Craig Beal likes to say the most dangerous part of an African safari is the drive down Interstate 494 to get to the MSP airport. As the owner of Travel Beyond, a Wayzata-based luxury travel consultancy and agency, Beal is an old hand at safaris. His agency is one of a handful worldwide that specialize in planning non-hunting safaris in southern and eastern Africa.
The agency was recently honored by the influential Travel+Leisure magazine, which named it a top 10 safari outfitter.
While most of its 30 employees are based in the main office, Travel Beyond also has full-time, salaried consultants located in Illinois, Florida, California, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and South Africa.
Beal’s family has a long history in the travel business. His father, David, sold his corporate travel agency in 1995 and launched Travel Beyond. It was the first U.S.-based travel agency to offer luxury African safaris.
Traveling to Africa, typically twice a year, has been part of Orono native Beal’s life since childhood. His mother, Audrey, was born in South Africa. “I’ve never not known what Africa was,” says Beal, a 1989 Orono High School graduate. After high school, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a Navy submarine officer. Beal and his wife, Kay, purchased the travel agency in 2005.
Beal treasures his memories of his childhood visits to the continent. “It was surreal. Every kid out there dreams of going to Africa. Thirty to 40 million people wish they could go to Africa; about 10 million end up doing it.” The Beals continued the safari tradition with their two daughters, who are now 21- and 19-year-old college students.
Travel Beyond’s most frequent safari destinations are in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. In scheduling safaris, Beal avoids the peak tourism times of year, which are the summer and winter months. The agency serves customers from around the U.S. “Our biggest markets are New York City and the Bay Area,” he says.
The safaris are hosted by privately owned safari lodges or private game reserves. They are upscale trips, with gourmet food and amenities—except, usually, for the lodging. For the sake of authenticity and practicality, the guests sleep in canvas tents with zippered doors.
Isn’t sleeping in a tent while lions and elephants pass by a bit dangerous? “That's a misconception,” Beal says. “I've never heard of anyone getting injured,” although he has had animals brush against his tent. The same safety rules apply as in bear-occupied northern Minnesota. “Don’t bring food back to your tent. The monkeys and baboons are really smart and really aggressive.”
Beyond’s safaris range in price from $7,000 to $25,000. Beal explains, “Most people go for nine or 10 nights and combine two countries. Sometimes, it’s a two-week trip.” In recent years, multifamily safaris have grown in popularity. “As we have explored Africa more and more and the brand has grown, more people are doing ‘off the beaten path’ stuff, like seeing mountain gorillas,” he says.
The agency’s other popular destinations include the Galapagos Islands, then Peru, Chile, Australia, Argentina, the Arctic and Antarctica.
Beal still loves leading safari groups to largely unchanged areas of the continent. “Every time I go to Africa, it’s the same. I love it … it’s so ‘in the moment.’ [A safari] is about the only place you can go where your kids can’t connect to Wi-Fi.”
