Our story
Bushbaby was founded by Abi Shaw in 2004, for families looking for authentic and stylish long-haul holidays. Having loved travelling as a couple, Abi and her husband Jim struggled to find a tour operator who could recommend family-friendly options for a holiday in South Africa, when their youngest child Will came along. Abi was inspired to set up Bushbaby, to give families a personal and informative travel service, focusing on the appealing and authentic long-haul travel options which then seemed so elusive. She has gone on to develop fantastic relationships with clients and suppliers alike and has been a key advocate for family-friendly travel throughout Africa and beyond. Overcoming many long-held industry assumptions about what constitutes child-friendly travel, Abi and her team have created thousands of dream holidays for our clients over the years.
Bushbaby’s journey has been closely tied to the growth of Abi’s own family.... from humble beginnings, working from the spare room whilst Will napped, two more children and a house move later, Abi now heads up a thriving business and a team who are passionate about family travel. Bushbaby has proven to be robust and successful in the face of many challenges, not least one of the toughest recessions the economy has seen - testimony to our belief in developing long-term relationships with the families we work with and borne out by our exceptionally high repeat-booking rate - clients really value our personal approach, our love of travel, our empathy as parents ourselves, our destination knowledge and the overall quality of their experience with us.
Today Bushbaby, like Abi’s family, is growing up and spreading its wings. We are proud to be truly global - we send clients to six of the seven continents and that final one - Antarctica, is definitely in our sights! Each of our extraordinary continents has its own appeal, compelling sights and unique scenery and wildlife, so the options really are endless and once that travel bug has bitten, it’s hard to ignore! Africa continues to be a favourite with so many of our clients though; with stunning wildlife accessible to even the youngest of travellers, stylish but family-friendly accommodation and warm climes, it ticks lots of boxes. All our holidays are bespoke and thoughtfully crafted by parents for parents. Our clients have high expectations in terms of accommodation and service pre, during and post-holiday and here at Bushbaby we are ready to deliver! Not content to rest on our laurels and with enviable resources and talent hard at work behind the scenes we aim to anticipate the needs of today’s family travellers with a constantly evolving collection of holidays to some of the world’s most appealing destinations.
To our existing clients, thank you for continuing to trust us with your precious family time and to those who are new to Bushbaby, we look forward to getting to know you!