Our policy is to employ those with the potential to be the best, in terms of performance and discipline. The driver-guides and couriers are all hand picked, and are continually under training in clients’ safety, nature interpretation, general knowledge, and foreign languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.
Leopard Tours is constantly investing in human resource and product development, for we know it is in our interest as well as our duty to ensure that all our guests go back home happy and satisfied with our arrangements. Only this way would they be our good ambassadors to others and come back to us again.
We believe in two simple values: attentiveness and knowledge. We need them in the bush, in cities, everywhere, whenever we are with guests.
We know they want to learn, to enjoy and to enjoy the short time they have in our country fully. The volume of visitors we guide is quite big, but think of the fun and the lasting friendship that more often than not is gained in the course of our duty.
Our mission is to ensure that the guest is happy with our services and not inconvenienced in any way. The emphasis is on personalised service, starting right from the point of entry. The guest has to be received with a meet & greet board, followed by briefing and reconfirmation of the return or onward journey.
On safari, we are constantly in touch with the driver-guide or the hotel/lodge the guest is staying in, just to make sure all is in order. After the tour, the guest is met again by the operations and field staff, debriefed and seen off.
I have a fine team under me. All are well trained, most of them holding high qualifications from some of the most reputable tourism training institutes in the world.
It is exciting to be part of the growth of Leopard Tours. As a Marketing team, it is important for us that our products continue to meet the ever changing demands of our customers. Each of our travelers completes an evaluation at the end of their trip.
We feel that each of these evaluations is an important lesson. They help us understand our clients better to continue providing the services they enjoy.
Scheduling a fleet of 225 busy vehicles is not a small task. But there is no pressure here. Because, first I have a young fleet, secondly the drivers are well trained, thirdly communication in the bush is possible at all times, and fourthly when I need some relief service to replace a vehicle for example, it is done instantly. Without such facilities, my work would have been a nightmare.
Working with Leopard Tours is more fun and challenge than anything else. We work like a big team, divided into departments. When our colleagues wonder how we ever manage to keep such a big fleet in top form, we feel rather flattered. Maybe it is because of the working environment.
We think we have better facilities, which include fully equipped workshops in Arusha and Dar es Salaam, and the Ngorongoro outpost, the centre of safari support and relief operations on the Serengeti road. Work in the bush has now been made even easier for us by the mobile garage in the northern Tanzania game parks. Our performance in the field is legendary, and we think that is what makes the difference.
Given the amount of business we produce, we enjoy very good cooperation from the hoteliers and other suppliers, especially concerning reserving their services.
This gives us some useful leeway to sell, up to the last moment. We don’t close sales at Leopard Tours. Our team is under the able leadership of Sameer Mohamed, the Director of Operations who has grown with the company and boasting a wealth of experience in the industry of more than 20 years.
“It was a most wonderful, wonderful experience…a most pleasant surprise…the camp, the wildlife…a real Africa experience. Perfect…” These are comments by one of the guests who did a one-week standard camping safari with Leopard Tours in northern Tanzania. Credit should of course go to the destination, Tanzania, land of extreme beauty, which provides the perfect setting for an authentic camping safari adventure.
Camping in the game parks offers a product which is best described after it is consumed. But one thing is certain; a camping safari gets you closer to nature, a truly rewarding experience both during game drives and while at camp. It is an experience that could leave a lifetime impression on a guest exploring the game parks in Tanzania.
We pick our camping crew carefully and train them well; they are efficient, friendly and unobtrusive, focused on ensuring that guests enjoy their stay in Tanzania. Our camp cooks, whom we consider key in a camping trip, take pride in catering for our guests, spoiling them with fresh and delicious bush cuisines
It was impossible to continue working manually with the rate of growth of the company and the increase in the volume of business. The establishment of a full IT Department was necessary.
We have professional IT team to modernize our operations and communication systems to ensure efficiency. With this facility we are now able to reply to enquires within 24 hours. Our reservations and pricing are fully computerised, and we are well equipped to produce our own marketing materials.
My work diary is always full. The so-called low season, falling between April and June, is in fact the busiest time for the Quality Control office.
During this time, we train and upgrade the skills of our staff, especially the driver-guides and the operations staff. We believe in training. It is only when you have a competent staff that you can rest assured of the quality of the service you have determined to provide to the guest.
Besides training we request all our guests to give their evaluation of the services that we extend to them and from their comments, which are all the time constructive and sometimes in the form of complaints, we endeavor to improve on our product delivery. The guests’ feed back is an essential complement to our training efforts, bringing about a fully integrated dialogue which makes it possible for us to try to meet their holiday needs while in Tanzania.