My father started Big Five in Kenya in 1973 with a singular goal – to reveal in the eyes of an elephant tourism’s power to save wild places. This continues to drive our vision today. We still need to show the faces of tourism through the people, the priceless habitats, and rare wildlife in the countries we serve.
Travel, and by extension, the world has entered a new phase. Newfound strengths we didn’t even know we had, are on full display, courage, and the desire to help others on full display. Much like anything in life, the opposite is also true. Weaknesses that remained buried for eons are now on full display. The one constant is choice. We get to choose how history will tell our story. That is where travel comes in. One glance around the world what you see within struggling communities hardest hit by a lack of tourism are stories of strength. Smiles of grit. And hearts that remain full with hope, even in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds. As I mentioned at the beginning of this pandemic, I’m not worried about us. Big Five is a financially sound company with one of the best reputations in the industry. We have been through downturns and troubled times before and we know how to persevere, as does every member of our team. We turned our focus at the beginning of the pandemic to the hardest hit communities that needed our help after they were impoverished overnight, be it education assistance for Maasai communities in Tanzania, economic support Andean women in Peru, and struggling fishermen in Colombia, or clean water for impoverished families in Guatemala. Our commitment to these parts of the world was a responsibility in 2019. It has transformed into an honor in 2021 and beyond. While good work has been done through the Spirit of Big Five Foundation, there is much still needed and I am pleased to say, we are up to the task. As our business grows, so too does our sustainable mission.
The most exciting part is the relaunch of GIB 5.0, a software platform that we designed just before the pandemic started. All Big Five journeys have always gone towards supporting active foundation projects for quite some time and GIB 5.0 is the beginning of the next phase. How you like to travel and your interests directly impact which of our projects your trip automatically supports, so our project becomes your project. All because of how you chose to travel.
Our work was not done before the pandemic and it is not done now. We are back to exploring the world with you and are grateful you feel safe enough to start adventuring again.
“ Designed Differently. Explored Sustainably.”
Ashish Sanghrajka
President
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