Bucket List Trips with Crafted Africa

Mike Varndell is  the managing founder of Crafted Africa  & Wines and Wings.He is passionate about travel, wine, diving, and adventure. He loves discovering new places, and sharing our passions and discoveries with our partners worldwide.

Crafted Africa is a bespoke destination management company/Ground handler based in Lilongwe Malawi, aiming to be the first-choice DMC in our part of Africa. We are on the ground, have very competitive rates, and only sell destinations we know well and LOVE!

Crafted Africa specializes in crafting the perfect itineraries combining Malawi and our fantastic neighbors (Zambia & Mozambique). Our specialized sales and reservations team are a wealth of knowledge and have all visited the destinations we specialize in. We pride ourselves on timely, efficient response times while thinking outside the box with creative adventurous and competitive itineraries.

Our itineraries range from rustic and wild mountain huts to 6 star luxurious, Virtuoso-level boutique properties. Whether an adventurous and scenic road transfer or a charter flight, we have you covered!

Our destinations vary from Cape Town and Victoria Falls, the wild and luxurious safaris in Zambia to private islands, breathtaking tea estates and the conservation miracles in Malawi. We love our diving so know all the best diving spots and beautiful beaches in lake Malawi/ Mozambique and Tanzania.

We launched Wines and Wings in 2020 to counter covid, keep our staff fully employed and create a nonseasonal revenue that compliments Crafted Africa. This new arm of our business allows us to give our clients a bit of Cape Town, France or Napa in Malawi. We can arrange wine tastings, make sure the clients have the best wine options throughout their trip, and encourage our patrons to consider supporting conservation-focused wines like Painted Wolf!

Mike's better half is the Managing Founder of soul Safaris. We have built a beautiful Yoga deck in our garden, which is perfect for clients who have time in Lilongwe and want to do some Yoga (and maybe wine tasting). Soul Safaris also specialise in Yoga and wellness adventures around Malawi/ Zambia and Mozambique.

We can't wait to work together and craft the perfect adventure for you!

Crafted Africa Website: https://craftedafrica.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftedafrica/
Or @craftedafrica

Black Dog Luxury Travel Website: https://blackdogluxurytravel.com/

Want to connect?  I'd love to hear from you! 
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/blackdogluxurytravel/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/blackdogluxurytravel

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/blackdogluxurytravel/

Black Dog Luxury Travel Website: https://blackdogluxurytravel.com/

Want to connect? I'd love to hear from you!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackdogluxurytravel/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackdogluxurytravel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blackdogluxurytravel/

Transcript

Paula: 0:00

Welcome to the Vacation Inspiration Podcast. I'm Paula, your host and owner of Black Dog Luxury Travel, where we design custom vacations for the discerning traveler. If your vacation plans are in need of some serious inspiration, you are in the right place and I am so glad you are here. Hi there everyone. I know that Africa is on the list for a lot of people to go and visit someday. Well, today we are going to be talking with Mr. Mike Varndell, who is the managing founder of crafted Africa. And what he does in Africa with his team is, well, quite frankly, it's amazing. They design a lot of custom trips for people which includes a wide, wide, wide, wide variety of things. So we're going to talk about that today and. Hopefully this will inspire you to maybe move someday up a little bit further on your list. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Hi Mike. Thank you so much for joining me today,

Mike: 0:59

Hi, Mike is joining us. He is with Crafted Africa, and he is gonna talk about, well, a little bit about Africa and what he does over there. What do you do every day, Mike? This is the burning question. Well, I mean now that Covid has recovered, I have to do a little bit more than drinking wine. You know, so we actually do have clients and inquiries coming in again, and actually it's been the most insane inquiry period we've ever had. January was the biggest month on record and everyone just seems to wanna travel. It's all been bottled up for the last four years and everyone seems to wanna fit in this year. So it's obviously an exciting problem to have and having to do a bit of work.

Paula: 1:34

Right. I know how it's, it's funny to, to go into that transition. So I know you primarily focus on the Malawi and kind of the surrounding countries. Can you tell us a little bit like where that is?

Mike: 1:46

Cool. Yeah. So Malawi's in, in Southern Africa, it's about a, it's perfectly probably halfway between Johannesburg in South Nairobi and Kenya. That's probably the best way to describe it. It's a two hour flight to either destinations. We are perfectly sandwiched in between Mozambique on our East. Mozambique is, I think, one of the most beautiful beach destinations in the world. I've done Jamaica, I've done Bahamas, I've done Mauritius. I've done Australia. I've done Philippines, I've done Thailand. I've been, you know, I've been very fortunate to travel to these amazing places. And I think if you're looking for the most wild, authentic unspoiled destination of Good Valley for money, Mozambique really is that. And, you know, so we have Mozambique on, on the on the east. To us it's, it's only an hour flight. From from Malawi and to Mozambique. So it combines really, really well with what Malawi offers. And, you know, Malawi is, you know, more of a sort of diverse destination. We've got 20% of the country is water. Lake Malawi is the 11th biggest lake in the world. It's the third deepest lake in the world. You have over 800 species of tropical and dex cycl fish in the lake that you don't get anywhere else in the world. So yeah, it's crystal clear blue water, and if I just show you a photo, you would, you would probably say that's gotta be the Caribbean, right? And I'll be absolutely not. It's a freshwater lake in, in lake, in Malawi. So, and the great thing about Malawi is, you know, you have a lot of diversity down in the south. You have Malania Mountain, which we like to call Malawi, is. Answer to Kija without the crowd. So if you, you're a hiker, you're a mountain girl, you know, you enjoy your treking that, that's, you know, Malawi's rated one of the safest and friendliest countries in the world. So if you ever did have a, a worry that Africa is not safe, just Google 10, top 10 safest and friendliest countries in the world, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna find Malawi in both those lists. You know, the wildlife is exceptional. There's been, there was some tough times with poaching and stuff, but over the last 20 years, African parks who are a. Basically at an NGO that focused on supporting wildlife, supporting communities, bringing wildlife back into the parks, training creating jobs, creating opportunities to, to make the parks a better place. And they've done an amazing job with the parks in Malawi. So the wildlife in Malawi really. Really is on the up. So you've got the mountains, the wildlife, the lake, and then to our west you have Zambia. Zambia is just an incredible destination. I think one of the most highly rated or underrated safari destinations in Africa. You have the Victoria Falls you know, the smoke, the thunders, you know, really, really one of the seven wonders of the world. But then you also have, you know, so many brilliant wildlife destinations there. And, you know, not they're, they're not as expensive as other places. You do have levels of luxury. You, you know, it doesn't mean that they, they're not. You do have a lot, a lot of sort of luxurious lodges there at affordable prices. You've got a lot of great value. P stays, free nights, free flights so exceptional value. And you don't have the crowds of what you may have in other countries, so you don't feel like you're, you know, you, you're stuck in a traffic jam, in a safari, which you can't unfortunately have in, in some places. ZA is still very wild, authentic, off the beaten track, and it actually is where the walking safari was pioneered. So, once again, if you're a tracker, you're a hiker. You like your activity, you want to go in a safari, but you don't wanna be stuck in a vehicle for two. It's a great destination to combine with, with, as I say, with Malawi and, and with Mozambique have a bit of, you know, safari, a bit of lake, a bit of mountains, a bit of whale and dolphins, a bit of culture. But history, Mozambique is a, a Portuguese colony. So you do still have a lot of sort of flavors of Portugal you go to I Mozambique, which believe it or not, Mozambique is a country was named after the island, not the other way around. And you still got a lot of sort of the flavors of, of Portugal there. And you go to the restaurants and you really do. you're in Portugal, not in sort of, not in the Western world. So it's, it's nice to have, still have that sort of, sort of taste and culture. And actually one of the hotels we use a lot, used to be the trading, the Arab Trading Center, obviously. And all the, the the rooms are named after the spices. So yeah, I mean that's I think a summary of the three countries that we specialize in. You know, basically authentic, wild, off the beaten track with comfortable level of luxury and affordable.

Paula: 5:37

I love that so much. I really do. So let's talk a little bit about your, I know you mentioned some of the properties that, that you guys work with. Cause I know you work with a variety of them. What. What is it like, you know, when you go there? Because sometimes, you know, we hear about some of these safari camps and if someone is, they're, you know, they're thinking a critter's gonna go grab'em in the middle of the night. And so what is it like when you are in kind of, let's just say one of the camps? Let's pick one of those for example.

Mike: 6:04

Cool. I mean, I, I think it's important to mention that, you know, everything we do, we tailor make according to what the client wants. You know, we do have some clients that, that are very sort of, you know, Budget conscious and you know, they, they, they, this is their dream holiday lane. They've got a couple of thousand bucks to spend and you know, we really gotta tailor make what, you know, what we can do with that. But, you know, there's some clients who want to be in a luxury and some clients who gone gonna want to be in a luxury safari tent and some clients are gonna be like, you know, I don't care how luxury that safari tent is, I can't sleep in a tent. I need to be in a sort of brick building. So a lot of the, the, you know, a lot of tailor making the experience, you know, whether you wanna go hiking Milan, you wanna go diving in the lake, you wanna go into safari. And actually we, we actually set up a wine business in, in Covid just because tourism died for three years. So we had to find another hobby and another way of making a, making a living. So we do actually do a lot in Cape Town as well, which is, you know, Napa, without the crowds, maybe Napa half the price of Napa, maybe slightly more beautiful. I don't know. That is probably some of the boxes you, you would tick if you would. You were thinking Napa versus Cape Town. But so yeah, so, so a lot of our, our clients are gonna a, you know, we are gonna say, what do you want? Do you wanna go to Cape Town? Do you want big falls? Do you want a safari? Do you want a walking safari? Do you wanna be in a vehicle? What do you feel safe for doing? And some people are going to say, there's no chance you're gonna have me walking around with lion and leopard and Ellie's and that kind of thing. But some people can be like, Hey, that sounds cool, that's adventurous. Or some people will not wanna get in canoe and canoe down the zambezia with hippos on your left and crocs on your right and elephants breathing down your throat. You know, I think you need to remember that your guide has been there 20, 30 years. He's very experienced. He does that channel every day. He does that walking safari all the time. He knows the sounds. You, he's not gonna walk you in an area that's, that's not safe. I e he's not gonna go through thick bush because there could be a buffalo or line or a leopard behind the bush. He's gonna take in wide open spaces, plain. So you can see two, 300 meters on the side of you. You know, and if there's, you know, if there's any chance of danger, you know he's gonna get you outta danger. At the end of the day, the animals aren't there to eat humans. They're there to, they will, they will attack you if you threaten them, if they've got a baby and you get too close if you surprise them, that kind of thing. But if you keep your distance, they keep their distance. It's generally a very safe, safe environment. So I think, you know, it's, it's, it's down to what, what you want, what you feel safe, what you're comfortable with. What kind of accommodation? Is it electric Safari 10? Do you wanna sleep under the stars? Like we often do. We, you know, we do these sleep arts. They put us in a riverbed and they give us a, a nice mosquito net, and you go to sleep with the sounds of, of wildlife, but there's also some of these beautiful hideouts that are on a, a platform, you know, they're four meters in the air, which some people will feel safer with than, you know, obviously camping in a riverbed. So I think it's, it's just down to, you know, tailor making your, your price point. Are you traveling with kids? Are you on honeymoon? Are you, you know, is it generational travel? Are there granny granddads on the trip? And, and you know, just saying, Hey, what's your timeframe? What's your budget? What do you wanna do and what are your dreams of, of that perfect trip and, you know, Taylor making that experience.

Paula: 8:54

I think it's also important too to, you know, kind of point out. These are not roughing knit experiences. I mean, like I said, you, you, you've always have someone there. You always have someone with you. And they're just, like you said, tailor made for the most comfort and safety

Mike: 9:09

Absolutely. And I, and I think it's worth mentioning that when you do, if you do decide to do a sleep art on a, you know, on a, on a platform or a river bed, They won't let you do that unless you pay for the hotel room as well. Or not the hotel, but the lodge room as well. Because in the event, if you get to the sleep on, you're not comfortable, you need to have a backup plan. So they won't let you just book the sleep up without having a backup plan in case you, you're not happy in that situation. So, you know, they, they're very experienced and they know exactly, you know. How these things work. And n no matter how comfortable we th they think you might be, there's some people that might just panic you. They may see a cockroach going, ah, you know, my God, I gotta go back to my, my tent. You know? So yeah. So it's just worth memory that there's, you know, that they've been down this road for 30, 40, 50 years and they've had a lot of clients and they've dealt with different people and they know different situations. So they're gonna, you know, whether they're gonna do everything they can to make sure you leave having had the best two weeks of your life. And that, that one, once in a lifetime trip becomes a once every year.

Paula: 10:00

Right. I love it. And I know you mentioned some of the critters, so what are some that we. We would expect to see, or what would be the likelihood of seeing our wildlife in game on a trip?

Mike: 10:13

mean, I think, you know, you. Going to our part of the world, Zambia is, is a lot to the parks. In fact, in Zambia, known as the value of the leopards. In fact, south Lule was known as as the value of the leopards for so, so long. But the, the sister park just up the road there, loaves and Bees, I think has overtaken it. And it doesn't mean luangwa has got worse. It just means that loaves Andies just got better. I mean, we saw. In the last year, 14 leopards on in a space of two weeks. But we didn't just see 14, we saw them consistently. So we probably had 30 or 40 leopard sightings, you know, so leopards are very, very common in Zambia. A lot of lion, a lot of cubs a lot of wild dogs, a lot of hyena, elephants everywhere. Plenty of antelope. You know, there's, there's various species. Pba, the Wark, you know, in incredible bird life. Rhino are not that common in, in Zambia, but they're very common in Malawi. So, you know, like, and again, the cheetah, which is, you know, it's a cheetah and leopard often get mistaken by Americans. I often see a, podcast of a leopard, and then people are like, Hey, look at the cheeta. I'm like, no, that's not a cheeta, that's a leopard. But they, they can be mistaken for each other. Leopards a little bit shorter, a little bit stronger, cheetah's, a little bit thin, a little bit faster. You know, ch you get a lot of cheetah Malawi, which you don't get a lot of in Zambia. You get a. Rhino Malawi, which you don't get a lot of Zambia, but you get a, a lot of giraffe. Giraffe, is that how you say giraffe? You get a lot of those in, in, in, in Zambia, and, and I'm sure a lot of you guys are thinking, Hey, I wanna go to Giraffe Manor. It's like, okay, that's kind of cool, but you know, do you wanna do that or do you wanna be on a game vehicle where you have giraffe everywhere around you? Or do you wanna be in a house, which, you know, has these. These animals coming close up to you. So, I mean, I, I think it's more authentic in a sort of, in, in a wildlife environment. But again, Malawi doesn't have a lot Ofir. It's got some, whereas Zambia has plenty. I mean, they're just everywhere. Your last time I there I must have seen over a thousand and again, lots of leopard. So I think it's just a, you know, case of where you're going, how you mix things up, how you combine, you know, lake with fig falls, with, you know, mountains, with whatever you know, you, you want on your, on your experience.

Paula: 12:07

So, and, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I oftentimes think because I, you know, I can look at some of these and see these huge, huge, huge game reserves and then I'm thinking, but aren't the animals more spread out? Is it, is it more advantageous to do a slightly smaller game reserve to potentially increase the sightings of more critters?

Mike: 12:28

So I think, you know, that's something that you're getting a lot of in South Africa. You have a lot of private, I guess, private, private reserves that are maybe like a wildlife reserve, maybe not as natural and. You know, the animals are sometimes tagged and you know, you know you're gonna see them because the guys are monitoring the tag. They know where their leopard is, they know where, you know, whereas I think you don't really get the sort of private concessions as such in Zambia, Malawi. There it's a much more sort of natural environment, but you still have good volume of animal. You still have good, a good variety of you still. Guaranteed to see loads of wildlife. It's just a little bit more natural. It's not a case. The guys on his radio every five minutes radioing his friends saying, Hey, where's, it's more like they've actually gotta use skill. They've gotta stop the car, they've gotta move over. They've gotta look at the footprints on the road. They're gotta see what direction the footprints are going in. And it's a be, it's more like a bit of a game and a challenge than the guaranteed of, you know, hey, where, where was this tag seen or heard last? So I think it's more interesting to view in that that kind of situation where there's a bit of a challenge and it means that the guide has to be good. The guide has to be you listen and stop. You'll turn the vehicle. He'll listen to the sounds of the birds, he'll know which, which birds are, you know, fake and are giving away fake alarms. And he'll know which birds are giving away real alarms. And then they'll, you know, sort of use that as a skill with the, with the footprints and stuff to try and track down where, you know, where the, the cats may be. So it's, it's quite cool in, in that way.

Paula: 13:42

I absolutely love that. And it, it says a lot about the quality of, of the guides and the quality of the experience because this isn't just Joe Blow coming off the street. You guys have people that I know you've worked with for a number of years and. Have had ton of experience with this.

Mike: 13:59

Absolutely. And that's one of the things about, you know, us our team, our sales guys, they spend a lot of time in the, in the park. So often when we get a booking, you know, we'll say, okay, you're going to that park. I'm gonna make sure you get, you know that guy Justin, or you know, Emmanuel or one of the guys we know really well. So because we have the relationship with the lodges, with the guides, and we spend a lot of time in the bush, You know, we are gonna make sure that our clients are, are getting the best guys and aren't gonna get, you know, left with a guy who's over the hill and should have retired. Or a guy who's, you know, new kid on the block who's still learning better. Make sure you're gonna have an exceptional guide because that guy can make or break your experience.

Paula: 14:31

Totally. Absolutely. And I know you mentioned, you know, kind of some short flights we've mentioned you know, getting around in some vehicles, what, you know, what is it like if we were going, going to combine maybe two or three of. These countries like you're talking about, would this be some flying and some driving? Like what do you recommend? What is it like to get around?

Mike: 14:50

So I think, I mean, talking to the US market where, where time is more valuable than, than money most of the time. You know, often, you know, our Europeans have three weeks, they're happy to do a few transfers, you know, time. They, they've got plenty of time. Whereas the US I guess North American market generally, you know, they have this idea that they, they, they can't go for longer than a week. I dunno why everyone works from home these days anyway. But the US market does tend to have, you know, shorter timeframes and that does mean they wanna jump on a plane before they want to get in a, in a vehicle transfer. So, I mean, most of the time with the US market we would fly them around. They're typically smaller planes in Zambia have scheduled services that are typically 10, 20 seats between the national parks. But then sometimes like flying to private islands or, you know, flying in between Zambian, Malawi, you, you could be on a smaller, sort of a four or six seater Cessna. But yeah, I think for, you know, for the, the US market, that is generally okay with cash. There's access to credit cards is, you know, but time is sometimes a problem. You know, they wanna get to places pretty quickly. They don't wanna waste, you know, a day on the road and lose, you know, half their holiday traveling.

Paula: 15:48

Love it. Yes. And I know we mentioned, you know, doing the safari, you mentioned the lake. Like what, what kind of activities can we expect to do when we go visit?

Mike: 15:56

So, yeah, so I think that's, that's a good question. You know, if you're gonna go to Victoria Falls, the smoke, the thunders, there's so much to do there. I mean, you know, from, you know, arriving in a beautiful, you know, boutique lodge on the river, amazing food, wine service room, you know, just beautiful sunset. You know, you would generally have some in-house activities included, like a sunset cruise on the river. Maybe a game drive. Some of the, some of the lodges do like rhino walks, some of them do tree planting. And then those would typically be your sort of included activities. Then you're gonna have your excluded if you wanted to say whitewater rafting or you wanted to do devil's pool. Devil's pool is basically this beautiful pool on the edge of Victoria Falls. So you're literally swim on this pool and have your head go falling over the force looking at. Yeah, millions of gallons of water flow over knowing that, you know, if you just slipped but you won't, you're obviously very well trained with a guide who shows you what to do and what not to do. So there's, yeah, there's lots of different activities that you can in Victoria Falls. And then, you know, it depends on, on the National Park, south Luangwa, national Parks, Where the walking safari was pioneered and it's, it's typically a more of a walking and a game drive park. The river there is isn't very deep, so you don't do a lot of river activities. But Loza bees is great. You have a lot of beautiful channels. So often you're doing sort of canoeing down the channels. You can do tiger fishing on the river. You can do sunset safari where you're having a sun down watching the sunset, and you've got elephants crossing in buffalo and you know throwing a fishing rod if that's what you like doing as well. So, and in the lake you've got diving and snorkeling and canoe. You know, if you wanna go hiking, there's, there's options to do that too. So, again, it's, it's all down to what is important to you and what do you wanna do, what don't you wanna do? You may just wanna lion in and, you know, sit in your plunge pool and have a cocktail and watch your elephants walk past your room. So it's really, really up to you. What, what means, what does the holiday to you?

Paula: 17:35

So if we were gonna go, like w I, I know a lot of, a lot of Americans think that they need to like mortgage the house, take out another mortgage on their house to go to go to Africa. Like what kind of price ranges are we looking at for a visit?

Mike: 17:48

So that's a really interesting question and you know, it's kind of like how long is a piece of string. That's, that is the great thing about dealing with a specialist on the ground because whilst the prices do range from, you know, probably$500 per person per night to your, you know, certainly in, in, in Malawi, Zambia, normally not much more than$1,500 per person per night. It's kind of the range, but you know, that's in your peak season. That's if you're not taking any specials of consideration. That's if you like. Going, Hey, I'm just gonna go and pay for that trip. Now you talk to the specialist, he's gonna say to you, okay, if you just move your dates slightly, you get slightly outta peak season, you're probably gonna get a 30% discount. Cause you're outta peak season. Then you're gonna, and that lodge has a pay Tuesdays, day three, and that lodge is a pay three stay four. And that lodge has a, then suddenly while you're doing a a 16 night trip, you're probably getting four free nights because you know how to package it in a clever way. Or you package sort of, you know, you know you have symbiosis, relationships with the lodges where if you use this lodge and that. You're getting a long state discount, which then suddenly gets your 10, 20, 30, 40% discount. So if you do it clever and you go through a, a smart advisor like Paula, of course you know, and you've got the right partners on the ground, it, you know, it can be a lot less than you think it would be. You know, but obviously you know it, it is down to how long does this piece of string, if you say, My, my dates are X, Y, and z. I can only travel for these days. I can't go longer than week. A, you're in peak season B, you're not gonna go for long enough to get a long stay discount either. So then you're pretty much gonna be set in stone for your thousand, 1500 bucks per person per night. But if you're flexible, you can move date, you go for a little bit longer. You can certainly get, you know, hugely increased value and increase activities included, you know, lots of perks along.

Paula: 19:21

I love that and it's, I, I love working. With people like you that are like, Hey, we can tinker with this and we can do some different things. But we also have so many, many options for all types of travelers and I absolutely love that. So, Mike, the burning question cuz you're, you're based in Malawi?

Mike: 19:41

Correct. Yeah.

Paula: 19:42

I want your favorite thing if where you live. What, what is your favorite thing to do?

Mike: 19:49

probably sit on the porch, have a glass of wine and watch the sunset.

Paula: 19:52

Love it. I love it. You have great sunsets.

Mike: 19:55

We do, we are very lucky. We got a beautiful sunset from our garden. So, yeah, it's, it's five o'clock and you crack a bottle of bubbly or bottle of wine and, you know, watch the sunsets and you know, contemplate what's happened and what you're gonna do.

Paula: 20:05

I love it. I love it. Thank you, Mike, for joining me today and hopefully this will help move Africa up on the bucket list for some people. If you are looking for additional inspiration, please go check out crafted Africa's Instagram, which is at crafted Africa. And if you have any questions for Mike or myself, please feel free to reach out on Instagram or email. As we both love introducing people to this beautiful part of the world. Thank you so much for joining me this week. If you've enjoyed this episode of Vacation Inspiration, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review and subscribe. It only takes a few seconds and it makes a very big difference. That's all for this episode. I can't wait to see you again soon.