Why Africa
The Africa I send our clients to is curated tightly. We don’t try to cover the continent — we work in the places where the right network of hotels, guides, and local partners makes the difference between a tour bus and a private journey. Today that means two countries: Morocco and Egypt. Both are gateway countries to the wider Mediterranean and Arab world, both are layered with civilizations that stretch back thousands of years, and both have the kind of culinary depth and hospitality tradition that rewards the slow, tailored format we work in.
Both are also countries where the legal context for gay travelers is restrictive. We tell our clients this directly and once. In practice, the routing matters more than the law: the hotels we book, the DMC partners we work with, and the experiences we curate have hosted LGBTQ+ travelers for years, and the friction is engineered out of the trip before it begins. Public displays of affection in the street are not recommended; behind the doors of the properties we use, you are entirely yourselves. It’s not the framing every gay traveler wants — but for those who do want to see Morocco and Egypt properly, this is the way to do it.
Where we travel in Africa
Morocco — From Casablanca to Marrakech
Twelve days across one of the most layered countries in North Africa. Casablanca’s coast, Chefchaouen‘s blue medina in the Rif Mountains, the medieval depth of Fes, two nights in the Sahara at Erg Chebbi, the kasbah road through the Dades Valley, and Marrakech‘s souks and palaces as the finale. The pace is calibrated for travelers who’d rather spend an extra afternoon in a Fes riad than tick another monument; the Sahara night, in particular, is set up to be slow.
Egypt — The land of the Pharaohs
Eleven days that fold three of the great Egypts together. Cairo and the Giza necropolis, a private detour into the western desert (Bahariya Oasis, the Black Desert, a night camped in the White Desert), then a five-star Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan with the Temple of Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Philae unfolding from the deck of the ship. Abu Simbel by morning flight, then the Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo for the closing days.
How we travel in Africa
Three things differentiate the way we work here from a typical operator.
The DMC partners. In Morocco and Egypt more than anywhere else, the difference between an excellent trip and an exhausting one is the quality of the local operator. We work with a single partner per country, vetted over multiple visits, with a track record of hosting LGBTQ+ travelers. The drivers, the guides, and the property contacts are the same people year after year.
The hotels. We book five-star and boutique properties — riads in Morocco, heritage hotels and the better Nile cruise ships in Egypt. The properties are selected for character and for the privacy they offer; staff who treat checking in two men together as the unremarkable thing it should be is the baseline, not the exception.
The pacing. Africa’s great sites are best seen at the right hour. The pyramids of Giza at six in the morning before the buses arrive, the Valley of the Kings before the cruise-passenger waves, the medinas of Fes and Marrakech in the late afternoon when the heat softens. We design the trip around when to be where, not just what to see.
Coming next
We’re expanding the African network deliberately. The next destinations on our planning board are Tanzania (a curated safari and Zanzibar arc), South Africa (Cape Town’s gay-friendly creative scene paired with the Garden Route and a private game reserve), and Kenya (the Mara, but done properly). If you’re interested in a destination not yet listed, write to us — for the kind of bespoke trip we design, most of the work is the same whether the destination is on our standard list or not.
Make Africa yours
Tell us where in Africa you’d like to start — and within 48 hours we’ll come back with a proposal tailored to your dates, pace, and the level of immersion you’re looking for.
Gay Up Travel
Travel as you are.
Travel as you are.
Tailor-made journeys for gay men. Founder-led, authentically Italian, IGLTA Member.
