It was what he’d hoped to find when he dreamt of an escape from a career in farming back in England. After serving in the Royal Navy in 1980, Mel Gormley, backpacked through Asia, and later was inspired to convert an old British Land Rover (yes, he’s the guru who modifies our impressive fleet in Entebbe now) for an overland adventure to Morocco and back. That sealed the deal, and Mel’s next expedition was driving a tour group of 16 across the Sahara. He’s not looked back, and has been firmly anchored in Uganda since the early 1990s.

Phil and Mel’s meeting was clearly serendipitous and led to the formation of Uganda and Rwanda’s premier ground handler, Classic Africa Safaris. With years of travel industry experience under their belts, they founded Classic with those safaris as a baseline. And, we suppose, it’s only natural that we all simply gravitated towards each other with that as our North...the pursuit of safari.

We’re all a bit unusual, the Classic team, it’s true...going against the grain for the best and always ready for the next adventure (while still basking in the glow of the last). But, it’s the knowledge that we hold something very special that makes us who we are as a team. The history, the inspiration we find in the wild and remote places that we call home and the deep expertise that we have, which enables us to explore and share those places carefully exposing their raw beauty.