By the age of 7, Omar Cherif had already flown on the Concorde from Paris to Rio and walked the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. Raised in Casablanca- where his father ran a fine food exporting business and his mother launched Morocco’s first luxury retail store- this Paris-based travel expert has been around. Even today he meets people in hotels who knew him as a child, and his bespoke travel firm OC Special + Travel is where the jet-set come to discover the most beautiful, exclusive, stylish and hidden spots in the world.
Cherif sees to it that designers, royals, and billionaires- as well as everyday adventure seekers with discerning tastes- have good times in the most amazing places, however impossible the assignment. His belief that each journey is the dream of a new beginning is why Naomi Campbell- also a business partner in OC- asked him to throw her then-boyfriend’s 50th birthday in Jodphur, India where he coordinated over 200 A-list guests arriving on 23 private jets. The 3-day fete- which involved a 15th Century palatial fort- consisted of four different events, relying on a staff of 800.
Some of Cherif’s favorite places are stunningly exotic and include the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa Patagonia, Chile; and the small and privately owned Vamizi Island in Mozambique. Surprises and beautiful memories are always on the itinerary at these distant and unknown places near and far, where the art of traveling is taken to its highest level. If I could be a time traveler – or Wonder Woman- I would hop over to Cherif’s hot-list all at once…but visiting one at a time would be just fine. www.ocspecial.com
