Q&A WITH AFRICA TRAVEL SPECIALIST,  LIESL MATTHEWS

What do you love most about being a travel consultant?  

I love the process of creating these incredible journeys for my clients, the whole back and forth is part and parcel of the process. Working together to come up with the most ideal trip unique to them, and then they finally get here and have a truly beautiful and life changing experience keeps me motivated and wanting to do more. I’m passionate about what I do and how I do it, as there is truly nothing greater than having a happy client. Having clients tell me that they got all teary when they said goodbye to their ranger is a sign of a job well done by both of us.

 

As travel resumes,  where are your clients wanting to go to and what are their requirements?

Its quite a mixed bag of requests. Some want to enjoy the sights of South Africa because of the diversity this beautiful country has to offer. Others are desperate to re-visit their bucket-list destinations and experiences like gliding down the channels of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Then others want the full East Africa experience where they go gorilla trekking and exploring the wilds of Kenya and Tanzania. Some are a little more conservative and stick to single-country destinations which is a less complicated way to travel in these recent-post-Covid times.

 

What travel trends are you seeing ?

People are desperate to travel. They want to go out exploring and finding themselves again. We have all been in this desperate state of anxiety for so long and there aren’t many people out there who are unaffected. I have read many articles regarding travel trends and they’ve all said that people will want to stay in one location for longer and preferably in exclusive-use type villas. Although all the new bookings I have made for the 2022 season still follow the format of a variety of locations and destinations as per previous years.

I think, as soon as they are able,  our international travellers will travel again. People who love to travel are craving the feeling they get from exploring a completely different country and culture again. People are loving the thought of being in places with wide open spaces and big skies filled with  stars that you feel like you can reach out and touch, where there is clean air and animals wandering past your room. Home for many right now doesn’t look very happy, its a reminder of what we’ve been through, and so its a complete change of environment that we crave.

 

What changes has Covid made to your role as a travel specialist?

I think that travel consultants and professionals like us will be in more demand. People want the assurances that they are booking the trip of their dreams and getting what they pay for. Now more than ever people need someone with over 20 years of experience in the African Safari business, who has a wealth of knowledge to provide all the necessary logisitcal detail in place so that they can travel without hiccups. Travel regulations are changing on a daily basis and its important to know what the process is to make sure you move seamlessly and stress-free from one location to the next.

 

Tell us about your most memorable safari? 

Its never an easy answer because each safari experience is a memorable one as there are no two days that duplicate themselves and no two game drives where you see the same thing. Its always interesting and always special. Whether its gorilla trekking in Rwanda, walking along the plains of the South Luangwa, floating along the waterways of the Okavango Delta in a mokoro, hot air ballooning over the Masai Mara, walking up Table Mountain or searching for the elusive leopard in the Kruger; time on safari always gives you something. I think people sometimes become safari snobs and expect one destination to be as good as another, they forget to just enjoy the space that they are in. A special memory I have is of our  ranger talking to us in a very high pitched, excited tone that meant that we were seeing something so special and unique that it was clear that he was as thrilled and awed by the sighting as we were.

 

Where are you itching to travel to next? 

As I sit here in the office planning my client’s  next safari trip, I am vicariously travelling each itinerary –  sitting in the small aircraft, landing on a remote airstrip, seeing the ranger driving up in the 4×4 vehicle to collect me. Whether I’m in the Okavango Delta, on the plains of the Masai Mara or the dunes of Namibia. I am ready to go exploring again, as long as its not my own backyard I will go anywhere right now!

 

What is your most high-stress experience as a travel consultant?

The pressure of ensuring that you have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed to ensure that your client returns home feeling like it was a dream trip without even realising how many moving parts were involved in the planning of the trip in the background. The stress of understanding the new travel terms that keep changing right now is an added pressure we haven’t had before, its certainly keeping us busy and on our toes!

 

Africa is waiting.

 WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

 

Chat to her today about planning your African adventure!

 

Read Liesl’s blog : Why Book Your Africa With Me

In this video Liesl talks from the heart

 

Looking for inspiration? Explore our Virtual Itineraries

A Kenya Safari    | Remote Namibia    | Rwanda Gorilla Trekking  | Okavango Delta & Chobe River |   Tanzania Safari & Beach    Uganda Adventure |   South Africa Honeymoon|  |   A Botswana Safari