Hovering in a helicopter over the summit of Tower Butte, a sacred 5,287-foot crimson sandstone formation positioned on Navajo Nation land in Northern Arizona, I do a double take. Slightly below us, a decadent brunch desk is piled with banana bread French toast, poached eggs and salmon, whereas chef Shon Foster of Sego Restaurant in Kanab, Utah, fries elk sausages on a range. A Diné flutist performs close by. It’s all been organized by EXP Journeys, an experiential journey clothes shop that works with the Navajo Nation to achieve unprecedented entry to the positioning.
From Yellowstone to Acadia, few nations supply epic landscapes, wildlife and cultural historical past with the identical range and scale as America. One factor that isn’t as engaging: Driving a run-down camper van throughout the Southwest whilst you desperately attempt to navigate on spotty GPS, pitch a tent, and cook dinner baked beans over an open flame.
Maybe that’s why so many Individuals—myself included—are inclined to skip our personal yard in favor of locations like Zambia and Rwanda that, although distant, have developed a five-star-plus hospitality infrastructure rivaling that of cosmopolitan inns in New York or Paris. (I’ll take my campfire with Michelin-level eating and wine cellars, thanks very a lot.) Safari used to ivolve harmful bush planes and roughing it in tents; now it typically means sunning by the pool beneath the watchful gaze of an elephant. Right this moment, it’s really easy to connect with Africa’s otherworldly lunar deserts and baobab-filled savannas that some folks go on safari frequently—I’ve been at the very least 20 occasions.
However as I realized firsthand, even essentially the most specific of safari fans will be swayed into visiting America’s nationwide parks when it’s accomplished correctly—and lavishly. Impressed by the African tourism mannequin of pristine wilderness meets sudden luxurious, savvy tour corporations and types are luring vacationers who aren’t historically occupied with exploring Yosemite’s sequoias or Bryce Canyon’s hoodoos. EXP Journeys, for instance, curates non-public, bespoke itineraries that includes once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Assume dinner with one of many final Navajo Code Talkers and dinosaur bone digs with celebrated paleontologists.
“The entire level for us is to attach folks with nature,” Kevin Jackson, CEO and founding father of EXP Journeys, tells Observer. “Folks return to Africa 12 months after 12 months due to the sensation it provides them; that’s what we’re attempting to perform. We need to share our nationwide parks and pure assets with folks in a snug however genuine method.”
The Begin of the Nationwide Park Craze
It’s an idea that clearly resonates with lots of people. The Nationwide Park Service skilled a record-breaking quantity of tourists in 2024, in addition to an 11.7 p.c enhance in in a single day stays at lodges from 2023. Like so many developments nowadays, this specific tourism increase was triggered by Covid-19. When indoor actions and worldwide journey have been restricted, folks flocked to the nice outside.
“We first began seeing inquiries coming in from individuals who had traveled to Africa with A&Ok,” says David Linde, managing director of Abercrombie & Kent’s USA and Canada DMC, an organization that launched on the Mom Continent. “That development is now turning into the norm. [The pandemic] actually modified lots of people’s perspective on life and what’s essential to them.”
Rising demand has uncovered a conspicuous hole available in the market that operators like EXP Journeys and A&Ok are dashing to satisfy. For the uninitiated, the American West—the place most of the hottest nationwide parks are discovered—stays an organizational nightmare, missing sufficient five-star lodging, skilled guides and airstrips for individuals who don’t need to drive lengthy distances. (Spoiler alert: America is de facto huge.) This downside has solely been compounded for the reason that Nationwide Park Service misplaced 24 p.c of its employees resulting from current funds cuts from the Trump administration.
Taming the Wild
Africa could appear wild, however don’t let the elephants and lions idiot you—a lot of its most in-demand locations, just like the Okavango Delta, Serengeti and Kruger, have finely-tuned tourism operations that run like clockwork.
“I feel lots of people see worth in hiring an organization like A&Ok to handle all of the logistics for them,” says Linde. “We use the identical diploma of cautious precision that our colleagues in Africa do.” A&Ok’s Tailormade Journey Nationwide Parks by Air seamlessly shuttles visitors from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon to Jackson Gap by way of chartered airplane, whereas EXP Journeys presents a chauffeur—by helicopter, naturally—to a few of their extra distant campsites.
Reality be informed, calling them “camps” is a bit like referring to Resort du Cap-Eden-Roc as “only a lodge in France.” For a median of $2,000 per particular person per day, visitors can anticipate cozy king-size beds, sizzling showers, en-suite bogs, non-public cooks, a full bar and most significantly, full and complete privateness. (Singita Discover, the same idea in Tanzania that invitations the well-to-do to “tough it in nice model,” prices $3,098 per particular person per night time throughout the excessive season.) Every time somebody books a cell tenting expertise with EXP Journeys, a newly-certified B Corp, your complete website is constructed and torn down solely for his or her group, leaving nothing however footprints behind.
“We would like you to really feel such as you’re within the absolute center of nowhere—that that is all for you,” says Jackson. “That could be very, very onerous to search out right here within the U.S.”
For individuals who eschew sleeping outside, a spate of upscale properties have just lately or will quickly be opening close to parks throughout the nation, together with a number of Underneath Canvas areas, One&Solely Moonlight Basin in Huge Sky, Resort Reset in Joshua Tree and A&Ok Sanctuary’s first retreat in the USA, which might be positioned in Moab by Arches and Canyonlands. Just like the model’s African properties, the lodging will characteristic a central lodge with standalone suites, in addition to entry to a curated program of cultural experiences, expert-led actions and geological interpretations.
Past logistics, extra outfitters are starting to know—and respect—the essential function guides play in outside journey, from possessing encyclopedic ranges of subject data to managing distributors. A real American safari camp, EXP Journeys stays dedicated to the artwork of guiding, opening its personal coaching college eight years in the past.
“In Africa, guiding is a revered profession,” says Jackson, who has labored as a information within the western U.S. himself. “Traditionally within the U.S., it’s been seen as a pastime or a day job. Our mission is to vary that.”
The place to Go
As for the most well-liked nationwide parks proper now? Montana and Wyoming are having a second, says Angela Malek, a North America, Oceans and Islands journey specialist at Scott Dunn. “Mixing Teton and Yellowstone works very well in the event you’re staying inside Jackson Gap. We’re beginning to see extra properties in Montana, as nicely—earlier than, you needed to be booked at the very least six months upfront.”
Alaska has at all times appealed to cruisers and intrepid vacationers. “It’s type of the ultimate frontier,” says Jessica Matthews, an Abercrombie & Kent journey marketing consultant supervisor and Conde Nast Traveler prime journey specialist for nationwide parks. “It feels so overseas and much away.” Jackson’s workforce has began to see an uptick in luxurious journey. “They’re constructing lodges which are extra appropriate for households. You may go by yacht or keep at locations like Sheldon Chalet and Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.”
Utah, with entry to many nationwide parks like Bryce Canyon, Zion and the Grand Canyon in a single journey, stays a best-seller. “A number of our shoppers prefer to mix high-end properties with roughing it somewhat bit,” says Malek.
In spite of everything, there’s no approach to cap off a tenting journey like a keep at Amangiri—or its newer cousin, Camp Sarika, a up to date interpretation of the basic safari lodge. Whether or not you’re able to sleep beneath the celebrities on the nation’s most glamorous camps or favor to take heed to the midnight howls of coyotes from a totally enclosed room, there’s by no means been a greater time to expertise the wild of America’s personal yard.
