About Us

Our Mission

Conservation. Connection. Communication.

Next Adventure has been crafting custom African Journeys for travelers all over the globe since 1996. As a family-owned and operated business, we are driven by family values, from our long-term relationships with leading conservationists to the love and care that goes into building the perfect safari experience for any adventuerer.

Our team is committed to giving clients breathtaking and memorable experiences on the African continent, in collaboration with agencies and destinations dedicated to conserving their communities’ natural beauty and thriving cultures.

Our story

Next Adventure was founded by a couple of brave adventurers, Richard and Louise McGowan, who had a knack for planning the grandest journeys on Earth. After 17 years of managing their own international adventure travel agency, they narrowed their focus to their favorite continent, the one that most inspires travelers to return, Africa. Richard and Louise founded Next Adventure in 1996 with the goal of providing personalized, eco-friendly, community-conscious safaris customized to the needs and desires of each individual traveler.

Though Richard passed away in 2007, his passionate spirit lives on in his daughter Kili, named for Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, where the McGowans discovered they were pregnant on the ascent of the magnificent peak in 1979. Kili spent much of her youth adventuring at her parents’ side, exploring some of the most breathtaking and remote places on Earth and positioning her to become one of the travel industry’s youngest and most experienced safari specialists.

Today, the McGowan mother and daughter team, along with Kili’s husband Jeremy, visit Africa multiple times a year scouting safari camps, exploring the emerging parks and conservancies, escorting small safari groups, meeting with local partners and operators, and generally taking the paths less traveled, making Next Adventure a true family affair.

By going on an African safari with respected and responsible companies and partners, our clients are providing direct support in the fight to preserve for future generations the greatest concentration of megafauna and some of the most diverse wild places left on the planet.

Why everyone should go on a safari

Conservation

While traditional African safaris grew out of the campaigns and expeditions of the colonial era, today wildlife tourism is the single greatest driver of environmental conservation in africa. It is estimated that there are only 20,000 lions left in the wild, a 90% decline since 1960, only 25,000 rhinos left in the wild, and, as scarcity grows, so does the war between poachers and conservationists. 

By going on an African safari with respected and responsible companies and partners, our clients are providing direct support in the fight to preserve for future generations the greatest concentration of megafauna and some of the most diverse wild places left on the planet.

Connection

Africa has always been our Eden. It is the cradle of humankind, and experiencing wild Africa’s vast primitive wilderness connects us with the earth as it was tens of thousands of years ago. We sit amongst a dazzling and awe-inspiring array of wildlife, observing them as they go about their lives, recognizing personalities and idiosyncrasies, and witnessing an elaborate, timeless drama play out before us. Wild Africa is the world that gave birth to humanity, and in it we are reminded of the wild human thing in all of us. 

Communication

Everyday, we hear in the news about Africa’s failures, but our clients always come back speaking of the warmth and hospitality, the expertise and professionalism, and the hope they encountered while traveling on safari. Africa, and the world, needs more people telling positive stories about Africa. It is one of the most sacred and exciting places on our planet, and we at Next Adventure take great pride in knowing that our clients come home from Africa with stories of hope, wonder and gratitude.

PRESS