Africa Safaris’ Latest Risk: Bankrupt Tour Operators

Africa is calling. Several safari destination countries say their tourism numbers are up, luxury lodges are turning up all over the continent and many boom-rich Americans are booking pricey once-in-a-lifetime trips.

But Africa-bound consumers shouldn’t rely too heavily on those fancy brochures. Of course you should study up on health precautions, crime and political instability. But you should also investigate the travel company you are considering as your link to the continent.

Two Southern California safari tour operators have declared bankruptcy within the last 13 months and closed their doors: Manhattan Beach-based Safaricentre International Inc. in June 2000, and Santa Barbara-based David Anderson Safaris LLC in January 2000.

Records at the state attorney general’s office show that a third California-based African tour operator, Across Continents Travel & Safaris of Los Angeles, lost its state registration in 1999 after having bounced a check to the California Department of Justice, and is also out of business.

Customers of all three operators have filed claims with California’s Travel Consumer Restitution Corp. (TCRC), a travel industry-funded, state-sanctioned agency that compensates victims of California-based travel companies that fail to deliver services. In the Safaricentre case, six consumers filed TCRC claims from August to December, seeking a combined $22,735. In the Anderson case, two claimants were paid a total of $12,610 last year, and two others have claims totaling more than $86,000. In the Across Continents case, two claimants last year were reimbursed more than $11,000.

None of this means you should shun safaris. But because Africa trips typically involve substantial amounts of money and often depend on complex logistics and relationships with local contacts, consumers need to take greater care in choosing whom to rely on.

Further, companies that sell African travel to Californians have shown “a disproportionate number of failures” compared with those that take travelers elsewhere, said Michael Hughes, a state deputy attorney general who specializes in travel industry cases.

David Herbert, who founded Glendale-based tour operator African Travel Inc. 25 years ago and is a former U.S. Tour Operators Assn. chairman, blames the problem on wildly varying business cycles--”from feast to famine, literally”--and on the fact that there aren’t many barriers to keep inexperienced entrepreneurs from entering the trade.

“If you can get a toll-free number and get a Web site up, you’re in business,” Herbert said.

For a consumer, staying safe means looking for clues to a company’s financial stability. Unfortunately, this is more art than science. Some outfits look good on paper right till the end. But the following tips, gleaned from several tour operators, travel agents and state officials, may help.

* Whether you’re using a travel agent or booking directly, it’s vital to make sure that your tour operator is registered with the TCRC as a California Seller of Travel. If it isn’t, walk away; travel companies that sell to Californians are required by state law to register.

* Ask how old the company is, whether it has changed hands recently and about the background of those in charge. Ask whether the company can provide names and contact information for past customers.

* Ask whether the tour operator belongs to the New York-based U.S. Tour Operators Assn., which includes about 150 of the biggest names in the country. To belong, USTOA members agree to the strongest consumer-protection provision in the travel industry: putting up $1 million (as a bond, letter of credit or certificate of deposit) each to reimburse customers if the tour operator goes bankrupt. There are plenty of honest, experienced Africa specialists who don’t belong to the USTOA, but travel agents consider USTOA companies the most reliable.

* Whenever possible, pay by credit card rather than check.

* Buy travel insurance, either through a travel agent or directly from a travel insurer. But beware of policies that limit coverage. For example, if you buy a policy through your tour operator, the business failure of the tour operator may be excluded from coverage. Other policies provide coverage only if bankruptcy is declared.

The three Africa travel specialists above have shut down. But David Anderson, whose Santa Barbara-based company is targeted by the largest consumer claims, has moved on to another travel business incarnation.

Anderson, a veteran Africa hand, founded David Anderson Safaris in 1985. In July 1999, Anderson said, he took on partners.

Later that year, Santa Barbara travel agency Carlson Wagonlit/Your Travel Center came to David Anderson Safaris LLC with a big client--a group of more than 30 Santa Barbarans headed to South Africa on a nine-night itinerary with a price tag of more than $140,000. (The customers included about a dozen relatives of the high-profile Firestone family.)

The travel agency alleges, however, that shortly before the trip was to begin it learned that little of the customers’ money had been passed along to service providers in Africa. Colin Weatherhead, president of Carlson Wagonlit Travel/Your Travel Center, said his company took the rare step of wiring more than $90,000 of its own money to keep the trip on track.

The trip went ahead, but Weatherhead’s company has since been trying to recover more than $80,000 from the TCRC. Meanwhile, federal court records show that David Anderson Safaris LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 28 of last year--a step that calls for liquidation of the business.

But David Anderson himself remains in business. Anderson said he resigned from David Anderson Safaris LLC in November 1999 over disagreements with his new partners and after that date was no longer connected to that business. In April 2000, he said, he started David Anderson Safari Consultants. In that capacity he doesn’t sell travel directly to consumers, he said, but draws on his experience to counsel customers of Away.com (based in Washington, D.C.) on what safari company would best suit them.

Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail chris.reynolds@latimes.com.