The Heart of Africa by Private Plane: A Beautiful Thing to Witness
- Travel across multiple African countries by private plane, maximizing time for exploration while minimizing airport logistics and transit delays.
- Experience extraordinary wildlife encounters, from elephants and lion cubs in the Serengeti to unforgettable views of Victoria Falls.
- Gain deeper cultural and historical understanding through expert lectures, local community experiences and conversations with conservationists and historians.
- Discover how Road Scholar's President's Journey combines luxury, learning and meaningful connection into a once-in-a-lifetime educational travel experience.
What happens when you combine the thrill of exploring an entire continent with the seamless luxury of a private jet? Our Chief Program Officer, Maeve Hartney, recently returned from our President’s Journey by Private Plane to Africa and confirms: “It’s an experience that absolutely exceeded my own expectations. That we can provide experiences like this makes me so proud to work for Road Scholar. It was a beautiful thing to witness.”
From the moment you step aboard, this is travel reimagined. “It was this beautiful, luxurious experience,” Maeve recalls, referring to the first leg from London to Marrakesh. “People standing up, walking around, chatting … great food, your own chef, a bartender … it was just all these gorgeous moments.”
Or, in the words of one participant, “the shortest longest flight I’ve ever had!”
Group in Namibia.
The Ultimate Luxury: Your Time
Imagine starting your journey at an exceptional hotel like The Londoner, then being whisked through a dedicated departure room directly to your bus, bypassing the usual airport chaos. Imagine putting your luggage outside your hotel room door in Namibia and finding it waiting for you in your room in Cape Town. No long check-in lines, no waiting at baggage carousels.
This is the magic of the private plane — more time for discovery, less time in transit.
“In under an hour and a half, we’re wheels-up,” says Maeve. “It allows you to make way better use of your time in the country. That’s the luxury of the program, without a shadow of a doubt.”
That extra time leads to moments that would be impossible on a conventional journey. After a flight to Zimbabwe, participants were checked in, enjoying a light lunch and standing before the breathtaking spectacle of Victoria Falls — complete with double rainbows — by 3:30 p.m. As a final, unforgettable surprise, the captain even arranged for a private fly-past over the falls on departure. As Maeve puts it, “It just couldn’t have happened without the plane.”
Meave (far left).
Up Close With Africa’s Majesty
The proximity to wildlife was simply mind-blowing. One evening, as the group returned from a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River, their dock was blocked by two enormous elephants. “All you could do was sit there,” Maeve says. “We’d had a lecture two hours earlier about why animals are moving into urban areas, and here we were witnessing it.” Later that night, the same two elephants paraded past their candlelight dinner in the bush.
And the experiences just kept building. In the Serengeti, the group watched herds of 45 elephants walk by, some with infants less than a month old. They got so close to a pride of lions that they could hear the cubs. “I have videos where you can hear baby lions feeding,” Maeve shares. “They were literally less than 10 feet away.”
Serengeti, Tanzania.
When Mother Nature Joins the Adventure
Sometimes, the most unforgettable moments are the ones you can’t plan. In the Namibian desert, an outdoor dinner was accompanied by a stunning lightning display for over an hour. As the group left, a rare rain began to fall. In Cape Town, they were greeted with a perfectly clear day atop Table Mountain — a sight one veteran Group Leader had never seen before.
It’s the journey through stunning contrasts that makes these experiences so profound — from the irresistibly vibrant chaos of the Marrakesh Medina to the serene silence of the Namibian desert, the thundering power of Victoria Falls to the urban beauty of Cape Town.
A Deeper Understanding
But what truly sets this journey apart is the learning woven into every moment. It begins in London, before the plane even takes off, with a thought-provoking lecture from expert Ruth Polling on the colonial history of the British Museum, setting the stage for the discoveries to come.
Menara Gardens in Marrakech, Morocco.
Weeks later, that context deepens during a visit to the incredibly moving District Six Museum in Cape Town. “The beauty of it is that we weren’t shying away from the reality of this history,” Maeve notes, reflecting on the experts who shared their own powerful accounts of Apartheid. The learning is also deeply personal, whether visiting the Topnaar community in Namibia to learn about their culture or hearing from conservationists at a wildlife trust in Zimbabwe.
This is how a journey becomes a true learning adventure. As Maeve explains, “People unfamiliar with the continent look at Africa as Africa. But by the time you’re leaving, you understand these are uniquely different countries with their own separate cultures, traditions and customs.” It’s a perspective that changes how you see the world.
This is the alchemy of a Road Scholar program. It’s more than a collection of destinations — it’s an education, a community and for many, a deeply personal transformation.
It is, as Maeve so perfectly stated, a beautiful thing.
Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt.
Inspired by Maeve's journey?
Explore Road Scholar's collection of President's Journeys, featuring immersive learning experiences on all seven continents.
