Caren Banks went to work for a top safari company in Southern Africa at the ripe old age of 17 and her life changed forever.

After moving to the United States, Caren spent the 1980’s in a highly successful detour through the world of mergers, acquisitions and finance.  However, a part of each year was always spent traveling to remote corners of Africa, and it was not long before sustainable tourism became more important than financial portfolios.  So Caren left the corporate world to return to her dream — the African bush.

In 1992 Caren founded Nature Encounters, a small boutique travel company specializing in custom designed adventures for the discerning traveler. Over the years Nature Encounters forged strong relationships throughout the African continent and established a reputation for integrity and expertise.
In June of 2002 Caren decided to pursue a new challenge and approached her favorite properties in Africa to put together Caren’s Best, an exclusive collection of outstanding camps and lodges, inns and retreats, and remote private stations in order to share theseuniqueowner-operated properties with many more visitors nationwide.

 In her spare time Caren enjoys putting some of her other creative talents to work by writing travel articles as well as consulting for travel programs and films.