Flying business class is like being transported to a more graceful age of aviation. The people “up front” are not only better dressed than those in the cheap seats but generally more relaxed. The cabin crew’s smiles are warmer.
Certainly the kind of people who sign up with Captain’s Choice are unused to slumming it in economy. Founded in 1994 by Phil Asker, a Melbourne-based entrepreneur, and now owned by APT Travel Group, this Australian company specialises in group tours pitched at a level of frictionless efficiency, inside-track access and no-holds-barred luxury that knocks the silk socks off most of the competition. As yet little known outside its home country, from which it draws almost all its clientele, it is now making a push for the UK market.
Keen to experience this Antipodean take on top-end travel, I signed up for the first two phases of the company’s “African Adventures” tour, a 16-day edited highlights trip from the north to the south of Africa using an all business-class private jet and a luxury train.
The all-business-class private jet carries 43 passengers
The group stayed at the St Regis in Cairo, which overlooks the Nile
I joined the tour at its starting point in Cairo, meeting up at 6am (painfully early starts would be par for the course) with my 42 fellow travellers in the maximalist splendour of a hotel (the St Regis) on the banks of the Nile. They were a gregarious and easygoing bunch, with no airs and graces on display despite their obviously considerable wealth. These were self-made men and women — accountants, farmers, engineers, doctors — mostly retired and of a high average age.
The trip would be long and demanding — it would involve, I noted from the itinerary, “trekking through thick vegetation and steep inclines” to meet the gorillas of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park — but most of these Australians were made of stern stuff. One couple in their nineties had walked through Alaska, explored Europe in a VW Combi van and spent three weeks on the Silk Road, and taken it all in their stride. (Although they confessed to being reassured by the presence of a tour doctor, a standard feature on Captain’s Choice trips.)
A colossal statue of Ramses II is the centrepiece at the entrance of the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza
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Our buses took us past the brick-built dystopia of Cairo’s ever-expanding metropolis towards the Pyramids of Giza, while our Egyptologist guide gave us the lowdown on the temples, tombs and tunnels on our agenda. Captain’s Choice has built up a repertoire of inside-track experiences based on three decades of trust-building and negotiation. Here’s an example: our group had been granted permission for a private visit with the Sphinx. It was extraordinary to peer up from its giant lion’s feet directly towards the heavy brows, staring eyes and high cheekbones of a face that was somehow familiar yet still imbued with mystery.
Following a lavish lunch at the Mena House hotel, built in the 19th century as a hunting lodge for the khedive of Egypt, came a highlight of the trip: a look around the Grand Egyptian Museum, still in a soft-opening phase ahead of its official unveiling. The astounding building, architecturally somewhere between a 21st-century cathedral and an airport terminal, and its breathtaking contents together produced in me a mild case of Stendhal syndrome. Our group gathered around the colossal statue of Ramses II that is the centrepiece of the museum’s great covered forecourt, suitably awestruck by the grandeur of a monument that was itself revered as a deity.
The Grand Egyptian Museum opened on November 4
The private Airbus A319 is a luxurious way to travel
At Cairo’s Sphinx international airport we made our first acquaintance with the mode of transport that would carry us most of the way across the African continent: an Airbus A319 belonging to the Maldives-based BeOnd fleet, decked out in salmon pink and charcoal grey livery with cream leather seats. The smartly uniformed staff had apparently memorised the names of all the passengers. If they needed prompting, each name was embroidered in gold thread on our black cotton airline pillows. Would I perhaps like a mid-morning snack of grilled halloumi with tomato and za’atar? And a glass of champagne to go with it? Yes, and yes, please.
The atmosphere on board was upbeat and convivial. It struck me as a clear advantage of Captain’s Choice tours that your travelling companions would be affable cosmopolitan Australians such as these. The degree of loyalty to this prime national travel brand was impressive: almost everyone was a repeater. One woman, a landowner and farmer from Melbourne, had taken the ultra-luxurious Rovos train before but was looking forward to “doing the gorillas” this time.
The intensive, full-on character of these tours is a consequence of the Australian way of travel: if you’ve come this far to see the world, you’d better make it worth your while. On our trip a former real estate developer in his late seventies was a veteran of no fewer than 24 Captain’s Choice journeys and had booked to go to Nepal and Bhutan later in the year. “I’ve got to the stage in life where if I can’t go business, I won’t go,” he confided.
In Luxor, our next port of call, the Valley of the Kings roasted in 43C heat. Some of our party seemed perilously close to mummification as they traipsed the dusty paths and it was a relief to descend the long interior gallery leading to the tomb of Ramses V and VI, with its painted images in vibrant colours, before returning to the air-conditioned haven of the bus. That night’s dinner was another example of privileged access, with the tables set among the floodlit columns of Ramses III’s temple, accompanied by fine wines and a string quartet.
From Luxor we flew to Nairobi, in Kenya, and thence in a fleet of turboprop Cessnas to Angama Mara, a pioneer among high-end safari lodges in the Masai Mara National Reserve since 2015. Lounging in a roll-top bathtub in my tent, an apartment-sized suite in full Out of Africa mode, I gazed from Angama’s hilltop eyrie towards the plains stretching out below like a quiet ocean.
There were plenty of chances to see elephants and the rest of the big five while staying at the high-end Angama Mara safari lodge in the Masai Mara National Reserve
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The group went on to see the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda
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Travel at this exalted level has you constantly pinching yourself that such things are even possible. When we were out on safari, the big five animals appeared with such frequency that they became almost familiar, as if they too had been briefed to be especially generous with these valued clients. As dawn broke over the savannah our hot-air balloon dipped low over a forest clearing where a family of elephants were grazing just beneath us. Back in Nairobi airport all too soon, I took my leave of the group. Their farewells seemed heartfelt.
I’d miss these friendly Aussies with their banter and stories, their jokes and joie de vivre. Over the coming days I’d live vicariously, via the tour’s WhatsApp group, the further adventures of their African odyssey: the scary encounter with the silverback gorilla Mutobo; the hair-raising helicopter flight above Victoria Falls; the super-luxe Rovos train, with its wood-panelled walls and gourmet dinners, rolling south to Cape Town.
Captain’s Choice aims to create the most luxurious group trips on earth: with good food, hotels and experiences, and with the extra bonus of great company. For me, I suspect group travel will never be quite the same again.
Details The next Captain’s Choice trip across Africa by private jet starts on February 18, 2027, and costs from £43,250pp for 14 days, captains-choice.com
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