A snapshot

Raised in Kenya and having enjoyed a career as a professional safari guide and Tanzanian safari camp manager, Wies is one of our foremost Africa specialists. He is our leading Uganda and Rwanda expert, whilst his knowledge of Zimbabwe and Kenya is also superb. As he spent 15 years living and working in Tanzania, his knowledge of this country is exceptional.

Recent travel experience

Wies’s father lives on Zanzibar, so every year sees our adventurer return to Tanzania. Aside from this, Wies visited the Maasai Mara recently, as well as northern Kenya, where a particular highlight for him was observing the incredible work that is being carried out by the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary.

Expert destinations

Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda.

African countries visitied

Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Egypt, Swaziland, Mozambique.

Wies's biography

Born in the Netherlands, Wies moved to Kenya when he was 7 years old. His family then moved to South Africa before he returned to East Africa, settling down in Tanzania in 2000.

Wies’s first-ever job was working in a tented camp in Tanzania’s Serengeti! During his 15 years within the safari industry, he ran a number of safari camps across Tanzania, obtained his South African ‘FGASA’ level two guiding qualification, and finally became a walking guide in Tanzania’s outstanding Katavi National Park – an accolade many guides dream of achieving.

Due to his good understanding of all the destinations where we operate trips, as well as his sheer level of experience within Tanzania, Wies is a key member of our team. Tapping into his depth of knowledge is something that will really benefit your itinerary, as what he knows goes way beyond the vast majority of safari experts in the industry.

Wies excels when he is asked to put together complicated Tanzanian trips that go beyond the ‘norm’. During his years spent working in Tanzania, he travelled the entire country by road and also by air. Getting off the tourist track is what Wies is most passionate about. His latest passion, however, was fuelled by a YZ trip to Uganda and Rwanda in 2017, when ape met ape!

Most memorable experience

“Seeing elephants is always special – both the group dynamic within herds and the feeling that they recognise you as an individual once you have been in a specific area for a longer period of time are constantly extraordinary to me. However, one elephant experience in particular stands out. Whilst on a game drive in Katavi National Park I took a calculated risk by driving down to Lake Katavi, a seasonal lake that is absolutely heaving with wild- and birdlife during the rainy season yet is potentially almost devoid of game during the dry months. It was during the drier period that I took my clients there. On coming out of the forest, I saw what in my mind could only be one of the HUGE herds of buffalo that Katavi is famous for. Fortunately I was very pleasantly mistaken – as we got closer and the shapes became more distinctive, I realised we were witnessing something truly spectacular. In front of us, as far as we could see, were congregated elephants in their thousands, something I don’t believe many people have ever seen – and something I doubt I will ever see again.”

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