Glatt Safaris Explains How It Keeps Kosher Kitchens Running in the Bush

Glatt Safaris is opening up its kitchen. With the Tishrei chagim behind them and spring arriving in South Africa, many Torah observant families are now sitting down to plan the year’s travel, and the question the Johannesburg based operator hears most often is a practical one: how does a Glatt Kosher meal reach a game reserve hours from the nearest Kosher shop? The company is setting out its answer in full, from the ingredients it imports to the temporary kitchens it builds on the road.

Glatt Safaris was founded in 2013 by Chanan Green, a frum Israeli South African, after he organised a safari for relatives visiting from Israel and saw how hard it was for religious travellers to find holidays that took kashrut seriously. Generic tours did not offer a Kosher option, and the Kosher tours that did exist did not always focus on good food and could be very expensive. The company was built to close that gap.

Bringing the kitchen to the bush

In Cape Town and Johannesburg, meals can be provided by Kosher restaurants. Out in the bush, where no such restaurants exist, Glatt Safaris brings everything with it. The company flies in its own food, its own chefs and its own mashgichim, and sets up temporary Kosher kitchens wherever the group is staying. It uses imported Kosher ingredients, and travellers are welcome to inspect them for themselves.

All meals are three-course, Kosher le’mehadrin and supervised by the Cape Town Beth Din, under Badatz Cape Town approval. A mashgiach travels with the group, so supervision does not stop when the tour leaves the city. For travellers who have spent past holidays carrying tins of food through airports because of kashrut worries, the company’s message is that this is no longer necessary.

Gourmet, not just Kosher

Glatt Safaris has made a point of refusing the idea that Kosher travel food has to be plain. Its handpicked chefs specialise in Mediterranean and South African cooking, and menus include dishes such as grilled lamb chops, roasted whole baby marrow, matbucha and Israeli salad. The kitchen caters for special requests, including vegan and vegetarian diets.

The service is all-inclusive. It runs from freshly ground morning coffee to a gourmet dinner at night, with sandwiches and treats packed for long days on the road. On safari mornings, guests rise before dawn for coffee and biscuits before heading out on the first game drive, then return to a full meal. Every Kosher Safari the company runs is planned around that daily rhythm of food, prayer and game viewing.

Shabbos and the religious calendar

Food is only one part of what Glatt Safaris takes off travellers’ hands. The company arranges minyanim, a Sefer Torah, access to a mikveh, places for netilat yadayim, Kiddush wine and Shabbat candles. The aim is that nobody on the trip has to worry about finding a tenth man in the middle of Africa.

On the group itineraries, Shabbos is spent in Cape Town. The group returns to the hotel three hours before Shabbos begins, shares a leisurely Friday night dinner and, on Shabbos morning, walks to a shul close to the hotel. The day includes a Shabbos meal after davening, Shalosh Seudot and Melave Malka, so the weekly rhythm continues even on the far side of the world.

Private trips and flexible catering

The company’s group departures run on two tracks. The Silver Track stays within South Africa, taking in Kruger National Park, the Winelands, whale watching at Hermanus, Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope. The Gold Track adds Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, including Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park. Public tours host between 20 and 40 people.

For families who prefer to travel on their own, Glatt Safaris builds private tours around the client’s budget, food preferences and interests. Catering is part of that choice. A family can save on accommodation and order pre-packaged Kosher meals, putting the budget towards more destinations and attractions. Or they can stay at a private reserve or VIP retreat with a personal chef cooking the dishes they love, and visit fewer places at a slower pace. Honeymoons, family holidays and anniversary trips are all planned this way, and each Kosher Tour is designed from scratch.

Private routes can include Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, Chobe National Park in Botswana, Cape Town, the Garden Route, Kruger National Park, private reserves where the Big Five are regularly seen, and Madikwe, a malaria-free reserve the company recommends for first-time safari goers.

Why the planning starts now

With the chagim over, October is when many families look ahead and set their travel dates for the coming year. For a Kosher trip, early planning matters more than usual. Kitchens, chefs, mashgichim and imported supplies all have to be arranged around the route, and private itineraries in particular depend on knowing where the family will be on each day of the trip so the catering can follow.

The company describes itself as a lean boutique operator with strong supplier relationships, and says this allows it to keep prices low without compromising on kashrut or quality. Its stated belief is that every frum family should have the chance to see Africa on a Glatt Kosher safari. Accommodation ranges from three, four and five star hotels to private reserves and VIP retreats, and the team uses domestic flights where they save time, with VIP assistance when crossing borders between countries.

Glatt Safaris’ local guides are known for their knowledge of the wildlife and scenery in each area, and the company’s director handles the logistics on the ground, from hotel check-ins to organising minyanim. Families comparing Kosher Safaris can contact the team directly with questions about kashrut, medical matters or the details of a particular route, through its offices in New York, London, Jerusalem and South Africa.

Full details of the group tracks, private tours and Kosher catering arrangements are available at https://www.glattsafaris.com/.

About Glatt Safaris

Glatt Safaris is a South African tour operator founded in 2013 by Chanan Green and based in Johannesburg. It runs Glatt Kosher gourmet safari and holiday tours across South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, on group Gold and Silver tracks and on fully customised private itineraries. Meals are Kosher le’mehadrin and supervised by the Cape Town Beth Din, with chefs and mashgichim travelling with each group, and minyanim and Shabbos arrangements included in every trip.

Media Contact
Glatt Safaris
Email: info@glattsafaris.com
Phone: +27 21 300 1844
Website: https://www.glattsafaris.com/