Francesco Galli Zugaro Has Been Building Toward This Moment for 20 Years
How the founder of Aqua Expeditions turned a single Amazon river ship into the world’s most compelling small-ship expedition brand and why his newest vessel changes the game for advisors with Africa-obsessed clients.
Photo: Courtesy of Aqua Expeditions
Francesco Galli Zugaro had his first safari at age 7. It took him 18 more—and nearly two decades of building one of the world’s most celebrated expedition brands—to finally put a ship in those waters.
“East Africa has held a special place in my heart since my first safari at age 7,” he said at the launch of Aqua Lares, the brand’s sixth vessel. “It’s surreal to now return with our own expedition yacht.”
The result is something advisors with Africa-obsessed clients have been waiting for, even if they didn’t know to ask. Aqua Expedition’s Aqua Lares debuted in the Seychelles in February as an ultra-luxury, ice-class expedition yacht that sails East Africa in winter and the Arctic in summer. It is the only vessel of its kind in either region available to book by the cabin.
The gap in the Africa itinerary
The problem Galli Zugaro is solving is one most luxury advisors know well: a client who has done Botswana, Tanzania, and the Serengeti, and wants the Indian Ocean leg to be more than a poolside villa.
“Africa struggled in the past. Where do all the safari guests go if they want to finish with an incredible beach or marine life experience?” Galli Zugaro told Luxury Travel Report. “There’s limited product. A lot of them used to just jump on a plane and go to Seychelles and do a resort-style stay.”
Aqua Lares offers a different answer. The 250-foot ice-class expedition yacht carries a maximum of 30 guests with a 1:1 crew-to-guest ratio, sailing the Seychelles, Aldabra Atoll, Zanzibar, and coastal Tanzania from November through April, before repositioning to Svalbard and the Arctic Circle from June through September.
Itineraries run from five to 11 nights. The five-night sailing covers the Seychelles’ inner islands—biking La Digue, spotting the critically endangered Seychelles paradise flycatcher on Praslin, and landing on white-sand beaches inaccessible to larger vessels. The nine-night expedition ventures into the Outer Islands, anchoring at Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to more than 150,000 giant tortoises. Extended 10- and 11-night sailings link the Seychelles with Zanzibar and Tanzania, including Astove Atoll (home to what Galli Zugaro describes as a 1,600-foot drop wall, one of the largest in the world) and historic Swahili-Arabian ports like Kilwa Kisiwani.
For clients who want to stitch it into a broader Africa trip, Galli Zugaro sees Lares as the missing connective tissue. “How cool is it now that you can finish in Zanzibar after any land-based program, then do a 10-night expedition—Zanzibar, Mafia Island for whale sharks, Aldabra for the tortoises,” he said. “Aqua Lares provides an opportunity to complement a safari-based [trip] in East Africa that wasn’t being serviced.”
A ship built for two worlds
The East Africa-Arctic pairing wasn’t accidental. The Arctic season runs in summer; East Africa in winter. The ship’s ice-class certification allows her to push north of 80 degrees latitude, roughly 150 nautical miles from the North Pole.
“We were the northernmost ship in the world last summer,” Galli Zugaro said, recalling the vessel’s maiden Arctic run after he purchased her. “It was pretty unique to be up there in 24 hours of daylight, breaking ice at midnight, and looking for polar bears.”
On board, interiors were developed by design director Birgit Galli Zugaro in collaboration with Milan-based HOTLAB. There are 12 suites and three twin cabins across six decks, including three Owners’ Suites up to 710 square feet, a cinema, gym, sauna, two Jacuzzis, and a panoramic sun deck bar. Five tenders (three Zodiacs and two Rafnar shock-absorbing hulls), along with kayaks, paddleboards, mountain bikes, and full dive and snorkel equipment, allow the ship to reach places larger vessels can’t.
The daily routine onboard Lares is active by design. In East Africa, divers are off by 8:15 a.m.; snorkelers and non-divers follow. The ship repositions midday to a new bay or island, and afternoon excursions, whether it be a second snorkel site, kayaking, or stand-up paddleboarding, follow. Traditional dhow boats are chartered to track whale sharks. Galli Zugaro, who spent seven weeks aboard during the inaugural East Africa season, hosting the first three trips, said guests were reliably exhausted by nine in the evening.
“It’s about appealing to the sense of exploration,” he told LTR. “There’s a little structure, but there’s also this freedom. Because we’re small, we can change the itinerary—if the guides see a pod of dolphins, the ship reroutes. The minute you push guests a little outside their comfort zone is when the magic moments happen.”
The culinary piece
Dining has always been a differentiator for Aqua, and Lares marks a new milestone. The brand recently appointed award-winning chef Karime López as consulting chef, making Aqua Expeditions the only cruise line in a permanent partnership with a Michelin-recognized female chef.
López, born in Mexico and formally trained in Paris, earned her star in 2018 as head chef at Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Florence, the first Mexican woman to do so. Her career has taken her through kitchens across Spain, Peru, Japan, and Italy, and that range is reflected in the Lares menus: Mediterranean and coastal Creole flavors worked through Japanese technique. Zanzibar-spiced rib eye. Lobster tagliatelle finished with caviar. Creole shrimp curry with fried plantain. As the ship moves into Arctic waters, the menus shift and become richer, more seasonal, and more attuned to the colder region.
“Dining is a big pillar of our brand,” Galli Zugaro said. “Over the years, we’ve partnered with several consulting chefs on full retainer. They’re with us on an ongoing basis. It’s positioned us as a culinary destination, and I’m super proud of that.”
The full roster now includes Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino overseeing Amazon and Galapagos sailings, Chef Benjamin Cross handling Aqua Blu and the Mekong, and López taking Lares. Each chef hosts select departures in person, a detail worth surfacing for clients who prioritize food as much as wildlife.
What advisors should know
Aqua Lares rates start at $9,000 per person for a five-night sailing, based on double occupancy. Private charters for up to 30 guests begin at $385,000 for five nights.
The U.S. market accounts for 60 percent of Aqua’s global business, driven almost entirely by travel advisors. Galli Zugaro is clear about the client profile he’s building for: experienced, active travelers who have done the flagship safari destinations and are looking for a next-level extension—not older guests winding down, but clients in their 40s and 50s who want genuine adventure without sacrificing comfort.
“We’re not a household name, and it probably will never be,” he said. “But in our niche, we’re a nice target for advisors who have that captive audience of guests that have done all the safaris—Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia—and are still wanting to go to Africa.”
The brand now operates six vessels and has carried roughly 40,000 guests over nearly two decades. Growth will remain deliberate—there will be one new ship roughly every three years and never more than 40 guests per vessel, Galli Zugaro emphasized.
Future destinations on his radar: Alaska, the Kimberley, Patagonia, additional rivers in South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. But the philosophy will never change. “I don’t want to sacrifice our ethos and our core DNA for the sake of growing,” he said.
For advisors, that philosophy is precisely the point: in a market crowded with ships that keep getting bigger, Aqua is betting that the most coveted thing in luxury travel is still the feeling that you’ve gone somewhere almost no one else has.
