At Big Five Tours & Expeditions, May 16 is marked as a day of worldwide service. The reason for this? Honoring the memory of company founder, Mahen Sanghrajka, who started the brand in 1973, and expanded it with the goal of making a positive social and environmental impact in destinations around the world.
And today, 52 years after its founding, Mahen’s son, Ashish Sanghrajka, still carries the same ideals as president of the company.
“My father shared something my grandfather would say — it’s not his quote, but he said it all the time — and that was, ‘We come into this world with nothing, we’ll leave with nothing. It’s what we do in the middle that counts,” Sanghrajka said. “Big Five exists for this. It’s who we are as a family and as a company. Everything we do — in terms of the clients we serve, the tours we offer, where we operate — revolves around that.”
In practice, that translates to a strong focus on sustainability and conservation; careful consideration of how and where the company operates; and the 2007 establishment of the Spirit of Big Five Foundation, which supports local communities and the environment through on-the-ground projects. Last year, the brand even won Virtuoso’s Sustainable Leadership: Supporting Local Economies award (one of many honors it has received for its work over the years).
Here’s a look at how the company grew from its Kenya-only start to its current operations in 44 destinations, along with a glimpse at how it prioritizes giving back — offering plenty of reasons for travel advisors to consider working with Big Five.
Since your father’s legacy is such a big part of Big Five, tell us a little about him and what led him to found the company.
My father started the company in 1973, and at that point it was very simple — we were taking people on driving safaris through Kenya. It’s amazing, because this company started with $1,000. My father never went to college. He lost both his parents before he was 20. He started out working in the back room of a hotel as a stock boy and worked his way up, then one day realized that opening a safari company was the way to go.
Fast forward to 1985: While I knew that the company expanded to the U.S. at that time, what I found out later was that we moved to the U.S. not just so my father could expand the company, but more because we were worried about a coup in Kenya and my parents wanted me to have a future. [After] coming to the U.S., we added Latin America. We purchased a company in 1997 that did Asia. We had offices in Kenya, Tanzania and Egypt. We were one of the first North America companies to open offices in Colombia.
But the core tenants of who we are as a company were never lost. My father talked about the fact that the company represented a legacy that had nothing to do with money, but about how people would come to him and say, “This trip changed my life.”
My father talked about the fact that the company represented a legacy that had nothing to do with money, but about how people would come to him and say, “This trip changed my life.”
How did you eventually get involved with the business?
I was the child who told my father, “I don’t want to work in tourism.” I wanted nothing to do with this. And I remember my father saying, “There’s no pressure, go follow your dreams.”
In 2002, we were spending a month in India together, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I was falling out of love with finance. And [as we were] spending time together, I realized that the company’s purpose had become sharper over the years. It wasn’t just about travel; it was about searching for a higher purpose.
And I looked at my father and said, “I work for a company that has $1 trillion in the bank. And it’s the least-fulfilling job I have ever had because there's no sense of social responsibility. So, if conservation and a higher purpose is what you want, then let’s go.”
In 2002, I joined the company working in the Asia division. And then I was given a free hand to work on the conservation side.
Tell us a little about how social responsibility influences the company’s operations.
I have realized two things about the travel industry: One, its actual reach can never be properly calculated. And two, the reach that you can see is further than any other industry. When you talk about dollars going into different countries, into communities in need, into conservation for animals, there’s no better and more direct way to do it than [with] travel.
Big Five's foundation supports community- and environment-based projects in a variety of destinations, such as replanting sea grass in Sri Lanka.
Credit: 2025 Big Five Tours & ExpeditionsSo, in 2005, we started a foundation to deal with poverty alleviation and preservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage. It was about positioning the company to stand for help. One of our first projects was helping to fund a recycling center that goes to the Galapagos Islands. The second project was about the preservation of the reef system off the coast of Belize. It started there, and then it shifted to people coming to us and saying, “This is where we need help.”
Today, we have a micro-entrepreneurship project in Peru that teaches women to empower themselves through weaving; we have a clean water project in Guatemala — there’s a whole list. And the foundation is not there to serve the company. The company is there to serve the foundation. Every one of our trips supports these projects.
The foundation is not there to serve the company. The company is there to serve the foundation. Every one of our trips supports these projects.
How do these ideals and projects impact the travel experience with Big Five?
If you’re going to Egypt, for example, we openly tell travelers that tourism is the leading driver of women’s rights in Egypt, and we’ll carve out an evening to go meet [one of those women] and talk about politics, women’s rights, pop culture — anything you want. And we partner with local archeologists, the ones doing the actual work, [offering] fair and livable wages. In return, we get access to some of their newest discoveries. So, that’s how clients really get engaged and involved.
The company encourages travel to off-the-beaten-path areas, such as Peru's less-visited northern region.
Credit: 2025 Big Five Tours & ExpeditionsWhat is Big Five working on next?
We are now in the process of remaking a lot of our tours in Argentina because of a new open skies agreement that means certain airports in the country are going to go international. So, that’s going to change the landscape of Argentina travel, and we’re working on a bunch of new programs.
Who are you looking to work with?
Our niche is so defined in terms of conservation and social responsibility. We have conference calls with new advisors all the time — and we make a conscious decision not to work directly with the public — who say, “Why should I work with you?” Most companies will data dump all these sales points. During your first conversation with me, I will do everything I can to talk you out of working with us, because I don’t want to talk you into it if it’s not the right fit. That’s why we have such a high conversion rate — 70-80% — for our customized proposals.
During your first conversation with me, I will do everything I can to talk you out of working with us, because I don’t want to talk you into it if it’s not the right fit.
If somebody comes to us about India and says, “I want to go to the Golden Circle,” if it seems like a traditional circuit, we’ll have them book with somebody else. In Peru, we’ll get Machu Picchu out of the way in the beginning, because we want to show you the secret workings of the Sacred Valley. We want to get you up to Northern Peru, where the ruins are 1,000 years older than Machu Picchu. We want you to think critically and maybe rethink what you thought you knew. We’re simply creating independent, thought-through travel.
