By Terry von Guilleaume, Founder and CEO
After working and traveling around the US for 4 years, I was itching to move back to South Africa. Around that same time I met my wife…..so the decision to move back home became a little more complex. Where should we begin our married life? Moving to South Africa would require finding a home, finding new jobs etc. We elected to start our life together in Tucson with the possibility of moving to South Africa at a later stage. This yearning to be back in South Africa however became more and more persistent. How could I still keep in touch and be part of the country? I was constantly telling people I met of what a great destination it was and how incredible it was a place to explore. I realized I was a walking salesman for the country….and that maybe I could open a business helping people plan their trips to Africa. So in 2001 I decided to start Destination Southern Africa – and took that exciting step of launching myself into an industry I knew nothing about. My wife, Holly agreed to take the $25,000 we had in her home and let me use it towards launching the business. Those first couple of years were fantastic – lots of hard work, but I was extremely passionate as I was ‘selling’ something I both believed in and loved to bits. My craving to be back in South Africa was now satisfied….as I was not only visiting new hotels and game lodges and exploring new parts of the country, but I was living vicariously through clients trips I was designing and planning.
