Wildplaces Africa

Placement organization

Name of organization: Wildplaces Africa
Town/city: Kampala
Country: Uganda
Website: http://www.wildplacesafrica.com

Name of student: Rinske Meulendijks

Specialist area: MRO
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Accommodation
Organization’s activities: Wildplaces Africa owns four lodges in Uganda. Pineapple Bay Resort on an island, Semliki Safari Lodge in a game reserve, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge in the mountains and Apoka Safari Lodge in one of the best national parks of Uganda. Wildplaces Africa also owns their own fleet of safari cars and has a touroperator sister company: The Uganda Safari Company.
Target group of the organization: Adventureous people who don’t care about paying a bit more
Company culture: In the head office: the owner, the group manager, his wife, reservations, sales, marketing, etc.
At the four ldoges: lodge manager, administrator, kitchen, service, maintenance, security, gardeners, housekeeping, pool, storage.

Informal
Number of employees: 150
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Management and guest relations on two of the lodges
Brief description of your daily activities: Optimizing the lodge wherever needed. Supervise kitchen, service and guest relations. Helping manager with managing the lodge and replace him when he’s not around.
Brief description of your company assignment: Optimizing the lodge wherever needed. Supervice kitchen, service and guest relations.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: You get the space to improvise and do your tasks your own way with just enough supervision.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, sociable, very flexible as you have to work every day of the week from early morning till late in the evening, stress-proof, highly representable, leadership skills, being innovative and able to show innitiative
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, Excel, HTML, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? The company offered me accommodation at the lodge where I was based
How did you go to work every day? by foot, I live at the lodge

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, visa on arrival
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: At airport
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 15 minutes
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? one month

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No, if your English is intermediate/advanced there’s no need for a language course

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 550
Accommodation (monthly): € x
Local transport (monthly): € x
General costs of living (monthly): € 20
Costs of visa: € 50
Costs of work permit: € x
What did the company pay for/to you? Accommodation, meals, transport, financial compensation of $120 per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Research on the web. Be prepared for the culture shock
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? More patience and leadership skills are needed

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: rinske_meulendijks@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be able to live in the middle of nowhere for a long period with no city or anything around to hang out with friends/other people. You basically live at the lodge. But it’s totally worth it!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Safari’s

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link