Sixteen is a lot of African safaris. That’s how many Francesco Galli Zugaro has done, in addition to countless cruises to islands and tours of destinations on mainlands all around the world. As he wrote in The New York Times back in 2006, he’s basically a professional vacationer, fulfilling his own desire to have amazing experiences while checking out the competition for his company, Aqua Expeditions. “People who expect the world when they go on vacation—and who pay for that privilege—tend to get a ‘been there, done that’ attitude about certain destinations,” he wrote nearly two decades ago. His personal experience has taught him that this attitude persists when it comes to yacht charter, which is largely based in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.
That’s why he’s always looking for new regions to base one of his fleet vessels. And now he has found one.
“Finally, I was able to get down to Aldabra, which is the gateway to the Seychelles,” he says. “It’s a group of islands in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It’s the second-largest coral atoll in the world. It’s got over 150,000 giant tortoises in an uninhabited island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. That’s 10 times the size of the population in the Galapagos.”
He felt that visiting this part of the world was an extraordinary experience, so much so that he was willing to invest the three years’ worth of time and effort it takes to base one of his fleet vessels there. Starting in late 2025, Aqua Expeditions will have itineraries available aboard a newly refitted 200-plus-foot vessel in not only the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, but also Zanzibar, Tanzania, on the eastern coast of Africa.
“This is beyond the inner group of islands, places like the iconic La Digue. It’s not easy to get to,” he says. “I got there and discovered an opportunity to do something. Zanzibar is known as a spice island of East Africa, so I thought, why not create this opportunity for guests? We have about 38,000 guests who have traveled with Aqua. They’ve done all these places. This is something new.”
Zanzibar is virtually unheard of as a destination for luxury charters. Some international-caliber yachts do visit the Seychelles but typically cruise near La Digue and the Inner Islands. The region where Aqua Expeditions will operate is farther afield, in a location where it would be challenging for an individual yacht making a temporary visit to arrange a one-off charter booking, let alone be ready with access to protected excursion sites and knowledgeable guides.
“There are some small three- or four-cabin catamarans that you can charter out of the Seychelles, but nothing that is this class,” he says. “There’s nothing at the high end of expedition cruising, either by charter or by-the-cabin, that’s scheduled in a way that is sellable and bookable.”
As with all of its vessels, Aqua Expeditions will offer charters here by-the-cabin or full-vessel, with the latter being how traditional charter yachts are booked. About 30 percent of the company’s business is full-vessel bookings, Zugaro says, and about 60 percent of the clients come from the United States.
“The Seychelles and East Africa have been slightly more of a European destination,” he says. “We have past guests from America who may do the Maldives or Caribbean, but they don’t do the Seychelles. I think the Seychelles beats the Maldives with the tropical setting and natural component. There’s a wow factor of the natural beauty.”
Setting up shop in parts of the world that have this kind of a wow factor for well-traveled clients isn’t easy. Aqua Expeditions, which Zugaro founded in 2007, now has experience delivering on the promise in the Peruvian Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Indonesia. Guests can expect the same level of luxury and service in this new region, Zugaro says, despite its lack of traditional yachting infrastructure.
“The less infrastructure, for me, the better,” he says. “Our ships don’t go alongside a big marina. These are expeditions. You want the ship to have autonomy. We do that in the Galapagos with two-week itineraries. The same thing goes here.”
Also, in this part of the world, he says, a key element is the quality of the guides. There are 27 guides working for Aqua Expeditions, providing expertise in ways that work for even the most well-traveled clients.
“We have one guide for every four couples on our trips,” he says. “This means the trip can be more customized, if they are more snorkelers or birdwatchers or whatever they like.”
The new vessel will offer about four activities a day with some structured timing to address challenges, such as entering and exiting lagoons at the proper heights of tidal shifts, he says. This is different from a charter where guests can simply decide where they might want the yacht to go the next morning, but a schedule is necessary when you’re talking about experiences that are a world away from shopping on St. Barts or sipping cocktails off St. Tropez.
“When you push the guests a little bit out of their comfort zone, that’s when they have the real wow moments, and that’s what we do,” Zugaro says. “They have to have some faith in the guides and the activities that we’ve put together for them to experience the best of the destination. They’re not there to lounge about and sunbathe. They can do that in the Med anytime they want. Here, the setting lends itself to going out and being active, and coming back to a beautiful ship.”
Get Ready to Book
The 15-stateroom, 200-plus-foot vessel Aqua Expeditions plans to introduce in this region next year will be the sixth vessel in the company’s global fleet. More details about the new addition are expected to become available in a month or so, with bookings opening soon and charter operations beginning at the end of November 2025.
Aldabra
Aldabra, in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, is the world’s second-largest coral atoll. The land tortoises that roam here can grow to 550 pounds and live for 150 years. The presence of so many tortoises is why people call this island “the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.”
Cosmoledo
Also in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, Cosmoledo has become known as a bucket-list destination for saltwater fly-fishing. Anglers who wet a line here often go for giant trevally, but they can also encounter a wide diversity of bonefish, milkfish, permit and various species of triggerfish.
Kilwa Kisiwani
This hamlet in Tanzania has fewer than 1,000 residents. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where cultural tourism is regulated to protect the integrity of the artifacts. The Great Mosque here dates back to the 12th century. The Husuni Kubwa, or “great palace,” dates to the early 14th century.
Stone Town
Stone Town is the capital of the Zanzibar archipelago. For generations, it was a main trading post on the spice, silk and slave routes. African, Arabian, European and Indian cultures are all represented here, with walkable streets and alleyways that feel like a labyrinth.
Pemba
Part of the Zanzibar archipelago, Pemba is known for snorkeling and diving on coral reefs, and for birdwatching ashore. Pemba is also the world’s primary exporter of the clove spice, with millions of clove trees that can grow to 50 feet in height. That’s the origin of Pemba’s nickname, “Clove Island.”
Farquhar
Farquhar is an atoll within the Farquhar island group in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It’s named for British merchant Robert Townsend Farquhar, who worked for the East India Company as well as the British government during the early 19th century.
Mahé
Mahé is the largest island in the Seychelles, and will serve as a primary pickup and drop-off point for Aqua Expeditions charter clients. Airlines that operate here include Air France, Emirates, Qatar and Turkish Airlines. From the New York City region, a one-stop flight takes at least 18 hours.
East Africa
Tanzania, where Aqua Expeditions is scheduling charters, is more than 1,000 miles south of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. “The concern about pirates is way, way north of where we’re operating,” says founder and CEO Francesco Galli Zugaro. “Tanzania is not the concern. That’s where we are operating.”
Aldabra Giant Tortoise
The Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean are known for their population of giant tortoises, which number around 20,000. On Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, the number is closer to 150,000. This is the world’s largest population of the species. Historically, the Indian Ocean region was home to 18 or more varieties of tortoise, but only this species remains because of sailors who hunted them and introduced rats, cats and pigs that ate their hatchlings and eggs.
Take the next step: aquaexpeditions.com
