LET'S TALK ABOUT TIPPING
“You can only afford the trip if you can afford the tip”
About 50% of riders on safari don’t come from tipping cultures and so tipping can be a little uncomfortable. When to tip? How much is polite? Do I tip the individuals or the main guide?
In the safari world it is very common to tip. Of course, it’s discretionary, and low service should be rewarded with little or no tip, but if you had an amazing time and were well looked after tipping is the right thing to do.
As Agents, when we are on exploratory rides, we also tip because the people on the ground have also tacked up our horses, gotten up early to make our coffee, served our drinks and schooled our horse for us. At the end of the day £100 for a week really isn’t noticeable to us in the overall cost of the holiday but it means so much to them.
Guides will never ask you directly for tips, it’s always discretionary.
So, here are our tips for tipping to make it as stress-free as possible.
1) How much? We will always give you guidance on what to tip in your ride info. Depending on the cost of the ride and the amount of staff required to support your holiday tips usually range from £10 to £25 per day per rider. We take a recommendation from the ride itself on what is appropriate in their culture, and we might adjust it slightly based on what we know about similar rides and their expectations. We don’t want our guests to tip too much or too little.
2) Who to? Almost always you can give your tips to the main guide who will distribute them amongst the team. Some rides, like Macatoo, will show you how to split tips between camp staff, your riding guide and the horse manager. If you ever get stuck you can always WhatsApp us as your Agent to decide what is fair.
On some rides in high tipping cultures you will give a set amount to your host at the start of your holiday. This is so every porter, driver, waiter etc that expects a tip can have one along the way. At the end if you feel the guiding was sub-par you can ask for cash back and that will come off of the bulk of the tip that usually goes to your main guide.
3) How? Tips are paid in cash. You will need to take some out before you arrive. Always try to pay in the local currency if you can. The guides can exchange new large notes of major foreign currencies (GBP, USD and EUR) but it’s harder for them and they will pay an exchange fee. It’s always nice to pool tips in an envelope from the entire group after the last meal. If you are staying in a hotel they are usually happy to give you an envelope at the front desk. If someone really looked after you can pass cash to them when you shake their hand or hug them goodbye too.
If you get caught short and used all of your cash while on holiday, or you just loved the ride so much and would like to pay more than you budgeted, you can transfer us the tip and we will transfer it directly to the ride to pass to the staff.
And don’t worry, we will remind you before your ride of the tipping culture and expectations in your particular destination.
It’s good to remember that on some rides, if you don’t tip the recommended amount you are sending a message that you weren’t happy with the service.
Generally, a rule is that you can only afford the trip if you can also afford the tip.