I was born in Benoni, along the gold Rand, South Africa and in my late teens I decided that I wanted to become a Game Ranger. I thought it would be the perfect way of combining all my favourite hobbies. It was this intense love of Africa that enabled me to complete a degree in Nature Conservation in Pretoria in 1995. From there my African adventure just soared. I completed a very tough cadetship in the Natal Parks Board, one of the first women to do so. It was in northern Natal that I cut my teeth and was able to experience buffalo and rhino capture first hand amongst many other game management experiences. My desire to see more led me to work as a guide for CCAfrica, first in South Africa at Phinda, Tswalu, Londolozi and Ngala. I then moved north to Tanzania as the company expanded. There I lived and worked in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Masai Mara. Later my priorities lay with guide training in these areas and even now you may be guided through the Serengeti buy a graduate of my ranger training. Eventually after nine years in the bush I travelled to London to work as a keeper in the London Zoo. Although fascinating, this was not for me and I joined Art of Travel in 2000. Seven years on and I surely have travelled my beloved Africa. My most memorable moments include watching a baby gorilla play in the Ugandan highlands, tree climbing lions in Kafue, getting married under a tree in South Luangwa, the rutting of Cape Fur seals on the skeleton coast, watching Trogons in the forests of Kenya, galloping with zebra and hartebeest in Botswana and tracking leopards in South Africa. All of these coupled with having worked in some of the best lodges in Africa enable me to really understand world class service.



Countries you sell?
South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia

Last five countries visited?
Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa

What has been your favourite travel experience?
Self drive through the Northern Tanzania and the Serengeti with Giles in 2004. Visiting places of interest, inspecting lodges and enjoying the migration on the move. We then picked up two armed moran between loliondo and nowhere and drove with them throught the Gol mountains. You would never pick up such well armed people at home.

Favourite/most impressive natural wonder?
Must be the calving/ mating season of the Cape Fur seal. The mothers give birth and then have to be mated again within 21 days. So in November on the coast of Namibia and Angola you have huge colonies that congregate, the mothers give birth, the males fight and mate. The young are lucky to survive, the smell is overwhelming. You can stand in the middle of these colonies as the males fight around you and pups are crushed under heavy bodies. In the middle of nowhere.

Favourite animal?
The African Rhino , both hook lipped and wide mouthed. And the Leatherback turtle

The best hotel/lodge that you have stayed in?
My best - It was a tent in the Umfolozi Game reserve in Natal on a wilderness trail. At night the roar of the lion was so loud that the tent shuddered and nothing else made a sound. The best - a week on Mnemba at full moon.

Your favourite restaurant?
I love the Carnivore in Nairobi, very commercial but the Dawa doctor makes my day there. Otherwise there is a small restaurant in Cairo called FelFela which makes the worlds best Falafels - has to be tried.

Your favourite guide?
Festus in Namibia, no one can drive over a dune like he can.

What has been your most remote travel experience?
Must have been the day I had to drive deep into northern Tanzania to find a clinic for a staff member of the camp that I was running. He was part of the kitchen staff and had cut his hand and needed stitches. After an our of driving into the bush we came to a crossroad, I asked him which way to go and he said to go right as the other road went to Kenya. Just a dirt track on a dusty plain. It must have been two hours of driving before we found a clinic in the middle of nowhere

Most embarrassing travel experience?
When working at Phinda in Natal and an elephant sat on the bonnet of my vehicle after I had told my guests that there was no way that we would see the elusive and newly introduced elephants in the park.

Essential item that you always take with you on your travels?
Mac in a pack

Your one luxury when you travel?
Werthers Butterscotch

What’s your best piece of travel advice?
Take chewable vitamin C

Where would you most like to go back to?
Tswalu - Kalahari

Where you would like to visit next and why?
The Omo Valley - Ethiopia