TripZapp, founded and led by CEO Rory Okoli, aims to make it easier for travelers to enjoy unique and authentic experiences in Africa while supporting the local vendors who provide them. When using TripZapp, tourists interested in exploring Africa can search the site based on their destination and the type of experience they want to have. Then, they’ll see vetted, licensed, locally-based tour operators offering relevant experiences. The site also provides pricing information, duration, reviews (if available), and other essential details for each experience. Once a traveler chooses their preferred excursion, they can book and securely pay for it directly on the site.
“Right now, for you to book African travel experiences, there’s a lot of research that goes into it,” said Okoli, who’s Nigerian, now living in Portugal. “There’s a lack of trust… You see the tour websites and you don’t know – should you pay or shouldn’t you? There’s a gap where there isn’t one place where you can find all the things you want to do in Africa.”
“With TripZapp, we’re able to shape the narrative of African travel,” she continued. “Right now, some may see it as just safari excursions, being too difficult to navigate, having no luxury, or [not] having many things to do. There are all these wrong stereotypes around Africa and African travel that we need to demystify. By having people who travel a lot share African travel content and take control of the story, people will see traveling the continent as what it really is. We’re able to make its destiny.”
For travelers who’ve never been to Africa, Okoli explained why she thinks visiting Zambia is a great place to start. In addition to offering a variety of travel experiences, Okoli noted that Zambia provides unique activities for different tastes.
“A place where different kinds of travelers can enjoy themselves would be Zambia,” she stated. “It’s good for those who still want to play it safe, and those ready for an African adventure. You have waterfalls like Victoria Falls, and you can fly over them in a helicopter ride, or go whitewater rafting in the Zambezi River, or bungee jump over it.”
“You could also go see some of the wildlife in Chobe National Park,” Okoli added, speaking of the northern Botswana-based site, which is near the country’s borders with Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. For seasoned African travelers, the founder recommended hiking Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro.
“Not everybody does it,” Okoli said of reaching Africa’s tallest peak. “The last data I saw said that only 380,000 people have reached the summit. That’s not a lot of people in the whole world, right? So, it’s one that I definitely want to do as someone who has traveled throughout the continent. I still haven’t done that. I need to conquer that. It feels like the thing that would give experienced travelers that extra badge of honor. Like, ‘Yes, I did it. I went to the top of Africa.’ I think that would be a great one.”
What Is TripZapp?
TripZapp got its start in 2016. After receiving questions about the unique and quality travel experiences she had taken across the continent, Okoli began facilitating group trips in Africa. Now, though, TripZapp is in a new chapter. The site currently features approximately 170 bookable tour operators across around 10 African countries. As a travel experiences booking platform that focuses on things to do in Africa, TripZapp users directly support a Black-led business, in addition to tour operators actually based in Africa.
The latter is particularly important. As Okoli highlighted, there’s a disparity in the number of African-owned travel experience companies operating on the continent. The TripZapp founder explained that foreign companies’ presence in Africa’s tourism industry leaves less room for local entrepreneurs to grow their operations, make their money directly from tourists, and bring in that income consistently throughout the year.
Okoli noted that foreign-based companies may only hire locals during the periods when an African country is deemed to be in its “peak” tourism season. The founder also added that the African tourism industry’s current state prioritizes exposing travelers to what foreigners have deemed “popular” experiences. Notably, this often contrasts with what Africans may consider more authentic and worthwhile in their respective countries.
“In Africa, you do find that there are foreign companies that are the bigger players in the travel and tourism industry,” said Okoli. “In the past, I’ve had to dig the internet, like the depths of the internet, to find local tour operators to use for the experiences I wanted to do.”
Okoli explained that historically, many African tour purveyors have been unable to list their experiences on other travel experience platforms. She noted that it’s because some of TripZapp’s competitors don’t allow certain countries to list experiences on their platforms. Another reason is that an African tour provider may not have a foreign bank account, which disqualifies it from being able to list an experience on some platforms.
Additionally, even if those platforms do allow local providers to list tours, Okoli says that travel experiences in Africa, and their guides, are not promoted enough.
“The ads you see online are just, ‘Oh, go to Spain or go to this other place in Europe. Or the United States, or whatever.’ That’s where they’re spending their ad budget – not on promoting African travel,” Okoli stated. “That’s the gap that we [at TripZapp] want to fill. We want to be able to make African travel easy, demystify it, and have one place where you go to.”
TripZapp vets tour operators before listing them as options on its site. That way, travelers can shorten their time researching and sifting through safe experiences relevant to their tastes. According to Okoli, the website’s ease of use speaks to its core purpose. “It’s actually ‘Find a trip and zap.’ [That’s] pretty much how the name TripZapp came about. Our tagline is ‘Find it, book it, and zap.'”
