I’ve always loved travelling and my bucket list has more places to travel to than anything else. Cuba is top of my list, then India, Egypt, Israel, Senegal, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Mexico and Kenya.
Oh and then there’s Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, Chile, Turkey, Spain, Tanzania, Mali, Vietnam, Borneo… Oh all right, I want to see the world.
Being a journalist has meant plenty of travel opportunities and I’ve been lucky enough to study overseas as well.
A few months ago when I decided that I needed a change, I sat down and wrote specifics of what I wanted my new job to be – travel and writing were top of the list.
Flow Communications came along and with it the opportunity to work on the South African Tourism account. I’m still smiling!
I travel, physically and virtually, and I love it.
A few weeks ago I visited Gauteng’s first free-roaming Big 5 game reserve, Dinokeng. Part of the itinerary was a visit to nearby informal settlements.
It’s amazing to see how tourism has contributed to the development of the areas. And how the locals are, in turn, harnessing unique aspects of their communities and drawing in tourists – a definite win-win situation.
I’m discovering so much of South Africa – from game reserves and hotels to tea gardens and homestays in informal settlements. And the people I meet are simply awesome.
I’ve also rediscovered my love of photography and pictures, an interest that’s been dormant for too long.
I’m not the only person at Flow who travels for work. Several of my colleagues have recently had amazing experiences such as, travelling to China for a China/South Africa scientific collaboration, participating in a live game capture safari in the Northern Cape, tracking rhinos in the remote Karongwe area and going on a picture safari in one of the country’s most exclusive game reserves.
These trips definitely sustain us on those days when we are stuck in the office, having to contend with meeting after meeting and endless administration.
