Last spring we lost one of our fine safari masters to the African bush—he left us to run camps on the ground in Zimbabwe and Botswana. We are pleased to announce that Dan Achber will be returning to Trufflepig this summer, with a canoe-load of new experiences under his belt. Before he arrives back in […]

The mercury is shooting up to 33°C in Toronto today. What better time to begin our new series on the pools we daydream about all summer. Where: La Sultana Marrakech, Morocco Why: Sitting by a pool and staring at a brick wall isn’t usually that enticing. But when the wall in question is a Gothic-arched […]

The Moroccan culinary alphabet only has about 10 letters. But what it lacks in depth and diversity it makes up for in down-to-earth-made-with-love deliciousness. Where: Someone’s home in the small town of M’Hamid, where the road ends and the Sahara Desert properly begins. What: Chicken tajine. The word tajine refers to the round earthenware dish (with distinctive conical top), the […]

Don’t worry, we only mean ‘capture’ in the photographic sense. One of our favourite Pigs is safari photography master James Gifford, who runs workshops to help make your wildest snaps look a little more like his. James lives in Maun, and runs his photographic workshops through a company called Letaka Safaris. He’s crazy about the bush […]

Greg has been to Africa approximately 3,872,438 times (give or take a few). How do you teach a man some valuable new lessons about the continent where he already seems to know everything? Send him there with kids. If you don’t already know Greg Sacks, he is our resident African expert, planning all trips big and […]

A large part of what we do is help clients decide when to go where. Dream trips quickly morph into cautionary tales when you end up sweating through your entire travel wardrobe, or knee-deep in the flood waters of your hotel. Lucky we know a few places that shine in the off season. Istanbul (Turkey) […]

I think my love for beaches was originally fueled by my hatred for wearing shoes. Footwear is a form of slavery, if you ask me. So imagine my glee when I arrived at Soneva Fushi, a private island in the Maldives with a “no shoes” policy. They actually took my sandals from me, put them […]

Swakopmund is: a) a quaint coastal town in Namibia, b) the adrenaline capital of Namibia, c) a tribal word meaning “excrement opening” or d) all of the above? The correct answer is d) all of the above. Swakop, as it’s called by the locals, is a charming little town set on the northwest coast of […]

I’ve always loved the Makgadikgadi Pans, but struggled to put my finger on why, as I’m a sucker for a huge herd of elephants, or a magisterial lion lounging in the grass; the Pans have none of this. After spending some time at the newly resurrected San Camp I have finally figured it out. Out […]

We’ve got some serious connections here at Trufflepig. Great trips depend heavily on who you know, so we have many contacts up our bespoke sleeves. But with 30-plus countries on our plates, we’re no match for the specialized knowledge of these amazing concierges. Andrew McEwan, Singita Ebony Lodge, South Africa Yes, everyone knows the service standards […]

Growing up I used to think it might be cool to have a pet chimpanzee—kinda like Michael Jackson and Bubbles. Many years later, an enlightening visit to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary (NICS) made me glad my parents settled on a cat instead. NICS was established in 1998 to care for confiscated chimps that could not be […]

We all know what it feels like when you’re not on “The List”. Whether you’re waiting for a promotion, a procedure, or standing outside the hottest new club in town, it is a cold, hard place to be. Such is life on the great plains of Africa for our friend the magnificent cheetah. Because the […]

The theme song from Jaws is playing in my head as I lower myself into the freezing cold water. I hesitantly peer under the surface, but murky water makes it difficult to see. Suddenly a dark shadow emerges and I find myself face to face with the most feared creature in the sea. Dyer Island […]

Mombo is located on the northern tip of Chief’s Island in the heart of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Many claim it has the best big game viewing in Botswana, so I had to find out for myself. The welcoming committee was certainly an impressive start—apart from the lovely staff at Mombo, we were met by a […]

Modernizing a famous hotel is a difficult job. I’m not suggesting it’s in the same league as lion taming, or being a Kardashian, but think about it; take a legendary landmark and update it to meet the needs of the 21st century traveler, but without changing its fundamental essence. A case in point is the […]

Sometimes I rant about the trips we can plan and you just have to take my word for it. On this occasion, however, I have National Geographic Traveler backing me up. Check out our San Bushman Hunt & Kubu Island Safari—selected as the 2011 ‘Tour of a Lifetime’ in Botswana. What if I told you […]