Glatt Safaris Keeps Kosher Cooking Alive on Safari

How does a Glatt Kosher meal make it to a game reserve hours from the nearest Kosher shop? That is the question the Johannesburg based operator Glatt Safaris fields more than any other, and the company is now explaining its whole method in detail. With the Tishrei chagim finished and spring settling over South Africa, plenty of Torah observant families have begun mapping out the year ahead, so the operator is laying everything bare, from the ingredients it brings in from abroad to the pop-up kitchens it assembles on location.

The business dates back to 2013, when Chanan Green, a frum Israeli South African, arranged a safari for family coming over from Israel and realised just how difficult it was for religious travellers to find trips that treated kashrut as a priority. Ordinary tours simply had no Kosher track, while the Kosher tours already running were often costly and did not always put real effort into the food. Glatt Safaris was created specifically to fill that void.

Bringing the kitchen to the bush

Within Cape Town and Johannesburg, Kosher restaurants can handle the catering. Deep in the bush, where none of those restaurants exist, the company carries the entire operation along. It flies in its own ingredients, its own chefs and its own mashgichim, then builds temporary Kosher kitchens right where the group is lodging. The ingredients it uses are imported and Kosher, and guests are free to examine them first-hand.

Every meal is three-course, Kosher le'mehadrin and overseen by the Cape Town Beth Din under Badatz Cape Town approval. Because a mashgiach accompanies the group, supervision carries on even once the tour has left the city. To anyone who has endured earlier holidays lugging tins of food through airport terminals out of kashrut concerns, the company says those days are over.

Gourmet, not just Kosher

Glatt Safaris firmly rejects the notion that Kosher travel food must be dull. Its carefully chosen chefs are experts in Mediterranean and South African cuisine, and the menus feature plates like grilled lamb chops, roasted whole baby marrow, matbucha and Israeli salad. Special requests, vegan and vegetarian diets among them, are all accommodated by the kitchen.

Everything is included in the service. It stretches from freshly ground coffee in the morning right through to a gourmet dinner in the evening, with sandwiches and snacks packed for the long stretches on the road. On safari days, guests are up before dawn for coffee and biscuits ahead of the first game drive, returning afterwards to a proper meal. Each Kosher Safari the company operates is built around that daily cycle of food, prayer and game viewing.

Shabbos and the religious calendar

Catering is just one of the burdens Glatt Safaris lifts from its travellers. The company organises minyanim, a Sefer Torah, access to a mikveh, spots for netilat yadayim, Kiddush wine and Shabbat candles. The goal is that no one on the trip ever has to go hunting for a tenth man somewhere in the middle of Africa.

On the group itineraries, Shabbos takes place in Cape Town. The group arrives back at the hotel three hours ahead of Shabbos, enjoys an unhurried Friday night dinner, and on Shabbos morning walks to a shul near the hotel. A Shabbos meal follows davening, along with Shalosh Seudot and Melave Malka, so the weekly rhythm holds steady even half a world away.

Private trips and flexible catering

Group departures are offered on two separate tracks. The Silver Track remains inside South Africa, covering Kruger National Park, the Winelands, whale watching at Hermanus, Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope. The Gold Track extends into Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, taking in Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park. Public tours carry groups of between 20 and 40 people.

Families who would rather travel independently can have Glatt Safaris construct a private tour shaped around their budget, food preferences and interests. Catering forms part of that decision. One family might economise on accommodation and order pre-packaged Kosher meals, steering the budget toward extra destinations and attractions. Another might book a private reserve or VIP retreat with a personal chef preparing their favourite dishes, covering fewer places at an easier pace. Honeymoons, family holidays and anniversary trips are arranged in exactly this manner, with every Kosher Tour designed from the ground up.

Private routes may take in Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe and Zambia border, Chobe National Park in Botswana, Cape Town, the Garden Route, Kruger National Park, private reserves where the Big Five turn up regularly, and Madikwe, a malaria-free reserve the company suggests for those on their first safari.

Why the planning starts now

Now that the chagim have passed, October is the month when many families start looking forward and locking in their travel dates for the year to come. On a Kosher trip, booking early counts for even more than usual. Kitchens, chefs, mashgichim and imported supplies must all be coordinated around the route, and private itineraries especially rely on knowing exactly where the family will be each day so the catering can keep pace.

The company calls itself a lean boutique operator with close supplier ties, and credits this with keeping prices down while never cutting corners on kashrut or quality. It holds that every frum family deserves the opportunity to experience Africa on a Glatt Kosher safari. Accommodation spans three, four and five star hotels through to private reserves and VIP retreats, and the team relies on domestic flights wherever they save time, providing VIP assistance at border crossings between countries.

The local guides working with Glatt Safaris are respected for how well they know the wildlife and landscapes of each region, while the company's director manages the on-the-ground logistics, everything from hotel check-ins to arranging minyanim. Families weighing up Kosher Safaris are welcome to reach the team directly with questions about kashrut, medical issues or the specifics of any given route, via its offices in New York, London, Jerusalem and South Africa.

Complete information on the group tracks, private tours and Kosher catering arrangements can be found at https://www.glattsafaris.com/.

About Glatt Safaris

Glatt Safaris is a South African tour operator established in 2013 by Chanan Green and headquartered in Johannesburg. The company runs Glatt Kosher gourmet safari and holiday tours throughout South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, offered on group Gold and Silver tracks as well as fully tailored private itineraries. Its meals are Kosher le'mehadrin and supervised by the Cape Town Beth Din, chefs and mashgichim accompany every group, and minyanim and Shabbos arrangements are built into each trip.