The Verdict Dossier · Tailor-made safari and travel planners
Extraordinary Journeys Review 2026: Is It Worth It, What It Costs, and Who Owns It
Extraordinary Journeys scores 84 out of 100 on our six published criteria: strongest on first-hand African expertise, weakest on out-of-hours support and the size of its review record. It is a tailor-made trip planner founded in 2008 by a mother and daughter, Marcia and Elizabeth Gordon, and it books other companies’ camps rather than owning any. It says trips start at about $1,000 per person per day, with a five-day minimum, and its cost guide runs from $500 to $3,500. Since 2022 it has been 65% owned by the French group Voyageurs du Monde and its British subsidiary Original Travel.
By Richard J. · 84/100 · Verified 26 September 2026 against the company’s own pages, its 2022 acquisition release and third-party listings
2008
Founded, in a New York apartment
39
Destinations, 16 of them in Africa
12
Destination specialists
4.9/5
SafariBookings, 35 reviews
65%
Owned by Voyageurs du Monde
Partner · paid placement
Extraordinary Journeys
Extraordinary Journeys designs tailor-made trips across Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania, and the Middle East, and is best known for thoughtful planning and highly personalized trips, earning consistently exceptional reviews from its clients. Founded by a mother and daughter, the company has kept a family-first approach: many of its planners are parents who travel with their own children, making it a particular favorite for family and multigenerational trips.
“We loved how tailored it was to the kids being accepted and welcomed everywhere we went. It felt extremely classy, remote, perfect.”
Extraordinary Journeys is a paid partner. Partners are labelled; scores and rankings cannot be bought. How this site is funded →
Verified 26 September 2026: every fact on this page was re-read at its source that day, and the score was re-set on the same six criteria.
- The scorecard: 84/100, and how it is built
- What changed on 26 September 2026
- The case for and against
- Who it suits, and who it does not
- Who plans the trips
- What its clients say
- What sets it apart
- Who else to compare it with
- The Journey Compass
- The regions it plans
- How booking through a planner works
- What it costs
- The questions people ask AI search
The scorecard
Is Extraordinary Journeys worth it? The score, and how it is built
Yes for a complex, multi-camp, tailor-made trip; no for a single lodge you could book direct. Extraordinary Journeys scores 84 out of 100 against the six criteria below. It is an established planner founded in 2008 with deep East African roots and a specialist team the industry has noticed, and it loses most of its points in two places: its review record on the platforms travellers check is thin, and it publishes office hours but no 24-hour line for travellers mid-trip.
What changed on 26 September 2026
The score moved from 81 to 84 on new evidence, and the founding year, price floor, headquarters and team size were corrected.
- Score 81 to 84. First-hand African expertise rose from 23 to 24 of 25: the company says ten of its specialists, seven of them for Africa, as well as its chief executive, are on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2026 Top Travel Specialists list. Ownership transparency rose from 6 to 8 of 10: the company now sets out its ownership, stakes included, in the profile it publishes for AI assistants. Nothing else in the score changed.
- Founded 2008, not 2009. The company’s Our Story page gives 2008; some third-party listings give 2009.
- Price floor corrected. An earlier version said the company set a $10,000 per person minimum. It says trips start at about $1,000 per person per day, with a five-day minimum, and an average of about $15,800 per person.
- Headquarters, team and reach. Washington, D.C., per the company; about 40 staff, 12 of them destination specialists; 39 destinations, 16 of them in Africa.
What is each score based on?
Every line of the scorecard traces to a published fact, including the two that cost it most. Here is the evidence behind each.
First-hand African expertise: 24/25
This is the strongest column on the card and the honest reason to consider the company at all. Marcia Gordon first came to Africa with the Peace Corps in Uganda, then spent eleven years living in Kenya, where she raised three children and earned her pilot’s licence (Our Story). Elizabeth Gordon, the chief executive, grew up between Kenya and Paris and has lived in Taiwan, Israel, Namibia, Mexico and Argentina (her profile). The wider team now has its own credentials: the company says ten of its specialists, seven of them for Africa, and Elizabeth Gordon are on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2026 Top Travel Specialists list, which is the new evidence behind the extra point; our Condé Nast specialists page names them. One point is still withheld because most specialist profiles do not say how long each person has spent in the region they plan.
Independent review evidence: 15/20
4.9 out of 5 from 35 reviews on SafariBookings, the newest dated 11 August 2025, is close to the ceiling. The problem is volume: 35 reviews is a thin public record for a company trading since 2008, and its Trustpilot profile, claimed in September 2026, had no reviews yet when read on 26 September. A high score on a small sample is weaker evidence than a slightly lower score on a large one, and the card is marked accordingly.
Destination breadth: 14/15
Sixteen African countries, from Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania to Madagascar, Mozambique and the Seychelles (its Africa list), and 39 destinations in all, from Japan and Bhutan to Patagonia and Antarctica. Only the largest operators plan wider. One point is withheld because breadth on a map is not depth in each country: the safari work is concentrated in East and Southern Africa, and its Asia programmes are newer than its African ones.
Pricing transparency: 12/15
Better than most planners. Its journeys page lists 120 itineraries, each with a per-person from-price and a length, such as an 11-day Kenya family trip from $10,000 and a 14-day Legendary Egypt trip from $14,000. Its cost guide of 5 May 2026 gives $500 to $3,500 per person per day and says safari days are “typically fully inclusive of meals, snacks, drinks, laundry, and activities”. Three points are withheld because the itinerary cards do not say what each price covers (internal flights, park fees, tips) or give a single-occupancy figure, and because third-party listings disagree: SafariBookings shows $300 to $2,000 per person per day. The price floor was corrected on 26 September 2026 (see what changed, above).
Service model and support hours: 11/15
About 40 staff, 12 of them destination specialists, the company says, and each trip is planned by a named specialist. Its concierge team and several trip coordinators work from Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and Nairobi (team page), which is real support on the ground. The deduction is clock coverage: the office is open 9:30am to 5:30pm Eastern time, Monday to Friday (contact page), and no 24-hour number for travellers mid-trip is published. For a trip whose failure mode is a missed light-aircraft connection at 6am, that gap matters.
Ownership transparency: 8/10
In July 2022 Voyageurs du Monde, a French tailor-made group listed on Euronext Paris, and its British subsidiary Original Travel took 65 per cent of the company; Elizabeth Gordon kept 35 per cent and remains chief executive (acquisition release, 19 July 2022). The release put 2019 turnover at close to $13 million, with 26 employees at the time. The company now sets all of this out itself, stakes, date and listing included, in the profile it publishes for AI assistants, where the chief executive appears as Elizabeth Gordon Halliday. Two points are withheld because the page a reader actually visits, Our Story, still says only that it “partnered” with Voyageurs du Monde in 2022; one plain sentence there would close the gap.
Few planners can match this much first-hand African knowledge in a team of about 40.
Its founders lived the places it sells. Extraordinary Journeys was founded in 2008 in a New York apartment by the mother and daughter Marcia and Elizabeth Gordon. Marcia came to Africa with the Peace Corps in Uganda and spent eleven years in Kenya; Elizabeth grew up between Kenya and Paris. That knowledge shows in a 4.9 out of 5 rating from 35 SafariBookings reviews, in the ten specialists and chief executive it lists on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2026 specialists list, and in ten appearances on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best list of safari outfitters, the company says.
The model is tailor-made rather than fixed departures: every trip is built with one destination specialist, across 16 African countries and 39 destinations in all. For travellers who want someone who knows the ground rather than a booking engine, that is a real edge.
It owns no camps, its itinerary prices do not say what they include, and it keeps US office hours.
What you pay for is planning, not beds. Extraordinary Journeys owns no lodges, camps or concessions; it books third-party properties, the same andBeyond, Wilderness and Asilia camps other planners sell. If exclusive-use concessions are the point, the lodge companies themselves are the more direct answer.
Its itinerary cards carry from-prices but not what each covers, and third-party listings disagree with its own figures: SafariBookings shows $300 to $2,000 per person per day against the company’s own starting point of about $1,000. Its office keeps US Eastern hours with no published 24-hour line. And the page readers see says only that it partnered with Voyageurs du Monde in 2022; the plain account, a 65 per cent stake held with Original Travel, is in its AI profile and the acquisition release. Founder-led, yes; independent, no.
Who is Extraordinary Journeys right for, and who is it not?
It suits travellers who want a trip designed around them and can spend from about $1,000 per person per day for five days or more; it does not suit anyone looking for an off-the-shelf itinerary or one lodge at the lowest possible price.
Right for
- Families and multigenerational groups: many of its planners are parents who travel with their own children, the company says.
- Couples and honeymooners pairing a safari with an Indian Ocean island.
- First safaris in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana or South Africa, where camp choice and timing decide the trip.
- Travellers adding Egypt, Japan or Southeast Asia to Africa with one planner.
Not for
- Anyone wanting a fixed, off-the-shelf itinerary: the company says that is not a fit.
- Budgets below about $1,000 per person per day, or trips shorter than five days.
- A single lodge you could book direct: a planner earns its fee by combining camps.
- Travellers who need a 24-hour line published before they book: it keeps US Eastern office hours.
Our advice: get proposals from two or three specialists, not more, and compare them on the same camps. Our specialist or book direct comparison explains when a planner earns its fee.
Who plans the trips?
Twelve destination specialists plan its trips, most of them for Africa, with named heads for Asia, Latin America, and North Africa and Oceania. Titles are from its team page, read 26 September 2026; recognition is as the company lists it. On the ground, its Head of Concierge, Africa, Sumendri Govender, works from Johannesburg, with trip coordinators in Cape Town, Pretoria and Nairobi.
| Region | Specialist | Title | Recognition, as the company lists it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | Pearl Jurist-Schoen | Head of Sales, Africa | Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist 2026 |
| Africa | Lara Ray, Kim Green and Anisha Barrientos | Senior Destination Specialists, Africa | Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialists 2026 |
| Africa and the Middle East | Brigid Finley | Destination Specialist, Africa & Middle East | Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist 2026 |
| Africa and South America | Abby Watson | Destination Specialist, Africa & South America | Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist 2026 |
| Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East | Amelia Adamson | Destination Specialist, Africa, Indian Subcontinent, & Middle East | None listed |
| North Africa and Oceania, including Egypt | Melissa Cahill | Head of Sales & Product Development, North Africa & Oceania | None listed |
| Asia | Lauren Jafry | Head of Sales & Product Development, Asia | Travel + Leisure A-List 2025 and 2026; Condé Nast Traveler 2026 |
| Japan | Chris Craigo | Destination Specialist, Japan | Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist 2026 |
| Latin America | Brett Steele | Head of Sales & Product Development, Latin America | None listed |
| Worldwide | Jamie Mehrotra | Head of Sales, Global | None listed |
| The whole company | Elizabeth Gordon | CEO and co-founder | Travel + Leisure A-List every year since 2014; Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist every year since 2020 |
Recognition is as the company lists it on its 2026 press page; our Condé Nast specialists page carries the 2026 names.
What do Extraordinary Journeys’ clients say?
Travellers name their planner first, the company says, often before a single camp or sighting, and the eight evaluations it shared bear that out. Extraordinary Journeys says its clients most often mention five things: a planner who takes time to understand them, every detail handled, real destination expertise, family and group travel done well, and the guides and camps it chooses.
“Pearl spent a significant amount of time getting to know our family, what was important to us, likes, dislikes, and matching our itinerary to that. It truly felt like it was customized for our family vs a packaged trip.”
“We loved how tailored it was to the kids being accepted and welcomed everywhere we went. It felt extremely classy, remote, perfect.”
“Chris curated a set of experiences around our food-loving family that matched our preference for more authentic and local activities both cultural and culinary.”
“Lauren understood me, shared my feelings about certain experiences and my taste in hotels and restaurants. I loved the entire year planning the trip with Lauren.”
“This was an area of the world we have never travelled to and would not feel comfortable planning it all on our own... The consultants are experts and we were able to bounce off our thoughts with very helpful feedback and a number of iterations.”
“EJ consistently provide the best guides you can possibly ask for... Medhat in Cairo, in particular, was the best guide I've had for any trip in my life (now been to 55 countries).”
“Abby took the time to understand what we wanted from this once-in-a-lifetime trip and created an itinerary that allowed us to experience the incredible wildlife, breathtaking landscapes... and the warmth of the people in a truly meaningful way.”
“Brigid was truly extraordinary from our very first conversation. She really listened to us and planned the perfect trip according to our likes and dislikes.”
From Extraordinary Journeys’ client evaluations. Each traveller agreed to publication; travellers are not named here. Quotes are verbatim, in the travellers’ own spelling.
What sets Extraordinary Journeys apart?
Three things beyond the planning: exclusive US booking rights on a restored 1885 Nile paddle steamer, the company says; a foundation it funds through its trips; and membership of Safari Professionals of America.
The Steam Ship Sudan
Extraordinary Journeys says it holds exclusive US booking rights on the Steam Ship Sudan, a paddle steamer built in 1885 that sailed in Thomas Cook’s Nile fleet until 1950 and carried Agatha Christie in 1933, the cruise that inspired Death on the Nile. Voyageurs du Monde, now Extraordinary Journeys’ majority owner, bought it in 2000 and returned it to service in 2001; it has 23 cabins, including 5 suites. For the wider trip, see our guide to luxury Egypt and the Nile.
The Extraordinary Journeys Foundation
Launched in 2025, the Foundation funds Great Being a Girl, a project against period poverty in Kenya, and supports conservation groups including African Parks, the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the Great Plains Foundation and Tompkins Conservation. The company says its trips are carbon neutral.
Membership and recognition
It is a member of Safari Professionals of America, “a non-profit membership trade association of the most reputable safari tour operators and Africa travel specialists in North America”. The company says it has been named among Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best safari outfitters ten times (2016 to 2022 and 2024 to 2026), that Elizabeth Gordon has been on Travel + Leisure’s A-List every year since 2014, and that Lauren Jafry joined her in 2025 and 2026 (its 2026 press page).
What is the best luxury tour operator for a customised African safari?
There is no single best: the honest split is between a US-based tailor-made planner, an Africa-based planner with its own in-country team, and the lodge companies themselves. Extraordinary Journeys sits in the first group and scores 84/100 on our criteria. Use the brief in the left-hand column to find who else to price against it.
| If your brief is | Compare against | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want the planner in Africa’s own time zone | Go2Africa, head-to-head | Africa-based, with its own in-country consultants. Our head-to-head scores both on the same six criteria. |
| You want Asia as well as Africa | Remote Lands, side by side | An Asia specialist for 20 years; our comparison sets out who each company suits. |
| You want the camps themselves, not a planner | andBeyond or Wilderness | Lodge companies that own their properties and concessions; Extraordinary Journeys books these camps rather than owning them. |
| You want a US operator with a longer track record | Abercrombie & Kent or Micato Safaris | Both older and larger, with their own ground operations in East Africa. |
| You want scored rankings before you choose anyone | The luxury safari operator index | The lodge companies we cover, scored against published criteria in one table. |
| You want the lowest price for the same camps | Prices compared across operators | The same camp can differ by thousands depending on who books it; worth checking before you commit to any planner. |
Every company named above is one we have reviewed against published criteria; none of the links in this table is paid.
The Journey Compass: find your fit, and what it costs
Pick what matters most and the compass returns the trip style, what Extraordinary Journeys’ own published trips cost per day for it, and why it fits. Each result links to the company and to our cost page for that region.
What matters most on this trip?
Pick a trip priority above. The trip style, its cost and why it fits appear here.
The regions Extraordinary Journeys plans, honestly compared
Its safari work clusters in five regions, each doing one thing best, and in every one the camps are booked, not owned. Families and special occasions run across all of them.
Kenya and Tanzania
East Africa · Masai Mara · Serengeti · the founding region
This is where the family’s story is rooted and it remains the strongest suit. Kenya trips lean towards the private conservancies bordering the Masai Mara, quieter ground that permits walking and night drives the main reserve does not, while Tanzania is built around the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Because the camps are booked rather than owned, one route can mix companies: an Asilia camp on one leg, a mobile tented camp on the next. Our Great Migration calendar shows where the herds are each month.
Best for
First and returning safari-goers who want East African roots and the freedom to blend camps across companies.
Botswana
Southern Africa · Okavango Delta · Linyanti · Kalahari
Botswana is the 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. It is high-cost, low-density territory, and not owning concessions helps here: you are placed in the camp that fits the flood and the season rather than steered to house inventory. Delta camps are reached by light aircraft, so internal flights are part of the cost.
Best for
Water-based safari at the premium end, where independent camp selection helps most.
South Africa
Southern Africa · Sabi Sand · Cape Town · Winelands
South Africa is the most versatile brief: the Big Five in the Sabi Sand or Madikwe, low-malaria family reserves, and a city-and-Winelands finish around Cape Town. It is the easiest first-safari country, with short flights, strong infrastructure and English throughout, and the natural bush-and-city combination for multigenerational groups. It also pairs with Victoria Falls, on the Zambia and Zimbabwe border.
Best for
First safaris and families wanting the Big Five plus a city-and-wine finish, with low malaria risk and easy logistics.
What a South Africa safari costs · What a Zambia safari costs
Namibia
Southern Africa · Sossusvlei · Damaraland · Skeleton Coast
Namibia is the landscape counterpoint to a Big Five safari: the dunes of Sossusvlei, desert-adapted elephant and rhino in Damaraland, and the Skeleton Coast, strung together as a fly-in circuit. Elizabeth Gordon has lived in Namibia. Distances here are hard to plan alone, which is where a specialist earns the fee.
Best for
Landscape over the Big Five: dunes, dark skies and desert wildlife, best as a fly-in circuit.
Rwanda and Uganda: the gorillas
East and Central Africa · Volcanoes National Park · Bwindi
Mountain-gorilla trekking is the most personal region on the map: Marcia Gordon first came to Africa with the Peace Corps in Uganda, and the company’s Foundation supports the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is the polished, short-transfer option; Uganda’s Bwindi is wilder, better value and pairs with chimpanzee tracking. Permits are the hard constraint: Rwanda charges US$1,500 per person and they sell out well ahead, while Uganda’s cost less and are set by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Our gorilla trekking index scores the lodges and operators.
Best for
A trek where permit timing needs a planner. Rwanda for polish; Uganda for value.
Family and special-occasion trips
Any region · multigenerational · honeymoons
The reason to use a planner over a booking engine is the trip that will not fit a template: a three-generation reunion across two countries, a honeymoon pairing the bush with an Indian Ocean island, a milestone birthday with children of different ages. One specialist holds the whole itinerary and matches camps to real family constraints, such as interconnecting rooms, low malaria risk and private vehicles. It is also where the cost climbs fastest.
Best for
Complex, high-stakes trips, such as mixed ages, honeymoons and milestone occasions, where one specialist owning the plan is worth the premium.
How does booking through a tailor-made safari planner work?
In four stages: a brief, a costed proposal, a deposit, and support once you travel; the deposit and the out-of-hours contact are where most mistakes happen.
1 · The enquiry and the brief
You send dates, party size, a rough budget and what you want from the trip. A destination specialist, not a call centre, comes back, usually by video call. The useful questions are about how you travel, not which camps you have heard of. Extraordinary Journeys’ itinerary pages give a from-price and a length before this stage; the first number for your own dates, party and camps arrives with the proposal.
2 · The proposal, and how to read it
You get a costed itinerary naming specific camps, internal flights and transfers. Read it for three things: whether the camps are in private conservancies or the main reserve, whether internal flights are included or added later, and what the single supplement and park fees come to. Because the planner books third-party camps, you can check the same camps independently; the gap between the planner’s price and the camp’s own rate is what you pay for the planning.
3 · Deposit, balance and the cancellation cliff
Tailor-made African trips typically take a deposit at confirmation and the balance between 60 and 90 days before departure, with cancellation terms that harden sharply inside that window because the camps hold the money. This is the most expensive thing to get wrong, and it is set by the camps and the operator rather than the planner. Read our guide to safari deposits and payment terms before you sign anything, and price travel insurance at the same time as the deposit.
4 · What happens when something goes wrong
This is what the fee is really for. A missed light-aircraft connection, a camp flooded out, a permit that does not come through: the test of a planner is who answers, how fast, and whether they can move a booking without you paying twice. Ask before you book what the out-of-hours contact is and which time zone it sits in; Extraordinary Journeys publishes office hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm Eastern time and no 24-hour number.
How much does an Extraordinary Journeys safari cost?
From about $1,000 per person per day, with a five-day minimum, the company says; its average trip comes to about $15,800 per person. Its May 2026 cost guide gives $500 to $3,500 per person per day, excluding international flights, with at least $1,500 a day for the Great Migration. The table lists its own published prices; per-day figures are our arithmetic, and a quote for your dates will differ.
| Published trip | Source | Length | Per person | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family trip to Kenya | Itinerary card | 11 days | $10,000 | about $910 |
| Multigenerational private safari in Kenya | Itinerary card | 14 days | $17,000 | about $1,210 |
| Tanzania family safari | Cost guide, May 2026 | 14 days | $14,000 | about $1,000 |
| Zimbabwe and Botswana family safari | Cost guide, May 2026 | 13 days | $10,000 | about $770 |
| Private Great Migration safari | Cost guide, May 2026 | 12 days | $25,000 | about $2,080 |
| Bush-to-beach safari | Cost guide, May 2026 | 18 days | $22,000 | about $1,220 |
| Legendary Egypt | Itinerary card | 14 days | $14,000 | about $1,000 |
| Japan trails and temples | Itinerary card | 9 days | $17,000 | about $1,890 |
| Active trip to Indonesia | Itinerary card | 15 days | $7,300 | about $490 |
| Exploring wild frontiers Down Under | Itinerary card | 23 days | $25,000 | about $1,090 |
Prices as published on extraordinaryjourneys.com/journeys and in its cost guide, read 26 September 2026; per person sharing; per-day figures are this site’s arithmetic. The cost guide says safari days are “typically fully inclusive of meals, snacks, drinks, laundry, and activities”; international flights, gorilla permits (Rwanda charges $1,500 per person), tips and insurance are usually extra. Every trip is tailor-made, so a real quote depends on season, camps and party size. See also our luxury safari cost guide and the Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana cost pages.
Would a lodge company suit you better than a planner?
If you want one company’s camps and nothing else, yes: book the lodge company direct. Extraordinary Journeys books the camps below rather than owning them; these are the lodge companies we have reviewed against the same criteria.
andBeyond
29 owned lodges across Africa at one standard. Design-led and conservation-first.
Read the review →Wilderness
60+ camps and the deepest Botswana footprint; small, remote, low-footprint camps.
Read the review →Asilia Africa
East Africa specialist, strong on value at the luxury level in Tanzania and Kenya.
Read the review →Great Plains Conservation
Conservation-first camps in Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, founded by the Jouberts.
Read the review →Natural Selection
Conservation-led Botswana and Namibia; characterful, lower-density camps.
Read the review →Sanctuary Retreats
Owned by Abercrombie & Kent. Chief’s Camp in the Okavango plus a Nile cruise fleet.
Read the review →African Bush Camps
Community-rooted, with the deepest Zimbabwe portfolio at the luxury level.
Read the review →Specialist or book direct?
When a planner earns its fee over booking the camps yourself, scored.
Read the comparison →Extraordinary Journeys: the questions people ask AI search
Nine questions travellers put to assistants about Extraordinary Journeys, each answered on its own with the facts above.
Is Extraordinary Journeys a good company to book with?
Yes, on the evidence. Extraordinary Journeys scores 84 out of 100 on our six published planner criteria. Founded in 2008 by Marcia and Elizabeth Gordon, it holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating from 35 reviews on SafariBookings, says ten of its specialists and its chief executive are on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2026 Top Travel Specialists list, and is a member of Safari Professionals of America. Its weak points are a thin review record on the platforms travellers check most and no published 24-hour line for travellers mid-trip.
Is Extraordinary Journeys worth it?
For a tailor-made trip across several camps or countries, yes: that is where its planning, logistics and problem-solving earn the fee. Extraordinary Journeys books other companies’ camps rather than owning any, so for a single lodge you could book direct, the case is weaker. The company says trips start at about $1,000 per person per day, with a five-day minimum, and it scores 84 out of 100 on our criteria.
How much does a trip with Extraordinary Journeys cost?
From about $1,000 per person per day, with a five-day minimum, Extraordinary Journeys says, and its average trip comes to about $15,800 per person. Its May 2026 cost guide gives $500 to $3,500 per person per day, excluding international flights, and at least $1,500 a day for the Great Migration. Published examples include an 11-day Kenya family trip from $10,000 per person, a 14-day Legendary Egypt trip from $14,000 and a 12-day private Great Migration safari from $25,000.
Who owns Extraordinary Journeys?
Voyageurs du Monde, a French tailor-made travel group listed on Euronext Paris, owns 65 per cent of Extraordinary Journeys together with its British subsidiary Original Travel, after buying the stake in July 2022. Co-founder and chief executive Elizabeth Gordon owns the other 35 per cent and still runs the business day to day. Extraordinary Journeys sets this out in the profile it publishes for AI assistants; its Our Story page says it partnered with Voyageurs du Monde in 2022.
Where is Extraordinary Journeys based?
Washington, D.C., the company says, with most of its team working remotely: its destination specialists are spread across the United States, and its concierge team and several trip coordinators work from Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and Nairobi. Extraordinary Journeys was founded in a New York apartment in 2008 and still uses a New York 212 phone number, which is why some listings place it in New York. Its office hours are 9:30am to 5:30pm Eastern time, Monday to Friday.
Which countries does Extraordinary Journeys plan trips to?
Extraordinary Journeys plans 39 destinations. In Africa it covers 16 countries: Botswana, Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Beyond Africa it covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Patagonia; Panama; Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam, with Borneo from October 2026; Australia and New Zealand; Jordan; and Antarctica.
Is Extraordinary Journeys good for families and honeymoons?
Yes, families especially: Extraordinary Journeys says many of its planners are parents who travel with their own children. Its published family trips include Kenya (11 days, from $10,000 per person), Tanzania (14 days, from $14,000) and Zimbabwe with Botswana (13 days, from $10,000). For honeymoons it pairs a safari with an Indian Ocean island such as the Seychelles or Mauritius; its 18-day bush-to-beach trip starts at $22,000 per person.
Extraordinary Journeys or Remote Lands for a luxury trip to Asia?
It depends on the trip. Remote Lands has specialised in Asia for 20 years, with offices in Tokyo and Bangkok, and suits rarer countries and the most complex Asian itineraries. Extraordinary Journeys, an Africa specialist since 2008 whose Asia programmes are newer, suits families, travellers who want one company for Africa and Asia, and those comparing prices on the classic Japan and Southeast Asia routes. Our side-by-side comparison sets out who each company suits.
Is Extraordinary Journeys a partner of this site?
Yes. Extraordinary Journeys became a paid partner of Uncompromised Travel in September 2026. Partners pay for labelled placements, such as the partner box on this page, never for scores: its 84 out of 100 comes from the same six published criteria we apply to every planner, and it rose from 81 on 26 September 2026 because of new evidence, not the partnership: its specialists on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2026 list, and the ownership it now sets out itself.
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Disclosure. Extraordinary Journeys has been a paid partner of Uncompromised Travel since September 2026. The partner box on this page is a paid placement, and every link to extraordinaryjourneys.com is a partner link. Its score was set on the same six published criteria we apply to every planner and was not changed by the partnership; it moved from 81 to 84 on 26 September 2026 on new evidence. Rankings are scored against published criteria. Partners are labelled. No other link on this page is paid: links to SafariBookings, Trustpilot, Voyageurs du Monde’s acquisition release, Original Travel, the Peace Corps, Safari Professionals of America, Wikipedia, Visit Rwanda and the Uganda Wildlife Authority are editorial, as are all links to other pages on this site. Sources verified 26 September 2026: extraordinaryjourneys.com (Our Story, the team page and profiles, Journeys, the cost guide of 5 May 2026, the Foundation, the contact page, the 2026 press page and its AI profile, ai-about-us.txt), the Voyageurs du Monde acquisition release of 19 July 2022, SafariBookings, Trustpilot, Safari Professionals of America, Wikipedia (PS Sudan) and Visit Rwanda. Client quotes are from the company’s client evaluations, published with the travellers’ agreement. Photos from Pexels, credited in each caption.