BRIDGE & WICKERS

With nothing more than a few family trips to Europe for experience, after university I decided to drastically broaden my horizons with an 18 month trip around the world which included spending a year living and working in Australia. My journey also took me through South East Asia, I spent some time in New Zealand, and finally stopped over in the U.S. en route back to the U.K. With my new-found passion for travel and a strong desire to get away again as quickly as possible, it made perfect sense to seek a job in the travel industry, and so in 1998 I began working for Bridge the World in the Australia & New Zealand department.

While with the company I managed to visit both Australia and New Zealand again as well as adding further destinations to a steadily growing list - Mexico, China, Vietnam, U.A.E, Qatar, Egypt, and the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. to name but a few. Perhaps however my most memorable trips were the two journeys I made through Africa, eventually linking Cape Town with Nairobi via South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. From the stunning dunes of Namibia to the game-rich Okavango Delta in Botswana; from the white-sand beaches of Zanzibar to the vast expanse of the Serengeti, I was absolutely amazed by the diversity of scenery and equally captivated by the thrill of the game drive, never knowing what exciting scene from nature would be played out before me.

Upon leaving Bridge the World in 2005 I went to work for Abercrombie & Kent, a company with its very roots in Africa, and it was here that I was able to fully realise my growing love for the continent, visiting Tanzania and more recently Botswana (my favourite country by far!) in much more detail as well as gaining better knowledge of the other countries I had previously travelled through. I also had the opportunity to experience such diverse destinations as Northern India, Morocco, the Maldives, Canada and the Caribbean. Finally I decided it was time to bring my wealth of expertise to enhance the Africa team at Bridge & Wickers, a home-coming of sorts.

Favourite Place

Although this can often simply be the last place I have visited, Botswana has always been in my top three and since my most recent visit is now definitely number one! There are few other places on earth where I could breakfast with semi-habituated elephants one morning and have meerkats climbing all over me the next! With such a diverse range of habitats and eco-systems to explore, from rivers and vanishing Deltas to salt pans and deserts, it cannot be beaten as a safari destination!