About Kalahari

Kalahari is the result of the merging of culture and experience between Marco Ferrero and Susan Frittelli, their great love of Africa and revolutionary tourism ideas.

Marco first arrived in North Africa in 1975, seeking out new destinations for a well-known tour operator. It did not take long for this land and its people to change his life forever.
It is not what he found that surprised him, it was the mysterious way in which Africa welcomed him, making him feel he was part of its strange universe. An irrepressible desire to explore lands more and more spurred him on to repeated journeys: so years of exploration began through the Bidon Cinq track, the discovery of Mali and the mysterious countries of black Africa.

Susan moved to Nigeria in 1977 for work following a big contract the Company won. Once her contract ran out she was unable to leave. For the same reasons as Marco, she fell in love with this continent that embraced her with its disturbing intimacy, making her feel like one of its own. So wonderful years began in contact with local tribes, witchdoctors and the magic spirituality of the Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba people, and two long solo-crossings of the African continent.

In Italy, completely by chance, they met in a bar in Milan in the June of 1986.

United by their common passion, they decided to live their African life, taking with them clients, changing Marco’s first style of tourism into a more real experience: travellers would now be introduced to an authentic flavours of lands they so love.
They pledged to protect Africa… Africa would protect them.

Their profound knowledge of local populations, their customs and traditions, and the many years spent in close contact with tribes, fostered a relationship of ever-growing trust and respect. It was the village chiefs themselves and the local kings who suggested paths to new destinations and territories, drawing strange maps in the sand using their beautifully carved sticks. “Climb over the mountain, cross the river, heading towards where the sun sets…” is how a Sudanese king indicated to Marco the path that would lead them to Ethiopia and its incredible population.

For five years they lived on the banks of the Omo River, letting selected “tourists” hear about Marco and Susan trips and crossings becoming “fond clientele”. They are travellers, not tourists, with passion and desires: photographers, writers, intellectuals – people nurturing a genuine desire to truly get to know these legendary lands and their people. The alchemy between this still untouched Africa and its first Western visitors still shines in their memory today as a miracle that cannot be repeated.

As often happens, the fame of these places spread; tourism, that in those years was developing uncontrollably, reached even these distant lands, often incapable of understanding their true essence and soul.
The brutality of this impact was painful to watch, as the magic disappeared…

It was time to leave: further south there were wondrous lands and deserts still to be explored.
So Marco convinced Susan, in love with tribes, to move to Namibia (then still called South-West Africa), with a promise: they would develop a new form of tourism. No catalogues or package deals, everything would be centred on a single client and their personal “dream of Africa”, around this focal point they would build “his/her personal journey”.

Thus Kalahari was born.

Passing through Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rhodesia and South Africa, in 1989 Kalahari established itself in Windhoek, where its headquarters still are today.

Almost forty years have passed since the beginning of this African adventure. Every day, with the same dedication, Kalahari strives to create journeys that will be both unique and unrepeatable. The profound knowledge of the terrain and lengthy African experience, bound with strong European roots, are the fundamental premises for the rare but necessary equilibrium required to create “tailor made” adventures in still authentic places.