On the 30 October 2002, Sun Safaris was registered as a Close Corporation and opened for business. Before this, the website went live on the 19 April 2002, and before that, I had formulated the idea for Sun Safaris in 2001.
I had always wanted to own my business, and for two years I used to come home from my dreary job in Corporate Actions and work until 1am in the morning in building the website for Sun Safaris. At first my idea was to sell Golf Safaris. I was living in Ireland at the time, and the Irish loved golf and South Africa was a very “hot” destination at the time.
I managed however to first sell a Botswana Honeymoon Safari to some friends of friends, and so started the journey of Sun Safaris. After this I visited WTM (the World Travel Market) in London and Indaba (Trade Show in Durban, South Africa), and continued with my desire to arrange quality safaris for people wishing to visit Africa. Soon I was selling more and more safaris and it was getting progressively harder to maintain a full time job with my part time business.
Eventually in 2005 I had to make the decision to resign from my job in Ireland and return to South Africa to give Sun Safaris a full go. I returned to South Africa in May 2005 and joined the ranks of the self-employed! A very scary reality check, where each month you start on R0.00!
I worked from home for about a year or two and slowly grew the business. It was then that Lance Harcourt, a friend from Dublin, offered to buy shares in Sun Safaris and become a Director and Shareholder. It was the catalyst that Sun Safaris needed in order to move into our current offices in Greenpoint, Cape Town and employ our first employee.
Since then Sun Safaris has grown to the point where we have now arranged over 3000 safaris for guests and turned over R70 million! Not bad for a little company that started as a One Man Band and has never taken a loan from a Bank!
I am exceptionally proud of the Sun Safaris staff. I would like to thank Liselle Raath, Natasha Allan, Anne-Marie Mulder, Celeste le Roux, Nadine Ebrahim, Carolynne Higgins and Chloe Cooper for all their hard work over the past few years. Arranging quality safaris is no easy task, and I am extremely grateful for all their hard work. I am pleased to say that I know Sun Safaris has some of the best, and most experienced Safari Consultants in the industry.
I would also like to thank all our previous staff members who have played a part in building Sun Safaris – Renate, Charene, Sadiq, Stefan, Naz, Chris, Katja, Liezel and Janelle. I hope you are all well!
In addition, I would like to thank Lance for his commitment to the cause, his hard work, his long hours, his experienced head, sound advice, great ideas, project skills, and for being the catalyst that helped Sun Safaris get to the point where it is today.
A special thanks must also go to my parents, especially my Dad, for his interest in Sun Safaris, great advice, support and backing. To my brother Robert as well – thanks for helping Sun Safaris and especially for opening the Close Corporation in 2002 in the name of yourself! (which I subsequently had to change when I got back to South Africa!)
Also to Wouter from Squire Labs and Arno from ASA Accountants, a big thank you for all your help and hard work over the past year. It is very much appreciated & was needed!
To all our suppliers, thanks for hosting all out guests, and also to a select few suppliers, thanks for all your help and kindness over the years.
And last but not least, I would like to thank God for giving me the opportunity to own my own business, and to be involved in an industry that is so exciting, and especially for carrying Sun Safaris through some really tough times.
To the next 10 years!
