Experience that shapes better investment decisions
Experience. Insight. Independence.
Safari Investment Advisory is a boutique advisory firm specialising in safari-linked investments, conservation-based businesses and complex safari assets across Africa.
We support investors, owners and stakeholders navigating a sector where wildlife, hospitality, conservation, finance, governance and operational realities are deeply interconnected.
When these relationships are overlooked or misunderstood, risk increases, decisions become more difficult and long-term value can begin to erode long before it becomes visible in financial performance.
Our advice is grounded in practical experience, independent judgement and a long-term perspective, rather than operational, promotional or transactional incentives.
Expertise across the safari investment lifecycle
Safari Investment Advisory brings together senior professionals with expertise spanning safari development, business operations, corporate finance, investment structuring, conservation and related legal frameworks.
Our perspective has been shaped through decades of involvement in acquiring, developing, managing, restructuring and exiting safari assets across Africa.
This breadth of expertise enables us to understand safari investments as interconnected businesses, where operational, financial, environmental and strategic decisions continuously influence one another.
Beyond the
balance sheet
Safari businesses are more than hospitality businesses and more than financial assets. Their long-term success cannot be understood through conventional investment lenses alone.
Successful safari investments depend on balance.
– Between scale and intimacy
– Between hospitality and wildlife experience
– Between capital investment and operational reality
– Between conservation responsibility and commercial sustainability
Our philosophy is grounded in the understanding that long-term value is created through the alignment of these elements over time.
This perspective informs every mandate we accept.
Collaborative. Discreet. Independent.
Safari Investment Advisory works alongside investors, owners and their professional advisors during the moments when independent judgement can have the greatest influence on long-term outcomes.
Every engagement is shaped around the asset, the people involved and the decisions being made. Some clients require strategic advice before an acquisition. Others seek support through restructuring, refinancing or preparing an asset for exit.
Our role is not to replace existing advisors, but to bring specialist safari expertise that complements legal, financial and technical disciplines.
We work confidentially, objectively and without operational, promotional or transactional incentives, ensuring that every recommendation is grounded in long-term value rather than short-term outcomes.
Thought leadership
The African Safari Business
An interview with Kevin Leo-Smith explores the commercial realities of safari businesses, the evolution of luxury safaris and the factors that influence long-term investment success.
Afri Tourism’s
Safari rules
A collection of practical observations and guiding principles developed by Kevin Leo-Smith from decades in the African safari industry, exploring the interconnected factors that shape businesses.
Boutique Advisory for the Safari Industry
An overview of Safari Investment Advisory’s formation and the specialist advisory approach developed by Kevin Leo-Smith, Don Millar and Steve Raney.
Before commitments are made
Whether you are acquiring, developing, restructuring, refinancing or exiting a safari asset, independent advice introduced early can materially influence long-term outcomes.