A whole world, in one country

Passion is the selling point

South Africa, gilt-edged

We share the same quality of light, we of the southern sun. But when travelling a country at once as beautiful and mysterious as South Africa, Giltedge makes an already colourful experience, golden.

I look at Giltedge as my matchmaker: ‘I want this without the trouble of that’, I say. And suddenly, thanks to Giltedge’s expertise (or perhaps intuition), I fall in love with a South Africa created just for me.

Awarded the title of South Africa’s leading luxury tour operator, Giltedge offers a fully integrated travel solution that is not only flexible and creative, but thorough.

I am travelling with nine others from the US, Australia and New Zealand. We are a mixed bag with mixed motives and (sometimes very) different interests. A little jetlagged, we meet Giltedge conferences, incentives and events manager Charlotte Smith in Johannesburg before a seamless transfer to Cape Town.

Suddenly, it’s all done for us. People more used to organising, can suddenly relax and experience the wonders of South Africa (as recommended by a passionate, well-informed local).

“High end travellers often can’t be bothered with the details but still want the experience,” Giltedge international marketing manager Jenny Diamond tells e-Travel Blackboard.

“9/11 was a wake-up call. People know that travel agents and on the ground operators are key to a memorable holiday.

“If something goes wrong and you’ve booked on the internet who are you going to call?”

With on-site representatives in the US, UK and Nordic countries and a dedicated Ms Diamond, Giltedge are committed to building long-term relationships with both their overseas clients and their on-the-ground suppliers, which results in an end product endorsed by many happy customers.

On her return from a recent sales trip to Australia, Ms Diamond says that South Africa is an easy sell for those (Europeans and Americans) hoping to replace winter with sunshine.

“But you can’t sell sunshine to Australians,” she said.

“What we can offer is something else. More than the Big Five and the landscape, there is an energy in South Africa that nowhere else in the world has.

“There is passion here.”

Beyond the expertise and intuition, beyond the professionalism and personal commitment, there is passion in Giltedge. Each member of the Giltedge team brings with them the passion for their product and the desire to make each person’s experience of South Africa truly memorable.

In an admittedly drab Sydney office on a gloomy day, I remember not the flights or the transfers or the how-tos and wherefores. I see the sun set on the back of a retreating line of elephants or watch it go down on a Johannesburg suddenly made silent by the first hint of dark, and I remember South Africa, gilt-edged.

To find out more about Giltedge, visit: www.gilt-edge.com.