Safari: A Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer

by Geoffrey Kent

Overview

In this breathtaking travel memoir and adventure guide, the legendary founder of the world’s premier luxury travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, takes readers on a whirlwind tour around the globe, sharing his best-kept secrets and the story of his success and his life.

In 1962, Geoffrey Kent had nothing but a Kenya pound and an old Land Rover when he hosted his first safari in Nairobi, Kenya. Today, he is the co-owner of Abercrombie & Kent, a half-billion dollar international corporation that provides unique, stylish luxury travel to the planet’s wildest frontiers, for an exclusive clientele that includes Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

In his first book, this “Indiana Jones meets James Bond” entrepreneur who invented the cutting-edge travel industry tells his story—his life reads like a work of fiction, growing up barefoot in the African bush, riding his motorcycle across the continent, and ultimately becoming the most sought-after travel professional in the world. Safari: Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer is a breathtaking and exhilarating trip to some of the most exotic and stunning locations on earth. Beginning in Africa and ultimately spanning the globe, it is packed with sometimes harrowing and always entertaining memories from Kent’s life and career, revealing fascinating tales from his personal and ultra-exclusive celebrity clients. The book is also filled with insider travel tips and award-winning photography. In addition, Kent provides an inspiring bucket list of must-see sites, so that every class of voyager and even armchair travelers can experience the wonders of the world.

From sophisticated cities to far-flung locales, Safari lets readers indulge their spirit of adventure, whisking them to the places of their dreams—and beyond through the lens of this larger-than-life action adventurer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062299208
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/11/2015
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Kent has been inspiring travellers to discover the world in a uniquely stylish manner since founding Abercrombie & Kent in 1962 with his parents. Kent has served as president of the Prince of Wales Foundation in the United States and as chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council. In April 2012, he was named to the British Travel and Hospitality Industry Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions to the travel industry, and in December 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Travel Weekly.

Editorial Reviews

[Mr. Kent] tells a good story, and this book is all about stories.” — Wall Street Journal

“This is a must-read for anyone who is captivated by the magic, mystery, and majesty of travel.” — Jeffrey Katzenberg

“As this book explains, there is a world of difference between the superficial experience of tourism and that of the traveller. Immersing oneself deeply in a culture different to one’s own is closer to the ancient practice of pilgrimage—respectful, spiritually nourishing and life-changing.” — Sting & Trudie Styler

“Geoffrey Kent understands my passion for travel because he has it too, as this book reveals. I admire his motivation to enable more people to see the world, because he sees how travel can inspire change in people and their communities.” — Bill Marriott

“There are grand adventures reflected in these stories.” — Roma Downey & Mark Burnett

“Kent’s memoir transports you to another landscape as successfully as an Abercrombie & Kent expedition.” — Wilbur Smith

“Travel, no matter the destination, really changes your perspective; it clears your head, opens your eyes and helps cultivate new ways of thinking and sometimes even the brightest ideas you’ve ever had.” — Ted Turner

“From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.” — Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network 

“Traveling is the most powerful self-development tool available to humanity. The more you travel the more you learn through the diversity of other places and people, the more you understand how the world and mankind are the most beautiful treasures available to all of us.” — Manfredi de Clunières di Balsorano, Chairman of Silversea Cruises

“Kent’s eye-opening...adventures are...an edge-of-your-seat reading experience, kept especially engaging by his warm personality, sense of humor, and keen behind-the-scenes-of-building-a-business stories.” — Parade

“Geoffrey Kent...recounts his riveting and far-flung adventures in his new memoir Safari: A Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer. . . . The book is also a poignant love letter to Africa, where he was raised and led his inaugural safari (both in Kenya) in 1962.” — Forbes.com

“This is a memoir for armchair travelers and thrill-seekers, one man’s journey of wanderlust, challenges, exploration, trials and tribulations...’Safari’ is a book that shares all with us so we can vicariously get some of the thrills Geoffrey Kent has so much enjoyed.” — El Paso Inc.

From the Publisher

Kent’s memoir transports you to another landscape as successfully as an Abercrombie & Kent expedition.

Wilbur Smith

This is a must-read for anyone who is captivated by the magic, mystery, and majesty of travel.

Jeffrey Katzenberg

As this book explains, there is a world of difference between the superficial experience of tourism and that of the traveller. Immersing oneself deeply in a culture different to one’s own is closer to the ancient practice of pilgrimage—respectful, spiritually nourishing and life-changing.

Sting & Trudie Styler

There are grand adventures reflected in these stories.

Roma Downey & Mark Burnett

[Mr. Kent] tells a good story, and this book is all about stories.

Wall Street Journal

Kent’s eye-opening...adventures are...an edge-of-your-seat reading experience, kept especially engaging by his warm personality, sense of humor, and keen behind-the-scenes-of-building-a-business stories.

Parade

2015-07-01
An account of luxury-travel adventures for the well-to-do. Serial entrepreneur Kent, who made his first score crafting bracelets from elephants' tails, began life in colonial circumstances: his father was "a soldier of the King's African Rifles who spoke fluent Swahili and had been trained as an administrator for the British Empire," and his mother was a nurse and all-around I-can-manage person. Snakes, leopards, lions, rhinos, mosquito netting, polo ponies, curry luncheons—all were in a day's work for the Kents. After the family manor was expropriated following Kenyan independence, they organized a bush tour and safari business. Abercrombie & Kent is now among the highest of the high-end outdoor luxury-tour packagers. The author writes affectingly of being an outsider in closed-off, class-ridden Britain (notably at Sandhurst, where, he writes, "my rather untamed upbringing in Africa clearly has been quite apart from the much more aristocratically polished backgrounds from whence my classmates come"). The experience, it seems, engendered in him a desire to prove his supposed betters wrong by becoming rich ("in my early thirties, I make my first million dollars"). With wealth and a growing business catering to the even wealthier, Kent becomes inclined to hobnob and name-drop; the latter part of his book is sprinkled with Burtons and Huttons and Radziwills and anonymes such as one "Big Apple Billionaire." The best parts of the book will engage students of entrepreneurship, as Kent fearlessly leaps into action to take advantage of world events—calling on the Egyptian government after Sadat's assassination, for instance, to ink an exclusive tourism deal. The photographs, many mere snapshots, reinforce suspicion that this is a private memoir for distribution to family and clients that somehow escaped into the world. Of some interest to outsiders, though, for revealing that "Shanghai Peking duck is much better than Peking Peking duck" and similar arcana.

Kirkus Reviews

[Mr. Kent] tells a good story, and this book is all about stories.

Wall Street Journal

Geoffrey Kent understands my passion for travel because he has it too, as this book reveals. I admire his motivation to enable more people to see the world, because he sees how travel can inspire change in people and their communities.

Bill Marriott

Traveling is the most powerful self-development tool available to humanity. The more you travel the more you learn through the diversity of other places and people, the more you understand how the world and mankind are the most beautiful treasures available to all of us.

Manfredi de Clunières di Balsorano

From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network 

Travel, no matter the destination, really changes your perspective; it clears your head, opens your eyes and helps cultivate new ways of thinking and sometimes even the brightest ideas you’ve ever had.

Ted Turner

This is a memoir for armchair travelers and thrill-seekers, one man’s journey of wanderlust, challenges, exploration, trials and tribulations...’Safari’ is a book that shares all with us so we can vicariously get some of the thrills Geoffrey Kent has so much enjoyed.

El Paso Inc.

Geoffrey Kent...recounts his riveting and far-flung adventures in his new memoir Safari: A Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer. . . . The book is also a poignant love letter to Africa, where he was raised and led his inaugural safari (both in Kenya) in 1962.

Forbes.com

A fantastic read and a tale worth telling.

Tom Chamberlin

From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network —Je

There are grand adventures reflected in these stories.

Roma Downey & Mark Burnett

As this book explains, there is a world of difference between the superficial experience of tourism and that of the traveller. Immersing oneself deeply in a culture different to one’s own is closer to the ancient practice of pilgrimage—respectful, spiritually nourishing and life-changing.

Sting & Trudie Styler

“From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

Jeffrey D. SachsEconomist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network --Jeff

“From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network --Jef

“From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network &

From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

-- Jeffrey D. Sachs Economist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network --Jef

From the opening safari with actor Richard Burton, to his travels with Prince Charles and Bill Gates, to his icy dip in the waters of the North Pole, Geoffrey shows how travel is the great adventure that will change your life and better the world.

-- Jeffrey D. SachsEconomist and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network --Jeff