Hi my name is Becs and I am an Acacia Team member based in Cape Town….And I am addicted to Africa.
One of our Senior Managers here has asked me to write a few words… as she thinks as part of the Acacia team it’s good for everyone to learn that the people who also work ‘behind’ the scenes are passionate about Africa and have also ‘been there done that… PROUDLY I am from Tasmania, Australia and now I have the pleasure of calling Africa home….
I first worked for Acacia as an Awesome Acacia Tour Leader and I lived three and half years of my life on the road. To be absolutely honest, it was the most exciting and enjoyable time of my life and I have lifelong memories to prove it… Most people who have travelled with me have never forgotten our times together and we have indeed made friends for life!
Now I have left ‘the road’ to a slightly bigger job-Operations Manager…I was lucky enough to be offered originally a job in Operations that quickly became the Manager role. The job is far from easy and I was definitely thrown in the deep end…but I have come out floating and not sinking…Sink or Swim they say?? Still my office job now does not even able to compare to those days of life on the road, however I felt it was a time to take on a more ‘grown up’ job and baaam here I am!
Africa….I need to thank you-just over five years now you have bought me so many experiences.
All the usual highlights on our sensational tours can be found on our website, please refer to our website www.acacia-africa.com for more on that….And remember if you think the pics look good then real life on tour is one thousand times more amazing!!!
Some of my experience in Africa may entice you to come over to the motherland…maybe they will make you jealous (or not?!) Or maybe make you consider a career change?!:
SO here goes…This one time in Africa….I will never forget::
Being offered many cows to become a Masaai wife, only reason I didn’t take it up was that I am certain I would have fought with his other two wives…And maybe I’d be a bit jealous of the time he spent with those other two?? Ha-ha
Being kissed by a giraffe and subsequently getting a Giraffe ‘pash’ rash from it-however they say the Giraffe’s saliva is actually a strong Antiseptic….
Having hippo’s politely stomp on a passengers tent while they were sleeping on my first ever trip…needless to say I learnt a lot form that experience and wasn’t an ACACIA tour ha-ha. Weird thing is the next trip I went back and happened again! Apparently never happened to anyone there before…, following that every time I arrived at Lake Baringo the guards had to light a fire next to my truck and monitor the hippo’s….
Having numerous times being ‘dressed’ up at bad taste clothing party by my passengers, why oh why did they insist on jumpsuits when all I wanted was a crazy pink taffeta dress! That did finally happen one day…
Having seen the MIGRATION in the Serengeti….Priceless and words can not explain how that was so sensational.
Having gotten a flat tyre in the Mara right next to a pride of lions , yes I dutifully ‘watched’ my drivers back while he changed it-from the safety of my seat
Sky diving in Swakopmund, Gorge Swings in Zambia, Quad biking in Swakopmund, Snorkelling in Zanzibar, Cocktails in Zanzibar, Bungi jumping off the highest Bungi Bridge in the world…Yep I have had a few experiences that have made my heart race!
Africa is a place of contrast, adventure, beauty, colours and most importantly FUN!! The thing I miss the most about my travels /overland life are the people, the locals you meet along the way, the friendliness of East African, the waves of the kids when we pass in the trucks, the old person working so hard in the field but all done with a smile. Meeting my other crew mates along the way-they become your ‘family’ while your out there…
Now my life in Operations also another spectrum to my African experience. Never a dull moment when you are looking after crew and trips on the road!! Such is this industry… A typical day can consist of trawling through the hundreds of job applications that arrive daily on my emails, contacting crew with updates whether it be a road is closed, a passenger missed their flight and will have to catch up with the crew elsewhere, confirming prices for passengers who just do not want to leave the trip and instead extend on the tour to the final destination…happens regularly with my awesome crew, no one ever wants a tour to end… Making plans for a truck that has had a break down (very rarely our Trucks are STRONG!!), re routing a trip due to anything from a warning on FCO to weather issues…Balancing accounts and truck scheduling and crew scheduling and crew wages and crew bonuses and crew feedback form and crew phone calls on the amazing 24 /7 emergency phone that I get the honour of manning!!
The next thing on my list of jobs is to convince my boss that I MUST get back to East Africa on safari to brush up on my Swahili and remember how it is for our crew out there on the road…but I wonder… can I handle the possibility of the occasional cold shower? Ha-ha City life changes even the most adventurous but Africa also will change you.
Be careful if you’re considering coming….They say certain people come to Africa and it just gets ‘under’ their skin and they never leave…Looks like I’m on that team! It’d not a bad thing! I am definitely here to stay a while, just look at my dog-Ziggy Bombastic-who could ever leave him?
I’m not sure who wrote this–Sometimes a man is not born to his own home – sometimes he finds his home amongst people he has never known. And it is then, that a man finds true peace
See you when you arrive in Cape Town for a drink!! Yebo!!!