Marula Hill named best boutique safari travel agency 2025
LUXlife Magazine named Marula Hill Travel Best Boutique Safari Agency 2025 in South Africa, recognising the owner-run approach Vikki and Sian have built since the beginning.
There is a moment, early on a winter morning in the Sabi Sand, when the air is cold enough to see your breath and the light is just starting to find the tips of the acacia trees. The camp is quiet. Somewhere to the north, a hyena is finishing its night. You wrap both hands around a cup of hot coffee and think: yes, this is exactly right.
That feeling is what we have been working towards since we started Marula Hill.
In April 2025, LUXlife Magazine named us Best Boutique Safari Travel Agency 2025 in South Africa in their annual Travel and Tourism Awards. We are grateful for it. And we want to be honest about what it means, and what it does not mean.
How LUXlife selects its winners
LUXlife is a UK-based luxury lifestyle publication that has been running its Travel and Tourism Awards since 2015. They work with a research panel that collectively has more than 30 years of experience in hospitality and luxury travel. The process runs over several months: nominations come from clients and third parties, and the panel carries out up to eight weeks of independent research before any winner is confirmed.
There is no shortcut to a LUXlife award. Spending more money on a promotional package does not improve your chances of winning one. The panel decides first, and commercial conversations happen afterwards. That independence matters to us.
What the criteria actually looked at
The award recognised the quality of client experience and the consistency of our approach. LUXlife's research examined how we plan safaris and how we communicate with clients before and during travel. The lodge partnerships we hold across Southern and East Africa also formed part of the picture.
We are owner-run. Vikki and Sian handle every enquiry personally. There is no account manager sitting in the middle, no automated quoting system sending responses at midnight. When a client sends a WhatsApp from a Botswana airstrip, one of us picks it up.
That is not a selling point. It is just how we work. We think it showed.
Who we are
Vikki Jackson grew up in South Africa and has spent her career moving between the country's wild places. She knows the Sabi Sand in winter and high summer. She knows which camps are worth the road and which ones to skip.
Sian Loehrer brings the same hands-on knowledge and a particular skill for reading what a client actually needs. She listens past the brief. A family asking for a five-star property often ends up somewhere quieter and more memorable, because she asked the right questions first.
Together, we do not run a large operation. We deliberately plan a limited number of safaris each year because that is the only way to do this properly.
What it means for clients
If you are considering booking a safari with us, the award is a useful signal. It confirms that an independent organisation, with no financial stake in the outcome, looked at how we operate and rated it highly among boutique agencies in South Africa.
What it cannot confirm is whether we are the right fit for your trip. That depends on where you want to go, when, with whom, and what kind of experience you are after. The only way to find that out is to have a conversation.
We do not offer the lowest prices, and we do not try to be the biggest. What we offer is honest advice and proper planning. We take a real interest in what happens on the ground once you are there.
Thank you to the clients who have trusted us with their trips over the years. This one is for them.
If you would like to talk through a safari, we would love to hear from you.
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