Micato to the Rescue

icato Safaris has an almost 60-year partnership with travel advisors—a collaboration unique in the industry— that is a major reason we’ve been voted the #1 World’s Best Safari Outfitter a record-annihilating 10 times. That partnership has many facets, but here’s one of the most important: When you book clients on a Micato safari, all arrangements will work well, they will have a marvelous time, and, most importantly, we will take careful, cheery, and complete care of them no matter what.

Sure, most companies will say something along those lines. But we’re able to back up that pledge—a Pinto family pledge— for two reasons:

• As Forbes says, “In an industry built on subcontracting and lack of hands-on control, Micato has their own full-time, expert, highly trained guides, local offices, including desks in the better hotels, a huge in-country support staff, and their own vehicles and drivers.” Our uniquely large infrastructure allows us to provide your clients with exceptional experiences, and to solve problems small and large, quickly and effectively.

• Second, a deeply engrained Pinto family ethos of unstinting care from touchdown to takeoff. A happy, company-wide fixation on shielding your clients from annoyances and troubles, solving them when they happen, freeing you from 3 am phone calls and texts. To quote Travel +Leisure: “Micato treats its guests like well-loved, out-of-town relatives.”

The following stories are excerpted from the series of Micato to the Rescue letters we’ve sent to our advisor partners over the past year or so. Reading them over again, I’m immensely proud of the women and men who take delight in welcoming and caring for the guests entrusted to us by advisors like you.

Sincerely,

Dennis Pinto

Details Make a Trip

You know how it goes: a small glitch—a missed pick-up, a dietary requirement overlooked, two queens instead of a king bed—can put a damper on an entire trip.

We’ll get to some major glitches soon, but mastering small details is a Micato speciality. As shown in this description by a member of our 24/7 Micato Concierge Team of a small part of her long day of duty stationed in a Nairobi hotel:

I had guests with an early-morning departure, so I arrived at the hotel at 3:30 am. Did a final check on the guests’ bills and noticed there was a mistaken charge for laundry, which I quickly had the night manager remove [as daily laundry service for Micato guests is complimentary].

At 4:30 a.m., the guests’ breakfast, which I ordered

the night before, was sent to their room with to-go coffee cups. One guest took his coffee with heavy cream, the other with skim milk. A call to Room Service reconfirmed that both were on the tray.

A call from our Airport Team advised that the inbound aircraft was about to land and that the outbound flight would consequently be on time. [We don’t just rely on the internet to give us flight details. We monitor the inbound aircraft as well as the dispatch of flight crews from their hotel to tell us what’s really happening.]

Sammy, the hotel porter, collected the guests’ luggage and our Driver Guide Patrick carefully wiped off the last of the safari dust and scuff marks from their Micato duffle bags before loading them in his vehicle. We want our guests Micato bags to look spiffy at all times!

Denis [the couple’s Safari Director] and I ensured that a supply of their favourite Micato snacks were packed—a little surprise care package for the flight home.

We met the guests in the hotel lobby at 5:15 am, and handed them their boarding passes, which we had printed out the prior evening. A quick top-up of their coffee cups at the Micato Concierge desk, and a few minutes later Denis and our guests were on their way to the airport and our awaiting Airport Team who would escort them through security, check-in, immigration and to the lounge. The sun was just rising—at 6 am just like it always does in Kenya.

Consider what it took to make this early departure successful— a series of little things going right, like clockwork. It’s an everyday example of the hundreds upon hundreds of little things Micato seamlessly and cheerfully does for your clients day after day on a Micato safari.

Many of these things you may never hear about. But trust me, they’re happening. Read on.

Micato Rescues Guests with Technical Issues

As I said, once you book your clients with us, they become our “well-loved, out-of-town relatives.” So, our Micato Safari Specialists and our extensively-trained support team are at the ready to assist with gnarly things like online visas. Here’s a typical example:

A couple in California had last-minute problems with their travel forms and called our after-hours number at 9:30 on a Saturday night. One of our IT aces promptly returned their call and spent an hour walking them through the process. A few hours later the visa was approved and a

couple of days later the couple was winging their way to a serene safari.

And another example of a problem you may be all too familiar with, related by one of those IT aces:

A guest spent frustrating hours trying to crop and resize her documents to meet the Kenya visa website requirements. After downloading several apps and failing to make progress she called us and I resized the documents. The guest contacted me the next day to let me know that the resizing worked, but her Kenya visa had been rejected anyway. She provided me with her login details, and I reviewed her application for accuracy, noting a discrepancy in how she entered her name and made the correction.

The guest received her visa within hours.

A client has a problem. Who does she call? On a Micato safari she doesn’t have to call anyone. Her Safari Director is right by her side, and he knows what to do. And it gets done.

Lost Luggage?

Micato to

the Rescue

Here’s an email excerpt from the founder of a successful adventure travel company, now a heavyweight at a leading conservation NGO, who safaried with his family.

Our United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Nairobi via Frankfurt was scheduled to arrive at 9:55 pm. Due to a delayed departure, we missed our connecting Lufthansa flight and were rerouted to Nairobi via Istanbul. We finally arrived at 3:45 am and were met by a smiling Micato person at the gate of our aircraft, whisked through immigration to the luggage carousel… where we learned our luggage didn’t make the flight from SFO!

Our Micato Safari Director and his team greeted us when we emerged from Customs, and drove us to our hotel just before

dawn. A fresh-as-adaisy Micato Concierge had already checked us in. She handed us kits with all the essentials— pajamas the correct size, toiletries, bedroom slippers, cell phone chargers— and we caught a few winks before heading with our Safari Director and his drivers to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and Karen Blixen Home. One would never think our Micato Safari Director and Driver had likely been up for over 24 hours. The same goes for our Concierge, who took the luggage reins, and when Lufthansa delivered the bags a day later, Micato made special arrangements to fly and deliver them to our Amboseli lodge. We didn’t lift a finger resolving this hiccup. The

Micato team’s boundless energy and commitment to excellent service was extraordinary throughout our trip—unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my four decades in the travel industry.

The Phone Call Nobody Wants to Get

As a travel agent, I saw first-hand what traveling with Micato means for their clients and what they can and will do for them.

I was on a Micato tour of India when a client in my group was notified that her father was dying. Micato immediately took over all the details of flying her from Jaipur to Delhi, meeting her at the airport, arranging new tickets for her to fly home, and personally staying with her until she was on the plane going home. No detail was overlooked. Micato can and will move mountains, part seas and perform miracles for their clients.

It’s that moment all travellers dread: Shortly after arriving, we’re in our vehicle en route to our hotel. For the first time since we left home, perhaps, we deeply exhale, because we actually made it here.

And then our phone lights up with that incoming call from home that we know in our hearts is bad news.

Here’s longtime travel advisor Ann Trost recounting how Micato handled such a call:

No wonder they are always voted #1.

Our staff knows that whether it’s about fixing a problem on the spot, arranging a surprise birthday party or an emergency flight home, they don’t have to file a special request and wait for higher-ups to make a cost-benefit analysis before they act.

Stormy Weather Rescues

When it rains, Africa shines, but, alas, problems ensue. But we know just what to do, as illustrated in these rainy day stories told by three Micato guests.

In this excerpt from an email an advisor received from a client in mid-safari, Micato picks up the phone and orders whales for guests, twice:

Get this… our whale watching flight scheduled for tomorrow was cancelled because of expected bad weather, so our Micato Safari Director convinced the flight operator to reschedule the flight for TODAY. Meanwhile, using connections and the Micato name, the Micato South Africa team also got us on a heavily booked whale watching cruise for this morning. Two amazing whale watching experiences by air and sea in one day. We have already thanked our Safari Director profusely for the miracles he performed.

When your clients join Micato on safari they are accompanied by a Micato Safari Director every step of the way… and even if your client decides to step away, their Safari Director is there:

On our last day we were back in Nairobi and I wanted to look for souvenirs at shops a few blocks from our hotel. Micato offered to drive me, but I insisted on walking. Later, as I wrapped up my shopping, it began to pour. Through the shop window, I could see the Micato vehicle pull up. The driver got out, came into the store, and handed me an umbrella. On the ride back to the hotel I had a big smile on my face and several times, said “Unbelievable.” I hadn’t even called Micato to get me. They just knew.

I love this story because it has a little bit of everything: Travel advisors who are hard to impress, a daring rescue, and a show of collegiality towards a competitor that you don’t see every day:

Unexpectedly heavy rains in Samburu caused the Uaso Nyiro river to flood. We soon learned that the airstrip we were supposed to use for our short flight to the next Maasai Mara camp was flooded, but our Micato Safari Director was already on the case, arranging for a Plan B.

As multiple safari vehicles were already on hand to bring us to the airstrip, they took us instead on what would be an epic 3-hour journey by muddy roads to the Mara Safari Club.

As we climbed over and down muddy trenches, we laughed the entire time—this is our favorite part of the trip so far, some said gamely. And this was a hard-to-please group—it included some of the toughest-as-nails travel advisors in the business.

Soon before reaching the camp, we came across a safari vehicle from another safari company.

Not only was it stuck in the mud, but the driver didn’t have a jack or any other tools to dislodge the vehicle. Before we knew it, it was Micato to the rescue.

Two Micato drivers instantly jumped out of their vehicles, jacks in hand, and helped the other driver get his vehicle out of the mud and underway. I don’t know who had more surprised looks on their faces—the passengers in the competitor vehicle, perhaps perplexed about why their driver was unprepared—and simultaneously delighted that the Micato drivers were—or the travel advisors riding in our vehicle, who were super impressed by the speed and skill with which the Micato drivers acted, as well as the collegiality the Micato drivers were showing— they were helping a competitor, after all! This was all the advisors could talk about when we arrived at Mara Safari Club, where a special, substantial buffet had been laid out just for the Micato group because we were arriving after lunchtime. This, coupled with the hot showers, roaring fireplaces, and large cozy beds awaiting in our rooms was the perfect end to a mostly unexpected but unforgettable adventure.

Micato Rescues Guests Who Forget Things… And We Do It Fast

If a guest forgets something—anything— be it a wallet left on a plane or camera batteries left at home, Micato doesn’t just come to the rescue… we come to the rescue quickly, because we have the infrastructure to pull off comprehensive searches for lost guest valuables, to shop for forgotten items, and the wherewithal to transport said items to your clients in a quick calm hurry. Here’s an example from a Safari Director’s daily report: Mr. Roberts had misplaced his wallet the previous day and was panic stricken. We immediately ascertained that he had left it on the aircraft. I called the pilot who located it between the seats and left it to the Concierge team to work out how to get

it to camp the next day. I personally assured Mr. Roberts that he need not worry and that it would be returned intact.

Apparently, my assurances made him so at ease that even after we made sure the wallet was flown back to his camp, he did not come to claim it immediately but said he would get it later in the day when he went for his afternoon drink at the bar. When we handed him the sealed envelope containing his wallet he said he had never trusted anyone this way before, based purely on how confidently we had assured him all would be well.

And here a guest relates the timely rescue of his photographic aspirations:

We were getting ready to take our first early morning game drive, and I casually mentioned to [Safari Director] Jonathan that I was shocked to find I had forgotten to pack extra batteries for my SLR. He asked for the model type, and said he’d see what he could do. Before we went on our afternoon drive, he presented me with two brand new Nikon batteries. He told me he had texted your headquarters in Nairobi and that someone there had gone out and found the right batteries at a store, and then had driven to the airport and put them on a

bush plane to the airstrip nearest our camp, and Jonathan had arranged for our driver to fetch the batteries and bring them to camp. That night at dinner with our group, I was full of praise for Jonathan and Micato, and he said, “It’s what we do. It’s the Micato Way!”

Rescuing Guests with Physical Challenges

It’s a point of honour for us to skillfully and compassionately accommodate guests with a variety of challenges, both pre-existing ones and those that unexpectedly crop up.

This is perhaps the largest category in this booklet, but what that says to me is this: No matter what obstacles your clients face on safari, Micato will go to extraordinary—and effective—lengths to remove them.

This excerpt from a Micato Safari Director’s daily diary gives you a quick example of the kind of service and thoughtfulness Micato provides, constantly and happily; no drama, just get it done:

Susan has a challenge walking up the steep incline from her tent at Tortilis to the dining area and main lounge. She is fine when going down towards the tent, but not walking up. I organized for one of our drivers to be on standby at her tent and drive her up whenever she wanted or needed to get to the main lodge.

As a travel advisor, you know—I’ll try to put this diplomatically—that clients can sometimes be less than clear about their wants, and even their needs, even after months of conversations. Consider this: A field report from a Micato Safari Director, letting me know that, to his surprise, a guest had severe problems with walking. We did not know Judy required a wheelchair until she arrived in Nairobi. She had a spine injury in the recent past and has severe walking challenges and needs a walking stick at the minimum, and ideally a wheelchair. I alerted the Operations Team from the airport and they immediately set to revamp all arrangements with every hotel, lodge, camp, and airline, so she’ll have the help she needs, including wheelchairs. We’ve arranged for Judy to be allocated appropriate rooms as accessible as possible and for vehicles to minimize her need to walk. We’ve been able to pick her up and drop her off right at the doorstep to her tent.

We will go to any lengths to solve problems expertly and diligently, whether it be lost luggage, missed flights, complex re-schedules, you name it: our large in-country and North American staff will have your clients’ and your back from beginning to end, whatever it takes, relentlessly.

Rescuing Guests in Real Trouble

Sometimes coming to the aid of one of our guests, your clients, is a simple matter, and sometimes it’s far more serious, as one of our Southern African staff members relates:

Ellen and Ken are past Micato safariers. Ellen is on dialysis treatment, and before their recent safari we helped them send many bags of dialysis fluid from the US to our Cape Town office, where we set about distributing the fluid to each of their farflung camps in Tanzania and Zimbabwe—not an easy logistical feat, given the customs complications and ensuring that every bag arrived safely and on time. And they all did.

But in Johannesburg, on their first day in Africa, Ellen discovered that the company that supplies her equipment had sent an incorrect part. We immediately contacted the specialists at South Africa’s National Renal Care, who helped Ellen and our staff find a good, but time-consuming work around fix. We contacted the equipment company, had them FedEx the correct part to us, and we flew it directly to Ellen and Kim’s first camp in Tanzania, where their Safari Director, on the phone with the company in the US, was able to successfully install it.

The result? Here’s what Kim wrote us after the couple returned home: Micato came through as usual, but in spades this time. Special thanks to Eric [their Safari Director], who we felt had our backs every second. On this safari with all of the trying circumstances, Eric’s caring and cheerful attitude and expertise in handling such situations, made our safari not just bearable, but wonderfully memorable.

An even more dramatic story, told in an email I received from Rebecca, a first-time guest:

Words are completely inadequate to express our gratitude for Micato’s response to David’s medical emergency….Every step of the way, from the minute we knew something was wrong, to the moment we got on our flight from Nairobi to go home,

the Micato team was there to guide us, connect us, console us, advise us….James [their Micato Safari Director] immediately arranged a flight to Nairobi and in no time at all we were met at the airport and ushered to the Nairobi Hospital. Lisa and Patricia [members of the Micato Concierge Team] stayed with us and were our advocates in navigating the hospital system—I told them they could grab some lunch while we met with the doctor on the first day, but they said, “We aren’t leaving your side!”

Problems small or large, we take care of them— so you don’t even have to hear about them. We’ve got the extensive, on-the-ball infrastructure to do it quickly, the experience and smarts to do it flawlessly, and the Pinto family’s commitment to do it cheerfully. The result is stratospheric guest satisfaction.

We met with Dr. Silverstein and felt so relieved that he was a highly recognized cardiologist (personal physician to the president of Kenya), a good kind man and someone who worked magic to get the multitude of tests done quickly. By the end of the day, we had the diagnosis we feared: blood clots in David’s lungs and legs.

Lisa and Patricia each visited him and advocated for him every day. Jane Pinto [my mother, and Micato’s founder] comforted me over the phone when I was in tears, and assured me that Micato would take care of any and all of David’s needs. She called David every day and came to the hotel to make sure everything was in order when he was released from the hospital.

When Dr. Silverstein cleared David for travel we were sent home with hugs and kisses (and all patient records, tests, etc. so David could pick up his care with our doctor at home). With much gratitude I can report that he is doing great and back to a full life. These are only highlights of the care and love we received…. We love you guys—and I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised when upon returning home we received a shipment of chicken soup on our doorstep from Micato with a sweet note from Dennis Pinto!

A Seasoned Traveller Sums up Micato’s Service: “Wow!”

We received this email from a safari guest who safaried with his two sons. He’s a fellow with a wide variety of business interests—including travel—who has logged l.6 million air miles during 57 years of business and personal travel to more than 100 countries. He and his boys didn’t need any rescues, but they appreciated Micato’s commitment to expert, highly personalized service, touchdown to takeoff:

What first appeared to be a pricey safari turned out to be great value. This was observed from the first moments after arrival. After we cleared the first hurdle of proof of recent negative Covid test, your representative directed us not to the two long lines that had been formed, but far to the left, where three immigration officers took less than one minute to review our documents, stamp our passports and wish us welcome.

Micato doesn’t have banker’s hours when it comes to solving problems and being alert and mobile. And we don’t have to wait for a return call from a subcontractor who may be waiting for a call

from their subcontractor. We are our own contractor, around the clock.

Then came similarly quick trips through security and customs, and we were outside with our Safari Director and driver in less than 5 minutes while most of the arriving passengers were still awaiting immigration clearance. WOW! This was indicative of experiences throughout our trip.

Thanks to the efforts of our concierge Jackie every step of the way involving documentation, room scheduling, luggage movement, et al., was handled competently, timely, and seamlessly throughout our trip. On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), we’d rate the efforts of Jackie and her people at a 10.

Rick, Greg and I were particularly impressed with our Safari Director Tim. On that same 1 to 10 scale, we’d rate Tim at an over-the-top 15. Yes, Tim was THAT good!! As a personal matter, I frequently suffer lower back pain. Tim helped me in several ways, first with a special pillow, then he insisted I take his seat in the front left, with more leg room and the opportunity to raise my body a few inches to use my legs as additional shock absorbers. When we faced yet another long bumpy road trip, Tim arranged for a flight the next morning to our next scheduled destination. This booking was accomplished in a mere 30 minutes. My sons have excellent interpersonal skills and spoke to many people as we traveled, especially those not

connected to Micato. The Micato reputation is outstanding for many reasons: the educational opportunities provided for underprivileged children for each safari taken. If you were to ask me whether there are opportunities for improvement, I would answer none with regard to the safari and all that’s involved.

Beyond the foregoing, we simply say Asante, Kila la heri.

Micato’s finely tuned infrastructure and large, highly experienced staff—our job tenure in East and Southern Africa is more than 15 years— would mean little if we weren’t dedicated to amiable, unrelenting service, which means fewer—we like to think zero— worries for our travel advisor partners.

And Finally: A Rescue Made Possible by Your Clients

Here is a rescue of a different sort—probably the most important rescuing we do, rescuing that’s made possible by your clients, our guests.

My name is Justus Omondi Okeyo. I was born in Rongo village near Kisumu just around Lake Victoria. I am the youngest child in a family of five siblings. My mother died when I was two years old and my father died a year later on. My siblings were then separated and sent to live with different relatives in different parts of Kenya.

At first Justus lived with his beloved grandfather, but when he was nine, because he was consistently missing school, his grandfather reluctantly sent him to Nairobi’s Kibera slum to live with his aunt. As he spoke neither English nor Kiswahili, only his vernacular language, Justus had a difficult time adjusting, but over time, with the help of his aunty and perceptive teachers, he caught the learning bug.

When I was in sixth grade, my teacher recommended me for the AmericaShare program, and in 2005 I was enrolled in a boarding school, Kangundo Junior Academy, not far from Nairobi. I spent six years at Kangundo, with all the tuitions and school items I needed thanks to AmericaShare. In 2011, among the 500,000 students who sat for the national exam, 220 were selected to

enter Alliance Boys High School, Kenya’s best high school, and fortunately enough I was one of them. And in May 2013 I was accepted into a Bachelor’s Degree of Medicine program at the University of Nairobi. It was the beginning of a journey that was unlike anything I had experienced before. From 8 am-5 pm Monday to Friday I had a class or lab work scheduled, several hours of homework each evening, and then two full days in the library each weekend. And that was maintained for six years.

Dr. Justus Omondi Okeyo is currently near the end of his OB/GYN residency at Juja Road Hospital in Nairobi. We were privileged to support him throughout his education.

My aspirations in life are rather simple at the moment. I would like to be the best doctor that I can be. Hope fully one day I will open my own clinic and practice medicine for many years to come. Micato Safaris has taught me that when you combine hope and faith and believe in yourself you can achieve success. I would love to thank Micato and AmericaShare for being there for so many of us, taking care of us through hard times, and giving us hope.

We like to say that people come to Africa to see its animals but they leave in love with its people. Our happy mission is to help put that love to good work through MicatoAmericaShare and Huru, robust and successful programmes I trust you’re familiar with (and if you’re not, we’re extremely eager to tell you and your clients about them). Here are excerpts from a recent email:

Little did Bob and I think that our last day in Africa would be in many ways the most momentous, as we decided to sponsor a child after visiting [Micato-AmericaShare’s] Harambee Centre…. Franklin is already in boarding school, and we’ve already received a couple of letters from him (thanks, AmericaShare, for making that communication so easy). He is a lovely young man….We don’t care if he becomes a Nobel Prize winner or a skilled mechanic or a cook. We’ll be content to know he will be able to choose his own way, thanks to Micato-AmericaShare. Thank you for helping us help dear Franklin.

These last two stories are examples of Micato’s commitment to the land of our birth. But such things shouldn’t be bragged about. So, just the heartening facts: Every one of Micato’s travellers— and every travel advisor who brings them to us—contributes in a direct and meaningful way to Micato-AmericaShare and Huru’s many programmes.

We send thanks on behalf of the many thousands of children and eager adults whose lives have been enriched with your help.