Twiga Tours director Nargis Manji, Tanzania country manager Omar Mungia and chairman Minaz Manji during the World Travel Awards 2025 gala in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania/ HANDOUTTWIGA Tours, one of the oldest tour companies in Kenya, has continued to cement its position as a top travel company in the East African region with major wins at this year's World Travel Awards.
Founded in 1980, the firm, which offers personalised African Safari experiences in Kenya and the region, scooped the Africa’s Responsible Tourism Award 2025 for the fourth year running.
It also took home Kenya’s Leading Safari Company award and Tanzania’s Leading Safari Company awards at this year’s World Travel Awards-Africa and Indian Ocean, held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Saturday.
“These accolades are a true reflection of our unwavering commitment to responsible travel, exceptional service and heartfelt hospitality. As a family-owned company, we share this success with our dedicated team, our loyal guests and our beautiful continent, whose stories we are so privileged to tell,” Chairman Minaz Manji told the Star.
The recognitions, he added, are a testament to the company’s unwavering commitment to responsible, world-class safari experiences.
Manji and his late father teamed up to start the tour company from humble beginnings in 1980, with a dream of building one of East Africa’s formidable tour operation companies.
He saw the need to offer visitors the traditional African hospitality and treat them as long-lost relatives who had come to visit and that has been his philosophy to date, he told the Star.
At the start, it was not easy to get international visitors so they rented their minivans to tour companies that needed vehicles, whilst promoting the company both locally and internationally.
“In 1984, our personalised service, custom-designed minivans and well-trained guide- drivers quickly saw the fleet grow substantially but the urge to be a tour company rather than a rental company was getting stronger and stronger. That was always the plan, to be a tour company and not a rental company and show Africa through our eyes,” Manji told the Star during an interview.
The company started promotions to the domestic traveler and participated in the first-ever Holidays Exhibition at the Sarit Centre in March 1984.
“By then we were already a sought-after company for offering superior quality and personalised service to enthusiastic travelers in Kenya and our fame was fast spreading beyond Kenyan borders with international visitors finding us mostly through referrals from resident family and friends,” he recalls.
According to Manji, the company was keen on offering exceptionally high-quality of personalised service, a philosophy has seen the company grow over the years.
“I made my first international marketing debut in 1981 when I attended the World Travel Market in London. This participation was more of a learning experience than a promotional visit as I had never previously been exposed to a huge global travel fair. Whilst I wasn’t successful in securing any meaningful business I came home wiser and the important lesson I learned was that I needed to be well known and recognised in my home country before I ventured into the global source market,” he narrated.
After establishing a brand locally, Manji felt more confident and he said, and once again, made his entry into the international market by attending several travel expo’s in 1986 and made this part of our regular marketing plan.
In 2003, Twiga Tours made an entry into the travel sector making all travel arrangements such as airline tickets, international holiday and business travel bookings for the leisure and business traveler.
The company is famed for being the first tour operator to do a bush breakfast in Kenya.
