In the UK it is not permitted to be "VFR on top" The thinking being that you may not find a hole in the cloud to get back down. Nor is night or IFR allowed in singles with fare paying pax. But flying above the clouds and hoping for a whole is normal practise in places where there are no instrument approaches, otherwise nobody would ever get anywhere in Africa out in the bush. However, having said that. Pilots without an instrument rating are taking a chance when they do this. What if there is no way down at destination and they have to return to where they started only to find that that airport is now socked in with clouds down to minima. Maybe the guy could hack it and maybe not but either way it is dangerous and illegal for him to try. Fare paying pax deserve and should get a properly qualified pilot to look after them.
But I am pretty sure that the vast majority VFR pilots who ferry pax around to all the safari lodges etc., know their area and the local weather very well and do not do silly things.
Lets be fair, bush pilots carry hundreds of thousands of pax around Africa safely every year.
