Building a High-Trust Digital Platform for Cedarberg Travel

Custom data architecture, Gutenberg block development, multi-region content, and long-term platform evolution.

Connecting destinations, holidays, accommodations, and itineraries using the WordPress ecosystem. Developing custom post types, taxonomies, custom fields and Gutenberg blocks to build a scalable backend and bespoke frontend experience.

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Client

Cedarberg Travel has operated for over 25 years, offering access to 150+ holiday plans across Africa. Targeting a market worth over 20 billion in 2025, expected to nearly double by 2035.

Positioned as a trusted authority for safari travellers throughout Africa with a website capable of supporting specialised safari packages, multi-country itineraries, and curated accommodation options.

Working with Cedarberg Travel over the span of 10 years, their site needed to adapt to new user expectations, mobile browsing, and an evolving brand direction.

Goal

Traditional WordPress setups can become limiting and hard to scale without a planned intentional data structure. Content needs to dynamically link between destinations, experiences, trip ideas, blogs, and accommodations in a way that mirrors how real travellers research.

All this while also being SEO optimised, ensuring fast load speeds and leading to user conversion.

Role

WordPress Developer, collaborating with senior stakeholders, internal teams, and third-party designers.

Cedarberg Travel - Desktop Design Mockup

Cedarberg Travel Responsive Mobile Design

Work

Migrating from a static build to an all-new WordPress setup in 2015 as well as being part of multiple redesigns and feature expansions across 10 years of development and support. Ensuring the site stayed modern, reliable, and aligned with business goals.

Building a structured, interlinked content plan

Creating post types, taxonomies and custom fields to develop a data structure for 150+ holiday packages, 1000+ accommodations, trip experiences, reviews and blog articles across 175 regions.

Built to connect regions with relevant lodges, experiences, itineraries, and articles, helping visitors explore Africa in a natural, intuitive way.

Custom Gutenberg Blocks creating reusable components

Developed nested blocks using WordPress’s InnerBlocks component to build layouts, making page building and managing content easy while keeping the design consistent across all pages.

Coupled with custom Gutenberg blocks allowing pages to have dynamic content based on content type and region.

Cedarberg Travel - Custom WordPress Taxonomies

Cedarberg Travel - Custom WordPress Gutenberg Blocks

Seasonal pricing with currency conversion

Holidays have best times to travel, seasonal pricing was a must have with start and end dates for each season. Using ACF repeater fields to allow pricing to be planned out throughout the year.

Currency conversion rates were pulled via an API and updated hourly into a WordPress transient to reduce API usage to show pricing across 5 currencies. Giving travellers accurate, transparent pricing regardless of their local currency.

Geo-specific content

With GEOip we able to funnel user across their UK and South African content.

Allowing us to show specials, localised pricing and location specific content. This included which agents to show and contact information relevant to the their users region.

A streamlined booking enquiry flow

A custom enquiry process designed to reduce friction, capture detailed trip requirements, and improve lead quality for the sales team.

This is done using Gravity Forms and a multi-step form fill process with custom date selectors and prefilled data using existing data structures.

Responsive, mobile-first development

Ensuring a smooth browsing experience across phones, tablets, and desktops. Essential for travellers planning on the go.

Cedarberg Travel - Mega Menu Design Mockup

Outcome

The final platform communicates authority, handles complex content gracefully, and gives users a clear path from inspiration to enquiry.

Region pages feel rich and interconnected, pricing stays accurate internationally, and the enquiry process supports Cedarberg’s consultative sales approach.

Over 10 years of iteration and support, the platform stayed stable and adaptable, enabling ongoing feature growth without major rebuilds and supporting Cedarberg’s long-term positioning as a trusted safari travel specialist.

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