'The Lipi Adventure Company Interview'

The Lipi Adventure Company Interview

Name of your website?

The Lipi Adventure Company

Your name?

Lenny

Your Location (city, etc)

Berkeley

When did you start your website and why?

Created the web site in the winter of 2007 as a "thank you" for a trip of a lifetime. I am a student who organized a 7-person family&friends trip to Western Tanzania last October. Hoping to avoid mobs of tourists in Serengeti and Ngorongoro, we chose seldom-visited parks on the very western edge of the country - Katavi and Mahale. Unlike Serengeti with 300,000 annual visitors, Katavi receives about 1,000 visitors per year. This means that isntead of dozens of vehicles, we were alone in the park, camping next to the hippos. We were also alone in Mahale, trekking chimps and observing our closest cousins at just a distance of meters. As great as these two parks were, organizing this trip was pure agony.

Because we were going to bring our own tents, sleeping bags, etc. and would cook our own food, there was no money to be made on us. But, we still needed help with securing cars, boat transfers, and so on. For several months, I could find no one to help us. No tour operators would even bother replying to my messages. I almost gave up on the idea of visiting these parks, when Hussein Mgungah, owner of Lipi Adventure wrote to me. He didn't really make any money on our group, but helped us nevertheless. "Help" is not the right word. He went above and beyond what would be expected of anyone in ensuring that this would be a trip of a lifetime. He joined us on the expedition at his own expense. In the end, we came back after a month with loads of emotions and memories, but most importantly, with a great friend - Hussein. This web site is a small way in which I am trying to thank Hussein for everything that he did for us. He is a one of a kind travel agent, a gem. I can never thank him enough.

Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc

There are hundreds of safari web sites. The hope with this site is to give a very straightforward sense of the company and their approach to adventure travel. Hussein doesn't try to just sell a packaged formulaic trip. He communicates with each client, chatting for hours online, sending literally hundreds of e-mails, in order to understand what the person really wants. He get's to know the tourist, and can then advise and plan to make sure that the safari suits the person, not the tour operator.

What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?

Doing this on the side, at nights, in addition to my full-time genetics research.

Who maintains your website and why?

Me,me,me. Again, this is an attempt to thank Hussein.

What is your website address?

The Lipi Adventure Company

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