Based in Gloucester Road, South Kensington and established in 1986 Travel Gallery has just celebrated its 34th anniversary during the latest lockdown. Established as a retail travel agent covering the world, they have developed their own program as a specialist tour operator to South America, Asia and the Indian Ocean.
When we asked the founder, Farzana Dobbs why she set up a travel agency fresh out of university and with a degree in Chemistry, she replied it was her lust for travel. In the past ten years she has been joined by her husband Neil and one of her sons, Oli. A truly family enterprise.
Soon after the business was set up, Oli was born and as many mothers are familiar with, running a business and bringing up a young family was filled with many challenges. Oli as a toddler found great amusement in flipping brochures off the shelves, only to have a tedious Saturday job as a teenager of stacking them. As the travel industry changed, so did the business and they concentrated on creating tailor made itineraries to suit most budgets, many of which are now showcased online.
Wanderlust – Having a busy work and family life didn’t stop the family traveling at every opportunity. One of the advantages of owning a travel agency was lots of free stays at hotels and when Farzana could get away on her own, she travelled to more spiritual destinations such as Bhutan or Machu Picchu.  Since lockdown, they have been busy rearranging all the holidays booked for 2020 to 2021 and creating some amazing family adventures such as Budget Bespoke Long Family Adventures and Relaxed Cultural and Wild Life Adventures.
Tea Planter and Hotelier
Farzana was born in Sri Lanka and with Neil they have developed a boutique hotel there on her family’s tea plantation – the Rosyth Estate House Pre-COVID-19 they split their time between Kensington and Sri Lanka. Understanding the needs of families when taking holidays is part of the DNA of Rosyth with most rooms interconnecting and family activities. She says that it has been one of her most enjoyable projects.
So where can we travel now?
There are a few destinations that are open to travellers now and the Maldives has been the most popular island getaway. With the proximity of Sri Lanka to the Maldives, they know the Islands very well and have visited over 30 and it has been their hottest selling destination in the last couple of months. Their clients have been jetting away as soon as the lockdown was lifted. How does one choose the best barefoot luxury spot for you? Take a look at their blog.
Travel Gallery brings a kid’s safari into your living room
One of Farzana’s ideas to keep children engaged over the Christmas holidays is bringing 
wildlife into your living room via virtual safari. Over the next few weeks Travel Gallery is partnering with a number of hotels and partners around the world to bring wildlife alive for children via live zoom links. For the first of the first two events, we are heading to Caiman Ecological Refuge in the southern Pantanal in Brazil.
On our second event we will be joining the Oncafari Project to hear about their conservation initiative that aims to promote ecotourism, especially wildlife watching, in the Pantanal by habituating Jaguars in order for people to witness the behaviour of these animals, from a vehicle, while on safari.
A sneak preview of the film ‘Jaguars: Brazil’s Super Cats (2016-2017) was filmed in conjunction with Caiman Ecological Refuge and Oncafari by the bbc as part of a David Atinborough program in 2016 can be seen here.
Ecotourism is being used as an important conservation tool in many places around the world and as a travel provider based in the UK Travel Gallery are keen to promote traveling with consideration of the environmental impact and ensuring that local communities benefit from the tourists dollars.
We would like to invite your children to join our virtual safari at this free event.
In the two 45 minute sessions they will be transported away to Brazil and immersed in understanding the positive impact which tourism can have on the habit and the wildlife. We will join the Ecological Refuge and the NGO in live session to see wildlife and conservation first-hand.
Why is Travel Gallery doing this? Well, they love travel and big cats. In 2019 Farzana and her husband Neil had to cancel their trip to the Pantanal after the East Bombings in Sri Lanka and then again in May 2020 as the world closed down. Today the loss of tourists is impacting the work of NGOs like Oncafari. This event is designed to stimulate kids to engage with the environment, support conservation and to have some fun on safari.
You will get to meet one of the pioneering team who managed to re-wild two orphan jaguar cubs. So in summary
- Why? Our clients haven’t been able to explore this world. Children have spent too many months at home, and we want to connect them with the natural world, spending some time with Jaguars and thinking about conservation
- Who? Our audience 6-12 years and of course parents If they wish.
- When?17 Dec 20 – 4pm and 18 Dec 20 – 4pm. UK time.
- Where? Zoom – register and we will send you the link
- How much?  Free – if you want to make a small donation to the conservation project we will make the arrangements
- How to grab a place– Please contact Farzana – farzana@travel-gallery.co.uk, Tel 020 7225 1483 or 07711 697 433.
Travel Gallery, based at 5a Gloucester Road, London, SW7 4PP is a fully bonded ABTA & ATOL travel agent selling holidays to destinations around the world. If you are interested in planning a getaway or perhaps working with them as an associate, why not give Farzana a call.
