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 About African Sky Safaris and Tours
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African Sky Safaris and Tours is a South African Tour Operator, which was established in 1998 as a closed corporation in the Republic of South Africa (Cc No 98/24392/23) African Sky has successfully acted as a Tour and Safari operator in South and Southern Africa since then. Please view testimonials of clients who have travelled with us on a South African Tour or African Safari. Our office is based in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, from where we co-ordinate safaris and tours which are conducted by us in all corners of Southern Africa. Our tour and safari guides are based in various areas of Southern Africa from Cape Town in South Africa to Livingstone in Zambia. We are a South Africa Tour operator who strive to bring you a unique and memorable Southern African experience through our expertise and our commitment to ensuring each of our clients depart from Southern Africa with memories of a wonderful experience in one of the world’s most remarkable areas. We are members of the Southern African Tourism Services Association (membership number 1145), and subscribe to their code of conduct. Each member of our team has years of experience in the Southern African Tourism Industry.
What we are not :
- A large South African Tour Operator selling mass Southern African tourism internationally.
- A company conducting scheduled departure coach tours.
- A promoter of low quality, low cost services.
- A travel agent that promotes 3rd party safaris and tours.
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What we are:
- A small South African Tour Operator with a high level of expertise.
- Experienced in conducting safaris and tours in Southern Africa.
- A tour operator dedicated to a personalized experience where no client ever becomes just another number.
- A company with the knowledge and infrastructure to make your safari or tour a memorable one.
- A tour operator that operates safaris and tours in South and Southern Africa, not an agent.
- A company that provides quality safaris and tours at reasonable prices.
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 Riaan Viljoen
(General Manager)
Riaan is a graduate of the University of Pretoria’s school for economic and business sciences. He has over fourteen years of experience in the Southern African tourism industry and has spent two years in Europe and the United States.
There he acquired an understanding of the perceptions and expectations of foreign visitors to South Africa. He founded African Sky Safaris and Tours in 1998 and has since established the company as a South African Tour Operator which provides quality tourism services in South Africa and the countries of Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. Riaan has travelled extensively in Southern Africa and ensures that all members of the African Sky team are well qualified and trained professionals who are committed to providing exceptional service to all of our clients. Many of whom have returned on numerous occasions and have over the years become friends. |
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 Andrew Harvey - Sales Manager
(Based in Johannesburg/Pretoria)
Andrew has an extensive knowledge photographic safaris in southern Africa. He has guided many safaris across southern and east Africa, from Cape Town to Nairobi and everywhere in between. Andrew is able to expertly assist with all questions pertaining to your tour or safarii. He will provide you with detailed proposals and will work with you until we create a perfect fit between your specific requirements and the service offerred.
He is a keen wildlife photographer and has spent much time guiding photographic and wildlife safaris in many of Africa’s great parks, including the Kruger National Park in South Africa, Etosha in Namibia, and Chobe and the Okavango Delta in Botswana, to mention a few. His love of Africa and its fauna and flora started when he was young, where, as a child growing up on a farm, he spent many years in the bush, observing nature firsthand in his formative years.
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 Anelize Loubser
(Operations Manager)
Annelize is a graduate of the University of Pretoria’s tourism management department. She is tasked with managing the operations of the company on a daily basis. This entails ensuring all the logistical aspects of the tours and safaris we conduct are in place.
She receives daily reports from guides in the field which ensures that our office team is immediately aware of any problems which might arise. This enables us to act pro actively to resolve any issues and to ensure that we provide our clients with a comprehensive and quality experience in Southern Africa. Her attention to detail and her ability to focus on the tasks at hand make Annelize a very valuable member of our management team.
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 Magda Viljoen
(Sales and Marketing Consultant)
Magda has over fourteen years experience in sales and marketing. She is a recent addition to our team who is tasked with expanding the client and agent base of African Sky Safaris and Tours internationally. She has an intimate knowledge of Southern Africa and the services offered by African Sky.
Magda can provide clients with expert advice. This enables clients to make informed decisions when deciding on a specific safari or tour in Southern Africa. Magda deals with international agents who promote our services on a daily basis to make sure they provide their clients with proper information and documentation. She is focussed on ensuring that the quality of our communications and all pre tour or safari dealings with clients is to the highest standard. |
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 Dean Kuhn
(Book Keeper)
Dean is tasked with maintaining our accounts. Although not a glamorous position, it is a fundamentally important function in any company. Dean works with precision and dedication and makes sure that the ever increasing amount of paperwork and red tape is attended to.
The t’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted under his careful watch. This enables our other office staff to focus on their responsibilities, with the knowledge that one of the company’s very important functions is in capable hands and is attended to timely and professionally.
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 Rentia Grobbelaar
(Office Administrator)
Rentia is a perfectionist who ensures that the office administration and general filing work is done with the precision of building a space shuttle.
She works behind the scenes but plays an important role in any tour or safari which is conducted by African Sky. Client files, vouchers and invoices which are comprehensive and detailed are generated by Rentia. She maintains an exceptional filing system which enables the rest of our team to always have necessary documentation and information at their finger tips.
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 Bill Gibbons
(United States Representative) Bill Gibbons is a retired US Air Force Officer and Airline Captain, who after travelling with African Sky as a client decided to take a more active role in African Tours and Safaris. He has been travelling for more than 50 years and possesses an extensive knowledge of all aspects pertaining to his hobby and passion.
Bill is more a friend than an agent, although he has not visited every part of the Sub continent, he has travelled in Southern Africa on numerous occasions. Bill might not be able to provide detailed information pertaining to all that Southern Africa has to offer, but he can relay your request to the appropriate member of our team and he knows everyone in our team personally and has a comprehensive understanding of the way in which African Sky conducts business. |
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 Ruan & Wian Viljoen
(Management Trainees)
At African Sky training and education is deemed to be of exceptional importance. Two of our management trainees have recently been photographed, while on a field training exercise in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve.
Both show an aptitude for learning and seem to have already acquired a love for the wilderness of Africa and the experiences and opportunities for learning which these wild places present. In due course they will hopefully become fully fledged members of our team and there will be some continuation in a company built as much around a passion for Africa as normal business principles.
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 Hennie du Toit - Guide
(Based in Johannesburg/Pretoria)
Hennie has spent much of his life in the African wilderness and has a great understanding of the fauna and flora of our sub continent. He has led a large number of safaris throughout the years and is sure to add value to your experience. The Kruger National Park is his speciality, and it would be rare to encounter another person who has such an intimate knowledge of this area and its inhabitants.Hennie has been working as a full time tour and safari guide for six years after a career spanning more than twenty years in the South African Police Force. Hennie is a very reliable and incredibly knowledgeable person. Hennie is registered as a tour guide with the relevant authorities and is committed to making your travels in our part of the world an experience not to be forgotten. |
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 Mary Anne Finlay - Guide
(Based in Johannesburg/Pretoria)
Mary-Anne has been in the tourism industry for ten years, she has a three year diploma in travel and tourism management and has guided extensively in Southern Africa. She is very experienced in leading tours in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
Mary Anne is a keen photographer and enjoys sharing the great and small elements that the African continent has to offer. She a has great passion for not only the South African Bushveld, but the lonely dessert scenery of Namibia, where the stillness is broken by the call of a lonely jackal and the rustic nature of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia, where the lion roars early in the mornings to signal the dawning of a new day.
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 Andre Hamman - Guide
(Based in Cape Town)
Andre is an experienced tour guide who has been leading safaris and tours for African Sky for at least seven years. The depth of his knowledge on South and Southern Africa is nothing short of astounding as any clients who have toured Andre will bear testament to. He is registered as a national guide with relevant authorities and is an expert in virtually all areas pertaining to travel in South Africa. Andre will be heading our guiding team in Cape Town from the first of August 2010 and both he and his wife Amanda will ensure that our guiding services in Cape Town are maintained to the highest standard and that the African Sky team in this part of South Africa is strengthened by the addition of two very experienced and professional guides. |
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 Amanda Hamman - Guide
(Based in Cape Town)
Amanda has been a national guide for more than ten years. She is extremely knowledgeable in all areas pertaining to South and South Africa.
From the history of the region to the cultures of the various tribes and the habits and behaviour of the various mammal species Amanda will enrich your travelling experience in our part of the world. Through the years Amanda has led a countless number of tours with great success. Clients who had the privilege of touring with Amanda have always had only the most positive of feedback.
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 Zirk Roeloffse - Guide
(Based in Johannesburg/Pretoria)
Zirk is an expert nature guide who has been leading nature related activities in South Africa for over 11 years. In these years he gained extensive knowledge of the South Africa wilderness. The areas which Zirk has frequented over the years include Zululand in the KwaZulu Natal Province, the Eastern Free State, the Kalahari, the Lowveld region which includes the Kruger National Park and the Bushveld areas of Limpopo.Clients who are accompanied by Zirk have only great things to say about his general manner as well as the skill and knowledge he employs to make safari experiences in South Africa unforgettable. Zirk is the natural choice on safaris where clients seek an in depth and detailed experience in the wildlife areas of Southern Africa. |
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 Karien Kremmer - Guide
(Based in Livingstone)
Karien was born in the Netherlands, as she would say “a very long time ago”. She started working in the Tourism Industry in 1973 and moved to Africa for the first time in 1975. In these early days she worked and lived in what is now Zimbabwe.She returned to Europe in the late 70’s and took travellers around the Globe as a Tour Director. Many countries in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific and the America’s was where a lot of tours took her, but Africa was the place she has always been most passionate about , returning for 5 to 6 tours every year. In 1997 Karien said farewell to her suitcase and settled for good in Zambia where she joined her husband Peter. She offers our clients exceptional experiences at the Victoria Falls, both on the Zambian and the Zimbabwean side of the river. She also ensures that the transfers between Livingstone and Chobe are timely and that the safari experiences we offer in northern Botswana are well managed. |
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 Joseph Mabuku - Guide
(Based in Livingstone)
Joseph was born and educated in Livingstone. He is of the Losi People from the Western Province in Zambia. This tribe has been living on the banks of the Zambezi River for centuries. Their collective knowledge of the natural world has been handed down to Joseph. He started working as a tourist guide in 2001 and was trained by the former game warden of Mosi O Tunya National Park. Joseph started walking tours, rhino walks and game drives in the Mosi O Tunya National Park and later became a Victoria Falls, Livingstone and regional guide. You will enjoy his friendly and helpful manner and a level of bush skill only a lifetime spent in the African Wilderness can develop |
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 Andre Brand - Guide
(Based in Cape Town)
Andre has been an active tour guide in the Western Cape for over nine years. He has a deep appreciation for nature and is moved by the grand landscapes which the Western Cape Region offers.
He is an expert in leading tours to the little Karoo and Garden Route areas in the eastern part of the Western Cape. He is also an expert in the City of Cape Town and the more desolate regions which lie to the north west of Cape Town. Clients who see Andrew upon their arrival at Cape Town International airport can rest assured in the knowledge that they are in very capable hands. |
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 Kobus de Jonge - Guide
(Based in Johanneburg/Pretoria)
Kobus is a national guide who has for some years also been involved with the training of young guides and with ensuring that their skills meet statutory requirements. His knowledge and experience is sure to add value to any safari or tour he leads.
Kobus is a trained medic who ensures all of our other guides are proficient in the application of first aid - a necessary pre-caution. He is also an expert safari guide who's knowledge of the fauna and flora of South Africa is seldom rivaled. |
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 Louis Geyser - Guide
(Based in Cape Town)
Louis is a trained mathematician, whose passion for Southern Africa has led to his training as a safari and tour guide. Golf is a game that has frustrated and delighted him for many years. He is an expert on the courses of the country and has successfully led many a golf tour.Loui's exceptional people skills combine with his diverse knowledge base to make him a very capable safari and tour guide who will certainly add value to your South African experience. |
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 Andrew van der Walt - Guide
(Based in Johannesburg/Pretoria)
Andrew was born and raised in Namibia where he developed a passion for nature and the conservation value of eco tourism. Andrew has exceptional people skills.
His warm and amicable manner puts clients at ease on the first day of a tour. Andrew has been working in the Southern African tourism industry for 19 years and has an intimate knowledge of the people, the cultures; history and wildlife of Southern Africa. Andrew has guided extensively in Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zambia. His experience enhances any safari or tour which is led by Andrew.
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