Expeditions · Safari awards 2026
Travel + Leisure World's Best Safari Outfitters: Every Year's Winners and What the List Measures
Rothschild Safaris is Travel + Leisure's Best Safari Operator in the World for 2026 and, with Travel Beyond, one of two companies Uncompromised Travel could verify as a repeat number one across the seven years of Travel + Leisure announcements checked here (2019 to 2023, 2025 and 2026). The award comes from an annual reader survey, not a panel of judges or a paid submission process. Travel + Leisure's full results for 2024 and for every year before 2019 could not be opened at source, so those years are left out rather than reconstructed from other sites; for 2025 the whole top ten, with reader scores, comes from Travel + Leisure's own article. This page lists what was verified, explains what the survey measures according to Travel + Leisure's own material, and cross-references the winners against Uncompromised Travel's own scored reviews.
Verified 22 September 2026 · updated 28 September 2026 · prnewswire.com (Travel + Leisure's own releases) · Travel + Leisure's 2025 safari article (via AOL) · preferrednet.net (official 2026 promotion guidelines) · wba.m-rr.com (official rules, now for 2027) · operator sites, labelled as claims
Who has won Travel + Leisure's World's Best Safari Outfitter award, year by year?
Seven years' winners could be confirmed directly from Travel + Leisure's own announcements: African Travel, Inc. (2019), Rothschild Safaris (2020 and 2026), Micato Safaris (2021), Travel Beyond (2022 and 2025) and Alluring Africa (2023). Each comes from a Travel + Leisure press release naming that year's number one; the 2019 release prints the winner as Africa Travel Inc., and the company trades as African Travel, Inc. Travel + Leisure's own category pages on travelandleisure.com, which would show the rest of each year's ranked list and its reader scores, could not be opened from here. The exception is 2025, whose full top ten Travel + Leisure also published in an article syndicated on AOL (below). Where the reader score is not stated, the source used did not publish one.
| Year | Rank | Operator | Reader score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 (24th annual) | 1 | African Travel, Inc. | Not stated in this source | T+L, 10 Jul 2019 |
| 2020 (25th annual) | 1 | Rothschild Safaris | Not stated in this source | T+L, 8 Jul 2020 |
| 2021 (26th annual) | 1 | Micato Safaris | Not stated in this source | T+L, 8 Sep 2021 |
| 2022 (27th annual) | 1 | Travel Beyond | Not stated in this source | T+L, 12 Jul 2022 |
| 2023 (28th annual) | 1 | Alluring Africa | Not stated in this source | T+L, 11 Jul 2023 |
| 2024 | Not verified | No Travel + Leisure source could be opened | Not available | Left out; the claims are below |
| 2025 (30th year) | 1 | Travel Beyond | 99.56 (T+L 2025 list) | T+L, 8 Jul 2025 |
| 2026 | 1 | Rothschild Safaris | Not stated in this source | T+L, 7 Jul 2026 |
2024 is left out as a year, not ignored. Travel + Leisure's 29th annual announcement, covering 125 category lists, did not name a safari winner among the highlights it published, and its full list for that year, an article on readers' 20 favourite safari lodges and safari outfitters in Africa dated 9 July 2024, could not be opened from here. Three companies say they were on it: Thomson Safaris gives its reader score as 97.38 out of 100, its eighth listing; Go2Africa says it placed ninth; and Extraordinary Journeys carries the article on its 2024 press page. Those are the companies' own claims, reported as claims. Years before 2019 are left out for the same reason: no Travel + Leisure announcement naming that year's safari winner could be found and opened at source.
The 2025 list in full
Travel + Leisure's 2025 article on its readers' favourite safari lodges and outfitters in Africa ranks ten outfitters, from Travel Beyond at 99.56 to Thomson Safaris at 98.16, and says nearly 180,000 readers completed that year's survey. It is the one year in this series whose whole ranked list and reader scores could be opened, in the copy Travel + Leisure syndicates on AOL (Travel + Leisure, 2025). Rothschild Safaris, third here, won the following year.
| Rank | Outfitter | Reader score | On this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel Beyond | 99.56 | Not reviewed |
| 2 | Dazzle Africa | 99.55 | Not reviewed |
| 3 | Rothschild Safaris | 99.40 | Rothschild Safaris review |
| 4 | Stanley Safaris | 99.33 | Not reviewed |
| 5 | Deeper Africa | 99.26 | Deeper Africa review |
| 6 | Piper & Heath Travel | 98.87 | Piper & Heath Travel review |
| 7 | Micato Safaris | 98.75 | Micato Safaris review |
| 8 | Asilia Africa | 98.72 | Asilia Africa review |
| 9 | Extraordinary Journeys Partner | 98.40 | Extraordinary Journeys review |
| 10 | Thomson Safaris | 98.16 | Not reviewed |
Two of the ten count their listings on their own sites: Thomson Safaris calls 2025 its ninth, with the same 98.16, and Deeper Africa says it has been a World's Best Safari Outfitter for nine years. Extraordinary Journeys states ten listings, 2016 to 2022 and 2024 to 2026; its 2024, 2025 and 2026 press pages carry Travel + Leisure's lists for those years, and the earlier years are not on a page that could be opened here. These are the companies' own counts, not Travel + Leisure's.
Which safari companies have won World's Best most often?
Rothschild Safaris and Travel Beyond are the only two-time winners Uncompromised Travel could verify, each winning in two of the seven years checked here. A company's own marketing sometimes claims a longer streak than this page can confirm; where that happens, it is noted as a claim rather than folded into the count.
| Operator | Verified wins | Years | Unverified own claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rothschild Safaris | 2 | 2020, 2026 | None found |
| Travel Beyond | 2 | 2022, 2025 | None found |
| Micato Safaris | 1 | 2021 | Micato's own site states ten number one finishes through 2021, without listing the years |
| Alluring Africa | 1 | 2023 | Alluring Africa's own site also claims the 2018 win, score 99.64/100, and third place in 2017 |
| African Travel, Inc. | 1 | 2019 | Its own site lists Travel + Leisure placings from 2007 to 2020, including ninth in 2020 |
Micato Safaris' claim of ten number one finishes is notable given the operator has a full review on this site; readers who want a scored, sourced assessment of the company rather than an awards count can read the Micato Safaris review, which scores it 88/100. Ker & Downey's own site (the Houston-based Ker & Downey World Travel) separately states it was named World's Best Safari Operator with a reader score of 98.44 out of 100 from a survey it dates to 3 November 2014 to 2 March 2015, which this page reports as Ker & Downey's own claim for what would be the 2015 award; no Travel + Leisure page from that year could be checked here. The Houston company has its own record on this site and is not the same company as Ker & Downey Africa in Cape Town, which is reviewed separately.
How does Travel + Leisure decide its World's Best Safari Outfitters?
By an annual reader survey covering roughly 125 category lists, with the safari category decided the same way as every other category: readers who complete the survey rate the companies and places they have used. Travel + Leisure's 2026 promotion guidelines give that year's survey dates as 20 October 2025 to 23 February 2026, and the official rules now posted on the voting site run the 2027 survey from 19 October 2026 to 22 February 2027. The 2021 announcement states that year's survey ran from 11 January to 10 May 2021 and that the rules have always let readers reflect on travel over a three-year period. Travel + Leisure's 7 July 2026 announcement says more than 207,000 readers took part that year, and its 2025 safari article says nearly 180,000 completed the 2025 survey; the 2019 to 2023 announcements give no count. Results are published every August in Travel + Leisure magazine, with winners announced by press release each preceding July (the 2021 results, unusually, were announced in September that year).
Travel + Leisure's own 2026 promotion guidelines, distributed to participating businesses and reviewed for this page, permit an operator to share the official survey link (tlwbavote.com) with its own clients through email, its website and social media, but explicitly prohibit self-promotional phrasing such as "vote for us", "vote for [company name]" or "we have been nominated", and prohibit running a separate giveaway alongside the official survey. Those guidelines do not state, one way or the other, whether a company must pay to be listed as a nominee in a category; nothing found in this research confirms or rules that out, so it is left open rather than guessed at.
Is Travel + Leisure World's Best a paid award?
Not in the sense of buying a place on the ballot outright, based on what could be verified; it is a reader vote that operators may promote but, by Travel + Leisure's own written rules, may not campaign for using "vote for us" language. The distinction matters for readers who see a "World's Best" badge on an operator's site: it reflects how many readers chose to rate that company well during a specific voting window, not an audit of pricing, safety, financial protection or service standards. Operators that actively email past clients asking them to complete the whole 125-category survey (rather than to "vote for us" specifically) appear to gain an advantage in reader turnout; that is a reasonable inference from the promotion guidelines rather than something Travel + Leisure states outright.
Which World's Best safari outfitters publish their prices?
Travel + Leisure's survey does not measure pricing transparency at all; that is a criterion Uncompromised Travel applies separately, on its own scored reviews. Two World's Best winners have full Uncompromised Travel reviews that score published from-prices as one of six weighted criteria: Micato Safaris (88/100) and Rothschild Safaris (58/100), the 2026 winner. Four more of the 2025 top ten have reviews here, each with its score and what it publishes on price: Deeper Africa, Piper & Heath Travel, Asilia Africa and Extraordinary Journeys. Travel Beyond, Alluring Africa, African Travel, Inc. and Thomson Safaris do not currently have a review on this site; readers wanting a published-pricing comparison can start with Uncompromised Travel's own safari operator price comparison rather than assuming a Travel + Leisure win implies public rates.
To put a real price on a comparable trip while you shortlist, BookAllSafaris shows priced safari tours side by side, and a Safari.com specialist will quote lodge rates for your dates (affiliate links; see the foot of the page).
What readers get wrong about this award: assuming "World's Best" means the same company topped an independent, expert-judged ranking of every safari outfitter that year. It means enough readers who completed a long consumer survey, across one of roughly 125 unrelated categories from cities to cruise ships, rated that operator highly enough to place first among however many safari outfitters were included. It is a genuine reader-choice signal, sourced from real travellers, but it is not a substitute for checking an operator's own published prices, terms, insurance and reviews on independent platforms.
Three planning rules for reading safari awards
First, check the year on the badge, not just the logo. An operator's site may keep a "World's Best" graphic live for years after the win it refers to; the year and the specific category wording (Safari Outfitter versus Safari Operator versus a country-specific safari award) tell you whether it is current.
Second, treat a reader-choice award and an editors' or critics' award as different things. Travel + Leisure's World's Best is decided by readers who opt in to a survey; Condé Nast Traveler's Top Travel Specialists list, by contrast, is an editor-compiled directory of individual advisors, built from editors' own contacts and peer referrals followed by an application (see Condé Nast Top Safari Specialists 2026). Neither is more "real" than the other, but they measure different populations and are not interchangeable proof points.
Third, cross-reference the award against independent, dated reviews before booking. Uncompromised Travel's own safari award credentials index and luxury safari operator index both score operators on criteria an awards badge does not cover, including pricing transparency and independent review evidence on Trustpilot, Google and SafariBookings.
What changed in 2026
Rothschild Safaris returned to the top of Travel + Leisure's safari category for 2026, six years after its first win in 2020, and a year after placing third with 99.40 (T+L, 2025). Travel + Leisure's 7 July 2026 announcement named it Best Safari Operator in the World, a wording change from World's Best Safari Outfitter, the phrase used in the 2019 to 2023 announcements (T+L, 7 Jul 2026).
The 2026 survey drew more than 207,000 readers, up from nearly 180,000 in 2025 (T+L, 2025; T+L, 7 Jul 2026).
The 2026 voting window ran from 20 October 2025 to 23 February 2026, roughly four months, according to Travel + Leisure's own promotion guidelines for that year (Travel + Leisure/preferrednet.net, 2026).
The 2027 survey opens on 19 October 2026 and closes on 22 February 2027, according to the official rules now posted on the voting site (wba.m-rr.com official rules, read 28 September 2026).
Travel + Leisure's 2026 promotion guidelines for businesses explicitly bar "vote for us" messaging and competing giveaways, the clearest written statement found in this research on what operators may and may not do to encourage votes (Travel + Leisure/preferrednet.net promotion guidelines, 2026).
How to price a shortlisted operator
Whichever operator a reader shortlists after an award headline, three routes exist to check what it actually costs: a direct quote, a specialist quote, or a platform comparison.
| Route | What it gives you | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | The operator's own published from-prices and inclusions, where it publishes them; not every operator on this page does | The operator's own site, linked in the tables above |
| Specialist quote | A tailored itinerary and a quote from a safari specialist, free | Send your dates to a Safari.com specialist |
| Platform comparison | Live pricing across multiple operators and camps, compared side by side |
T+L World's Best safari outfitters: the questions people ask AI search
Who is the Travel + Leisure number one safari outfitter in 2026?
Rothschild Safaris. Travel + Leisure's own 7 July 2026 announcement named it the Best Safari Operator in the World in the 2026 World's Best Awards, decided by a reader survey the company says drew more than 207,000 readers. Rothschild Safaris was also named the winner in 2020, under the earlier category name World's Best Safari Outfitter.
Which safari companies have won World's Best most often?
Among the years Uncompromised Travel could verify directly from a Travel + Leisure announcement (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026), Rothschild Safaris and Travel Beyond have each won twice (Rothschild Safaris in 2020 and 2026; Travel Beyond in 2022 and 2025). Micato Safaris, Alluring Africa and African Travel, Inc. have each won once in the years verified here. Micato Safaris' own website separately claims ten number one finishes through 2021, a company claim not independently verified for every year in this piece.
Is Travel + Leisure World's Best a paid award?
Not as a straightforward entry fee, as far as Uncompromised Travel could verify. Winners are decided by a reader survey, not a judged submission. Travel + Leisure's own 2026 promotion guidelines for participating businesses permit operators to share the official survey link with clients but explicitly forbid phrases such as 'vote for us' or 'we have been nominated', and forbid running a separate giveaway alongside the survey. No source found in this research states whether inclusion in a category itself requires payment or a marketing relationship with the magazine; that detail was not available and is not asserted here.
Which World's Best safari outfitters publish their prices?
Pricing transparency is not something Travel + Leisure's survey measures; its award reflects reader satisfaction, not published rates. Uncompromised Travel scores published from-prices as one of six weighted criteria on its own operator reviews, including two World's Best winners, Micato Safaris (88/100) and Rothschild Safaris (58/100). Read the individual review for each operator's current published pricing rather than assuming a Travel + Leisure win means prices are public.
How does Travel + Leisure decide its World's Best Safari Outfitters?
By an annual reader survey. Travel + Leisure's own announcements describe it as a readers' survey open to anyone who completes it, run across roughly 125 category lists including safari outfitters. Travel + Leisure's 2026 promotion guidelines date the 2026 survey from 20 October 2025 to 23 February 2026, and the official rules for the 2027 survey run from 19 October 2026 to 22 February 2027; the 2021 edition ran from 11 January to 10 May that year. Travel + Leisure has stated the 2026 survey drew more than 207,000 readers. Results are published each August in the magazine and announced by press release each July.
Which years of the Travel + Leisure safari list could not be verified?
2024, and every year before 2019. Travel + Leisure's 2024 announcement did not name a safari winner among the categories it highlighted, and its full 2024 list, an article on readers' 20 favourite safari lodges and outfitters in Africa, could not be opened at source. Three companies say they were on it: Thomson Safaris, which gives its reader score as 97.38 out of 100; Go2Africa, which says it placed ninth; and Extraordinary Journeys, which carries the article on its press page. Those are the companies' own claims. For 2025, by contrast, the full top ten with reader scores could be opened.
What is the difference between 'World's Best Safari Outfitter' and 'Best Safari Operator in the World'?
Travel + Leisure's own category wording for the same safari award has changed over time. Its press releases used 'World's Best Safari Outfitter' from 2019 through 2023, 'World's Best Safari Operator' in 2025, and 'Best Safari Operator in the World' in 2026. Uncompromised Travel treats these as the same annual category under different naming across years, based on Travel + Leisure's own wording in each announcement, rather than as separate awards.
How many readers vote in the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards?
More than 207,000 in 2026, according to Travel + Leisure's own 7 July 2026 announcement, and nearly 180,000 in 2025, according to Travel + Leisure's 2025 safari article. The 2019 to 2023 announcements reviewed for this page did not state a reader count, so a longer trend cannot be given here.
Can I book a Travel + Leisure award-winning safari outfitter through Uncompromised Travel?
Not directly. None of the operators named on this page is bookable through Uncompromised Travel, and none paid for its place here. Readers pricing a comparable trip can send their dates to a Safari.com specialist or compare priced tours on BookAllSafaris; both are affiliate links that pay this site a commission if a booking results, at no extra cost to the traveller.
Read next
- Condé Nast Top Safari Specialists 2026: the editor-compiled advisor list most often confused with this award.
- Award-winning safari companies 2026: every dated safari award in 2025 and 2026, operator by operator.
- Safari award credentials index 2026: every safari award and accreditation this site tracks, in one place.
- Luxury safari operator index 2026: the site's own scored ranking of safari operators, six published criteria.
- How to verify a safari operator: the checks to run before booking, awards aside.
No operator named on this page paid for its place in it or is bookable through this site. Extraordinary Journeys, ninth on Travel + Leisure's 2025 list, is a paid partner of this site; partners pay for labelled placements elsewhere on the site, never for a place or a description here, and links to its own site are marked as partner links. The Safari.com and BookAllSafaris links are affiliate links and pay this site a commission if you book, at no cost to you; Safari.com also receives the enquiries sent through the form on this page. Go2Africa is an affiliate of this site on other pages; its link here is plain and earns nothing. Award facts are drawn from Travel + Leisure's own announcements, articles and survey materials; operator claims are labelled as claims and linked to the page that makes them. Uncompromised Travel does not score or rank the operators on this page; the review scores quoted belong to the linked reviews. Sources verified 22 September 2026 and re-read 28 September 2026: Travel + Leisure press releases for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 (PR Newswire); Travel + Leisure's 2025 article on readers' favourite safari lodges and outfitters (syndicated on AOL); the 2026 promotion guidelines (preferrednet.net) and the official rules for the 2027 survey (wba.m-rr.com); the sites of Rothschild Safaris, Travel Beyond, Micato Safaris, Alluring Africa, African Travel, Inc., Thomson Safaris, Ker & Downey World Travel, Go2Africa, Deeper Africa, Stanley Safaris, Dazzle Africa, Piper & Heath Travel, Asilia Africa and Extraordinary Journeys, cited for their own claims or linked for reference. Corrected 23 September 2026: Rothschild Safaris' review on this site is now referenced, the Ker & Downey claim is attributed to the Houston company rather than the Cape Town company reviewed here, and repeated photographs were replaced. Updated 28 September 2026: Travel + Leisure's 2025 top ten added with reader scores, the 2024 claims sourced, African Travel, Inc. named as the company trades, and the 2027 survey dates added.