Who is the Overlanding Team de Force?

Behind every great company there is a team of great people - this is ours.

Tania Wheeler - Overlanding Guru and General Manager

Tania Wheeler is the General Manager of Overlanding Africa.com and has worked in the travel industry since 2000.

It is a long story how Tania got into overlanding but after travelling all around the world independantly and as a overland passenger, and then spending many years as a Overland crew member in the Middle East and Africa, she has gained a huge volume of experience travelling the popular (and some un-popular) overland routes.

She discovered a passion for people and places off ‘the beaten track’, has a reputation for ‘telling it like it is’ and has a head full of useful (and not so useful) Overlanding information. Originally from New Zealand, Tania fell in love with Africa and eventually set up shop in Cape Town.

Although she misses life 'on the road' she admits sitting at her desk keeps her a lot cleaner!

Tania's Favourite African Destination:

Skeleton Coast - Namibia

Minette Thiart - Africa and South America Overland Expert

This Bushbaby hails from a small town in the Free State of South Africa.

After studying to become a Field Guide, Minette found herself moving to Cape Town in 2000 to work on overland trucks and started out with a 1 year contract that lasted 11 years.

It was in these years that Minette fell in love with travel and after working in Southern and East Africa as a Crew member she headed off to the UK, Dubai, Australia and the USA to work as a Divemaster, life guard, snorkel instructor and Carer. Whew!

In 2008 Minette travelled South America to work on more overland trucks before returning to Cape Town in late 2010.

Mostly known for her loud laughter and talking a lot, Minette added her wealth of experience to the team at OverlandingAfrica early in 2011.

Minette's Favourite African Destination:

Lake Malawi - Malawi

Steve Conradie - Managing Director - Operations

Steve Conradie has gained a love for safaris, the bush and wildlife through many years of travel in Africa on his self-drive tours. Steve is also an avid photographer and his passion for Africa can been seen in his images.

Steve’s most memorable trip was a 6-month round-trip safari from Cape Town to Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park in his Land Rover Defender 110. This and his various other Southern and East Africa adventures have not only given Steve hands-on experience in the field, but were also his motivation to establish Overlanding Africa.

Steve's Favourite African Destination:

Mana Pools - Zimbabwe

Andre Van Kets - Managing Director - IT & Tech

Andre Van Kets has a background in IT/technology and a passion for travel (and surfing) and has worked in the online travel industry in South Africa since 2002.

He has developed a number of Africa travel websites and has visited South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Swaziland. Andre is also a patron of the Tourism Community Development Trust, a non-profit charity organisation that aims to uplift under-privileged communities in Cape Town by raising funds through tourism initiatives.

His personal goal is to make a sustainable and measurable difference to Africa and it's people, by marketing Africa as a top travel destination to people around the globe through the use of the Internet and emerging technologies.

There is very little this man doesn't know about technology - which could be why we affectionately refer to him as the 'Super Geek'.

Andre's Favourite African Destination:

Tofino Point - Mozambique

Clive Zagno - Lead Developer

Clive joined the team in March 2010 and threw new, fresh eyes on our web development over there in the 'geek corner'.

The self proclaimed 'propellor head' can usually be found planted in front of his 19 inch screen all day, every day flipping between the 15 or so tabs he has open at any one time.

Returning to South Africa after travelling around the UK, New Zealand and Singapore, he says his most memorable travel experience was climbing NZ's Fox Glacier on foot! You could assume that a huge pile of frozen water might taste a bit like... well.... water - but Clive assures us that he tasted it (as you do) and it tastes like sand instead!

Clive's Favourite African Destination:

Serengeti National Park - Tanzania

Ruben Remy - IT Development Intern

With parents born in Indonesia and Venezuela Ruben has always been interested in seeing more of the world and experiencing different cultures - interning in Cape Town was a excellent choice to do just that as Ruben loves to connect with the local people, adapt and live life like the locals do.

Though Ruben's real passion is Internet marketing and making music, studying International Business and Management was an obvious choice because of his multi-national character as well as the possibility to work and study in different countries.

At work Ruben fuses his marketing and business knowledge, with the geek secretly buried within him that loves to do anything related with the internet and creativity.

Next Destination - Victoria Falls

Anna Tomson - Internet Marketing Intern

Anna is one of our 2 Dutch interns working in the office. Having studied Tourism & Leisure Management in the Netherlands, she is now discovering real life business in the African tourism industry.
 
Anna knows the African life from when she was still a little baby. She has lived her first six years in Zambia and Malawi and says growing up in the bush and eating only Nsima (Pap) helps explain her huge love for Africa.
 
Anna has traveled not only in Africa, but has also traveled across most of Europe. No matter if she is sight seeing in Berlin, Bucharest or Reykjavik, or climbing glaciers and Alps up to 3000m, Anna is up for it. She says: "It’s a privilege to be able to travel much, so why not enjoy it as much as possible."
 
Besides her passion for traveling, Anna loves being active. In her free time you can find her playing hockey, doing modern dance and having a laugh with friends.

Anna's Favourite African Destination:

Nacala - Mozambique

Roxanne Bradnick - Copy Writer

As the in-house (and exhausted) copywriter for Overlanding Africa, Rox is responsible for writing pretty much every word on version 1 of the website. With a PR background and a love for blogging, social media and words, Rox’s passion for writing is only matched by her love for Africa.

She has been travelling since she was old enough to walk and has seen a fair bit of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Her favourite destination in South Africa is the West Coast, and her most memorable Africa travel experience is a tie between exploring Kame Ruins in Zimbabwe and watching huge herds of kudu and eland on the hills at dawn in Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve in Namibia.

Roxanne's Favourite African Destination:

Kame Ruins - Zimbabwe

Liesa Torina - Financial Manager & PA

Liesa is our accounts chief and has been working in the travel industry since 2000 after having travelled all over Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Far East before hand.

Our supa-dupa number cruncher luvvvvvs traveling but is not a fan of the adventure type stuff. Extremely passionate about history and culture, you are most likely to find her wandering around some museum or gallery somewhere.

She still loves accounting (after 10 years), still digs the challenges that arise at a minutes notice - but admits when she encounters a brain teaser and her head is too full of numbers, she does not appreciate waking up at 3am after having 'dreamed up' the solution!

Her most memorable experience? Visiting Count Dracula's Castle in Romania on a eerie, stormy day. Awesome!

Liesa's Favourite African Destination:

Cairo - Egypt

Bobby Boniface - Accountant

Bobby has a back ground in accounting and has spent over 30 years in the financial field.

Originally from East London, he transfered to Cape Town in July 1999.

He has been a sports fanatic all his life, playing soccer and cricket until his late thirties, and now plays bowls. After spending so much time playing sport he hasn't had much time to travel but says he thoroughly enjoyed visiting London.

Bobby's Favourite African Destination:

Transkei Wild Coast - South Africa

Mandy Geland - Reception and 'Girl Friday'

Young Mandy joined us and the industry in 2008 having always wanting to be in travel.

Permanently being happy, chirpy and bubbly she was the obvious choice for the number 1 front-of-office position and her role keeps on expanding. She is now not only in charge of Reception, she is also chief telephonist, awesome admin clerk and general office girl-friday!

She has travelled a little bit around South Africa and would still like to go on a proper safari to Kruger National Park or Hluluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal.

Mandy's Favourite African Destination:

The Giza Pyramids in Cairo - Egypt