The Verdict Dossier · Luxury Safari Operators
Extraordinary Journeys: The 2026 Review — Journeys, Service & Cost
Extraordinary Journeys is not a lodge brand — it is a boutique, family-run trip designer that has spent since 2009 building tailor-made safaris across Africa and beyond. Founded in a New York apartment by the mother-and-daughter team of Marcia and Elizabeth Gordon — one a former Peace Corps volunteer who then spent more than a decade living in Kenya, the other born in Nairobi — it sells first-hand knowledge and personal service rather than beds it owns. Here is the honest case for and against, the regions it plans, indicative costs, and a compass to find your fit.
2009
Founded (NYC apartment)
16
African countries planned
4.9/5
SafariBookings (35 reviews)
35+
Team across 4 continents
$10–25k
Per person, indicative
- The verdict, in two paragraphs
- The Journey Compass — find your Extraordinary Journey
- The regions it plans, honestly compared
- Indicative journey costs & inclusions — 2026
- How to price a comparable safari (three routes)
- Compare Extraordinary Journeys against another operator
- Straight answers to the questions readers ask
Few operators sell first-hand African knowledge and genuinely personal service better than a founder-led specialist this size.
Extraordinary Journeys was founded in 2009 in a New York City apartment by the mother-and-daughter pair Marcia Gordon and Elizabeth Gordon. Marcia served with the Peace Corps in Uganda, spent more than a decade living in Kenya raising three children, and holds a pilot's licence; Elizabeth was born in Kenya, raised in France, and worked in Namibia and Argentina before formalising the family safari business. That lived African fluency is the whole pitch — and it shows in a 4.9/5 SafariBookings rating across 35 reviews, a Travel + Leisure A-List place, and a 2026 Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist listing.
The model is tailor-made rather than fixed group circuits: every itinerary is built one-to-one with a destination specialist, spanning 16 African countries and reaching beyond the continent to Asia, South America, the Middle East and Antarctica. On-the-ground staff in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi back the US planning team, the company is women-led, and in 2025 it launched the Extraordinary Journeys Foundation. For travellers who value a human who has actually lived the destination over a booking engine, that is a strong, honest edge.
It is a boutique planner, not a lodge owner — you buy its judgement, not exclusive beds — and its base clock runs on US time.
Extraordinary Journeys owns no lodges, camps or concessions. It designs trips and books third-party properties — the same Singita, andBeyond and Wilderness camps you could reach through other planners. So the on-safari product is someone else's; what you are paying EJ for is curation, logistics and service. If your priority is an operator's own exclusive-use concessions, the lodge brands themselves are the more direct answer.
Scale is the other honest caveat. This is a boutique house of around 35-plus people, not the round-the-clock in-country machine of a large destination-management company, and its primary planning hub sits on US Eastern time, which can slow real-time help for European or in-transit travellers. One more point of transparency: since 2022 EJ has been part of the French Voyageurs du Monde group, so "family-run" today means founder-led rather than wholly independent. And it is premium — expect roughly $10,000–25,000 per person for a signature journey.
The Journey Compass — find your Extraordinary Journey
Extraordinary Journeys builds everything to order, so there is no fixed catalogue to shortlist. Pick what matters most on your trip and the compass returns the EJ journey style and region that fits, with an indicative 2026 cost and one line on why — plus two honest routes to price a comparable safari.
What matters most on this journey?
Pick a trip priority above. The journey style, indicative cost and why it fits will appear here.
The regions Extraordinary Journeys plans, honestly compared
EJ plans across 16 African countries and beyond, but its safari heartland clusters into a handful of marquee regions. Each does one thing best. This is the honest breakdown — with the reminder that EJ curates third-party camps here rather than owning them.
Kenya & Tanzania
East Africa · Masai Mara · Serengeti · founding region
This is where the family's story is rooted, and it remains EJ's strongest suit. In Kenya the specialists lean towards the private conservancies bordering the Masai Mara — quieter, walking- and night-drive-friendly ground away from the main-reserve crowds — while Tanzania trips are built around the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Because EJ books independent camps rather than owning them, it can mix operators inside one route: a Asilia camp one leg, a classic mobile tented camp the next.
Best for
First-time and returning safari-goers who want a founder-led planner with genuine, decades-deep East African roots — and the freedom to blend camps across operators.
Botswana
Southern Africa · Okavango Delta · Linyanti · Kalahari
Botswana is EJ's premium water-safari region — mokoro, boat and vehicle across the Okavango's seasonal floodplains, usually paired with the drier Linyanti or the Kalahari for contrast. This is high-cost, low-density territory; because EJ doesn't own concessions, it will place you in the camp that best fits the flood, the season and the budget rather than steer you to house inventory. Botswana pairs naturally onward with Victoria Falls.
Best for
Water-based safari at the premium end, where independent camp selection is an advantage — you are matched to the best-fit concession, not an owned one.
South Africa
Southern Africa · Sabi Sand · Cape Town · Winelands
South Africa is EJ's most versatile brief: Big Five in the leopard-rich Sabi Sand or Madikwe, low-malaria family reserves, and a city-and-Winelands finish in and around Cape Town. It is the easiest first-safari country to plan — short flights, strong infrastructure, English throughout — and a natural bush-and-city combination that suits multi-generational groups. EJ curates across the private reserves rather than fronting one lodge brand.
Best for
First-time safari-goers and families wanting Big Five plus a city-and-wine finish, with low malaria risk and easy logistics.
Namibia
Southern Africa · Sossusvlei · Damaraland · Skeleton Coast
Namibia is the landscape-and-design counterpoint to a Big Five safari: the towering dunes of Sossusvlei, desert-adapted elephant and rhino in Damaraland, and the Skeleton Coast, usually strung together as a fly-in circuit. It carries a personal thread for EJ, too — Elizabeth Gordon worked in Namibia before the company formalised. This is a region where a specialist earns their fee, because the distances and logistics are unforgiving to plan solo.
Best for
Design and landscape over Big Five — dunes, dark skies and desert wildlife — best as a fly-in circuit where planning complexity rewards a specialist.
Rwanda & Uganda — the gorillas
East / Central Africa · Volcanoes NP · Bwindi
Mountain-gorilla trekking is one of EJ's most personal regions: Marcia Gordon first came to Africa with the Peace Corps in Uganda. Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park is the polished, short-transfer option; Uganda's Bwindi is wilder and typically better value, and can be paired with chimpanzee tracking. Permits are the hard constraint — a Rwanda gorilla permit runs about $1,500 per person and must be secured well ahead, which is exactly the kind of logistics a specialist handles.
Best for
A once-in-a-lifetime gorilla trek where permit logistics and lodge timing genuinely need a planner. Rwanda for polish; Uganda for value and pairing with chimps.
Bespoke family & special-occasion journeys
Any region · multi-generational · honeymoons
The reason to use EJ over a booking engine is the trip that will not fit a template: a three-generation reunion across two countries, a honeymoon that pairs bush with an Indian-Ocean island, a milestone birthday with children of different ages. This is where a founder-led boutique earns its premium — a single specialist holding the whole itinerary, matching camps to family needs (interconnecting rooms, low malaria risk, private vehicles) rather than fitting you to fixed departures. It is also, honestly, where the cost climbs fastest.
Best for
Complex, high-stakes trips — families of mixed ages, honeymoons, milestone occasions — where one specialist owning the whole plan is worth the premium.
Indicative Extraordinary Journeys costs & inclusions — 2026
Extraordinary Journeys builds every trip to order and publishes no fixed rate card, so the figures below are indicative per-person journey costs (sharing) drawn from its sample itineraries and typical market ranges — not quotes. Treat each as a planning range that moves with season, camp choice and party size.
| Journey style | Region | Typical length | Indicative cost (pp) | Typically includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Kenya safari | East Africa | 9–10 days | ~$10,000–14,000 | Internal flights, guiding, most meals, park & conservancy fees |
| Serengeti migration safari | Tanzania | ~10 days | ~$12,000–18,000 | Mobile/seasonal camps, flights, guiding, most drinks, park fees |
| Okavango water safari | Botswana | 8–10 days | ~$14,000–22,000 | Fly-in concession camps, all meals & drinks, activities, transfers |
| Bush, city & Winelands | South Africa | 10–12 days | ~$11,000–16,000 | Private reserve + Cape Town; guiding, most meals, some touring |
| Desert fly-in circuit | Namibia | ~9 days | ~$10,000–15,000 | Light-aircraft hops, lodges, guiding, most meals, transfers |
| Gorilla trek | Rwanda / Uganda | 5–7 days | ~$9,000–15,000 | Lodges, guiding, transfers; gorilla permits (~$1,500 ea) usually added |
| Bush & beach / honeymoon | Kenya + Seychelles / Zanzibar | 12–14 days | ~$15,000–25,000 | Safari + island resort, flights, most meals; premium at the beach leg |
| Multi-generational bespoke | Any / multi-country | 10–14 days | From ~$12,000 | Private vehicles & guides, family rooms; scales with party size |
Figures are indicative 2026 per-person costs (sharing, double occupancy), drawn from Extraordinary Journeys' published sample itineraries and typical market ranges, and rounded. They are planning estimates, not quotes. International flights, gorilla and specialist permits, premium beverages, tips and travel insurance are commonly additional. Because EJ tailor-makes every trip, your quote will depend on season, camp choice and group size — always confirm at time of booking.
Live comparable safari inventory
Comparable safaris, priced right now
Extraordinary Journeys isn't bookable through us, so here is real, current pricing on comparable East African safaris you can use to benchmark an EJ quote. Filter and enquire on any itinerary — or scroll on for the three ways to price a trip.
How to price a comparable safari — three routes, honestly compared
Extraordinary Journeys is a US-based bespoke planner that quotes directly and is not bookable through us. If you want to benchmark an EJ proposal — or find a comparable tailor-made safari — these three routes let you price the same regions and camps honestly before you commit.
Route 1 · Tailored specialist quote
Safari.com
The fastest way to get a curated, tailor-made quote across the same East and Southern African regions EJ plans. Best for readers who want a comparable itinerary priced quickly, with a specialist designing the route around the same camps.
Request a tailored quote via Safari.comRoute 2 · Bespoke planner
Go2Africa
A large, established bespoke Africa planner with deep relationships across the same lodges and concessions. Best for first-time bookers who want a human designing a multi-country route — the closest like-for-like to EJ's own model.
Design a comparable trip with Go2AfricaRoute 3 · Self-serve comparison
BookAllSafaris
Best for readers still shortlisting — comparing tailor-made safaris and camps across operators and price points before requesting a quote. Self-serve, and the broadest comparison field of the three.
Compare safaris on BookAllSafarisNot sure a boutique planner is the fit? Compare against a lodge operator.
Extraordinary Journeys books the camps below rather than owning them. If you would rather go closer to the source, here are the lodge operators we have reviewed in depth.
Singita
18 lodges, exclusive-use concessions. The ultra-premium ceiling EJ books into.
Read the Singita review →andBeyond
29 owned lodges, pan-African at one standard. Design-led and conservation-first.
Read the andBeyond review →Wilderness
60+ camps. Deepest Botswana footprint; small, remote, low-footprint camps.
Read the Wilderness review →Asilia Africa
East Africa specialist; strong value-to-luxury ratio in Tanzania and Kenya.
Read the Asilia Africa review →Great Plains Conservation
Joubert-founded, conservation-first camps in Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Read the Great Plains Conservation review →Natural Selection
Conservation-led Botswana & Namibia; characterful, lower-density camps.
Read the Natural Selection review →Sanctuary Retreats
A&K-owned. Chief's Camp Okavango plus a Nile cruise fleet.
Read the Sanctuary Retreats review →African Bush Camps
Community-rooted. Deepest Zimbabwe portfolio at the luxury tier.
Read the African Bush Camps review →Straight answers to the questions readers ask
Is Extraordinary Journeys legit, and is it worth it?
Yes. Extraordinary Journeys is an established boutique tour operator founded in 2009, holding a 4.9/5 rating across 35 SafariBookings reviews, a Travel + Leisure A-List place and a 2026 Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist listing. Whether it is worth the premium depends on your brief: for a complex, tailor-made trip where you value first-hand African knowledge and one specialist owning the whole plan, yes. For a single-lodge stay you could book more cheaply direct, the case is weaker.
Who owns Extraordinary Journeys — is it really family-run?
It was founded by, and is still led by, the mother-and-daughter team of Marcia and Elizabeth Gordon, with Elizabeth as CEO. In that founder-led sense it is family-run. In full honesty, though, since 2022 the company has been part of the French Voyageurs du Monde travel group, so it is no longer wholly independent — the founding family runs it within a larger parent. Both things are true at once.
Where is Extraordinary Journeys based, and can it help across time zones?
Its primary planning hub is in the United States (it was founded in New York), which is ideal for North American travellers but means real-time help runs on US hours. It does, however, have on-the-ground team members in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi, plus staff across the UK, Italy and Canada, so in-destination support and local knowledge are genuinely present even if the head office clock is American.
Which African countries does Extraordinary Journeys cover?
Sixteen: Botswana, Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its safari heart is East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and Southern Africa (Botswana, South Africa and Namibia), with gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda. Beyond Africa it also plans Asia, South America, the Middle East and Antarctica.
Does Extraordinary Journeys own its lodges, or is it a tour operator?
It is a tour operator — a bespoke trip designer — not a lodge or camp owner. It does not run its own properties or hold concessions; it books third-party camps, including brands such as Singita, andBeyond, Wilderness and Asilia. Its value is the curation, logistics and service around those stays, not exclusive beds of its own.
How much does an Extraordinary Journeys safari cost?
Because every trip is tailor-made there is no fixed price list, but signature journeys typically fall between roughly $10,000 and $25,000 per person. A classic Kenya safari sits around $10,000–14,000 per person for nine or ten days; Botswana water safaris and bush-and-beach honeymoons run to the top of the range. International flights, gorilla or specialist permits and premium extras are usually additional. Treat any figure as indicative until EJ quotes your actual dates.
Is Extraordinary Journeys good for families and honeymoons?
These are among its core strengths. Multi-generational family journeys and honeymoons are exactly the complex, high-stakes trips where a founder-led boutique earns its premium — one specialist matching camps to family needs (interconnecting rooms, low malaria risk, private vehicles, mixed-age activities) rather than fitting you to fixed departures. South Africa and Kenya are the easiest family bases; bush-and-beach pairings suit honeymoons.
How does Extraordinary Journeys compare to booking direct or to a lodge operator?
Booking a single lodge direct is usually cheaper and simpler — that is the honest trade. EJ earns its fee on multi-country, multi-camp or high-complexity itineraries, where its planning and problem-solving genuinely add value. Versus a lodge brand such as Singita or andBeyond, remember EJ books those same camps rather than owning them; if exclusive-use concessions are the point, go closer to the source. For a curated route across several operators, a planner like EJ — or a comparable one — is the better fit.
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Disclosure. Extraordinary Journeys is not bookable through Uncompromised Travel and is not a paid partner; it has no editorial input on this page. Because we cannot book EJ directly, the "price a comparable safari" links to Safari.com, Go2Africa and BookAllSafaris are affiliate links, and we earn a commission on qualifying bookings made through them. Editorial verdicts, the honest case for and against, and region breakdowns are not influenced by commission structure. Costs cited are indicative 2026 planning ranges compiled at time of publication from Extraordinary Journeys' own sample itineraries and typical market rates; always confirm at time of booking.