ROAR AFRICA vs andBeyond 2026: Two Ultra-Luxury Safari Companies Scored, Priced and Compared

andBeyond scores 78 out of 100 and ROAR AFRICA 75: andBeyond owns 29 lodges with published nightly rates from about USD 880 a person, sells around a dozen African countries and takes a 25% deposit, while ROAR AFRICA owns no lodges, hosts private trips from USD 23,850 a person and publishes no booking terms. ROAR wins on ownership clarity and on the one thing andBeyond cannot sell, a private-jet safari across four countries in one booking. This page scores both on the same six criteria used for every operator review on this site, puts their published prices side by side, and says which suits which trip.

Verified 23 September 2026 · roarafrica.com and andbeyond.com · Google, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor · this site's ROAR AFRICA and andBeyond reviews

ROAR AFRICA vs andBeyond at a glance

andBeyond scores 78 and ROAR AFRICA 75 on the same six criteria, and the three-point gap comes from andBeyond owning its lodges and selling more countries, while ROAR is clearer about who runs it. The two are different kinds of company. andBeyond is a lodge owner that also sells journeys between its own properties. ROAR AFRICA owns nothing on the ground and sells private, hosted trips built from other companies' lodges, with its own guides travelling alongside the guests. Full facts and sources are in the ROAR AFRICA review and the andBeyond review.

ROAR AFRICA: the private, hosted trip

ROAR AFRICA sells five fixed-date journeys with published prices from USD 23,850 a person, and one of them, The Greatest Safari on Earth, is the most expensive scheduled safari on this site at USD 187,500 a person for 12 days. That trip runs twice in August 2027 for ten guests on an Emirates A319 executive jet through Zimbabwe, Botswana's Okavango, Kenya's Maasai Mara and Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. The company was founded in 2005 by Deborah Calmeyer, who was born in Zimbabwe, and is run from Miami Beach. Its model is hosting: private guides and vehicles travel with the group, and the lodges are booked from other owners. Google carries 269 reviews at 5.0, the strongest single review record of the two, but there is no Trustpilot profile and no published deposit or cancellation terms, which is where it loses points. Awards on its site include Travel + Leisure World's Best 2018, Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialists 2018 and Robb Report's Travel Masters 2023.

andBeyond: the lodges, and the missing shareholders

andBeyond owns 29 lodges and camps, publishes a nightly rate for each, from ZAR 16,250 (about USD 880) a person to USD 3,280, and sells multi-lodge journeys from USD 8,676 a person for six nights. Founded in 1991 as Conservation Corporation Africa with Phinda in South Africa, it now runs properties in around a dozen African countries, though its Africa page names nine, plus Chile and Asia. Rates include accommodation, meals, drinks, activities, laundry, transfers and VAT; the deposit is 25% with the balance due 60 days before arrival. Its weak points are review evidence and ownership. Trustpilot shows 3.0 from 21 reviews, with more than half five-star and more than a third one-star, so lodge-level Tripadvisor pages such as Sandibe's 4.8 from 329 tell more. The site names its executive chairman and CEO, Joss Kent, and president, Mark Wheeler, but not who owns the company, which is why it scores 5 of 10 for ownership.

Published prices, side by side

The cheapest way into either company is an andBeyond lodge at about USD 880 a night; the cheapest ROAR AFRICA journey costs USD 23,850 a person before flights. The two are not priced on the same basis, so the table shows what each actually publishes.

Booking terms and protection

andBeyond publishes its terms and ROAR AFRICA does not. andBeyond takes a 25% deposit with the balance 60 days before arrival and requires travel insurance; it is a member of the African Travel and Tourism Association but holds no ATOL or ABTOT bond, which only UK sellers carry. ROAR AFRICA's terms page carried no deposit, balance or cancellation wording when read for this comparison, so ask for the contract before paying anything. Neither company names a client fund protection scheme.

What guests say

ROAR AFRICA's 269 Google reviews average 5.0; andBeyond's 21 Trustpilot reviews average 3.0, and its lodges score far higher on Tripadvisor than the company does as a whole. The difference is partly structure. A ROAR guest reviews one hosted trip; an andBeyond guest usually reviews the lodge, which is why Sandibe carries 329 reviews at 4.8 while the company profile carries 21. Read lodge pages for andBeyond and the Google profile for ROAR, and treat both as one input alongside the verification checks.

The verdict, criterion by criterion

andBeyond wins three criteria, ROAR AFRICA one, and two are tied; the choice comes down to being hosted across other people's lodges or staying in one company's own.

Which to choose

Choose ROAR AFRICA for a private, hosted trip across several countries with a guide who travels with you, and andBeyond for a lodge-based safari at a published nightly rate with the option of a multi-lodge journey. A ROAR itinerary can include an andBeyond lodge, because ROAR books other owners' properties; the reverse is not true. If price decides, andBeyond's entry point is roughly a twentieth of ROAR's cheapest journey. If a single booking for a four-country private-jet safari is the point, only ROAR sells one.

Three planning rules

1 · Get ROAR AFRICA's terms in writing before the deposit. Nothing is published, so the contract is the only record of what a cancellation costs.

2 · Read andBeyond by lodge, not by brand. Rates, reviews and offers all sit at lodge level; the Singita vs andBeyond vs Wilderness comparison sets out which offers stack.

3 · Compare a second quote for the same camps. Any specialist can price the same andBeyond lodges; the price comparison shows who publishes what.

What changed in 2026

andBeyond appointed a president, ROAR AFRICA published its 2027 jet safari dates, and both were re-scored on this site in September.

Early 2026. Mark Wheeler became president of andBeyond, alongside Joss Kent as executive chairman and CEO.

2026. ROAR AFRICA published two August 2027 departures of The Greatest Safari on Earth at USD 187,500 a person.

21 and 22 September 2026. ROAR AFRICA's review score moved from 68 to 75 after its Google record and published address were counted; andBeyond was scored 78 on the same rubric.

January 2027, due. andBeyond's Ngorongoro Crater Lodge reopens after a full rebuild.

How to price a comparable trip

Neither company is bookable through this site; the links below price the same camps through other routes. The Go2Africa, Safari.com and BookAllSafaris links are affiliate links.