari across the Lower Zambezi. 

By the time Covid arrived and removed him from his guiding role with remarkable efficiency he had two things the industry rarely combines: a genuine, granular knowledge of how great safaris are built, and the relationships to make them happen any time, anywhere.

He returned home to the UK and started creating small, guided photo tours for groups of wildlife photographers looking to improve their craft. A few set departures, intimate groups, the kind of trips where the alarm goes off at four in the morning and nobody complains.

They sold out immediately.

What Will hadn't anticipated was who was booking them. Alongside photographers came families, honeymooners, guests on their first safari and people on their fifteenth. Realising his knowledge was just as valuable as his time, Fortescue expanded his repertoire to include private, bespoke safaris. Each itinerary built from scratch. Each one different.

The black book came out in earnest. Private charters for grizzly bear safaris in Alaska. Gorilla trekking in the Republic of Congo. Snow leopard expeditions in the Himalayas. Quad biking through northern Kenya. Wine tours in South Africa (because a little class on the side never hurt anyone).

Two principles sit at the centre of everything Will plans - wildlife first, and having fun. He's aware these sound simple. He's also noticed, after thirteen years, how often they're the first things to get quietly dropped when itineraries are assembled by committee. They won't be dropped here.

"Safaris are often a once in a lifetime, bucket list holiday. Being trusted to plan these for my guests is something I will never take likely and we make sure to squeeze every ounce of fun from them as we can!" William Fortescue

Recent growth has been, to use Will's preferred description, slightly alarming. 2027 photo tours sold out by April this year. Spots on 2028 trips are reserved before dates or prices have even been announced. Almost 60% of guests are repeat clients. A further 20% arrive on the recommendation of Will's guests.

The marketing budget, as a result, has very little to do.

The future at Fortescue Safaris is - to put it plainly - wide open. Photo tours remain a core part of the company and always will. But as guests look further from the well-worn safari circuit, so does Will. If there's a corner of the world worth going to, there's almost certainly a contact in the book who knows how to make it happen.

As David Attenborough once put it: "I wish the world was twice as big — and half of it was still unexplored."

Will considers that a challenge more than a lament.