BelAfrique

Placement organization

Name of organization: BelAfrique
Town/city: Paarl, Western Cape
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://belafrique.com

Student

Name of student: Ariana Buter

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator and Destination Management Company
Organization’s activities: BelAfrique is specialized in tailor made holidays in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This means that for every client a new itinerary is made, depending on the wishes of the client and the recommendations of the experts working in the company.
The focus of BelAfrique is the more high end (4 to 5 star accommodations) individual travelers
Target group of the organization: FIT travelers from mainly France and Belgium, but also the rest of continental Europe
Company culture: There is certainly no hierarchy in the company, every worker is treated the same way. Isabelle, the owner of BelAfrique, gives her workers a lot of space for personla devolpement.
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? BelAfrique is a small company, there are no departments
Brief description of your daily activities: I was mainly busy with quotations for clients, contacting suppliers for availability and rates, as well as provisional and confirmed bookings. Also preparing travel documents for the clients, and finalising bookings by making a financial document.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment is to write a policy plan of the company, as the company is a young company and goals and ideas are not yet written in a document for potential future employees.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is Isabelle Dechamps, the owner of the company. She is a very open minded person and helps you with all the questions you have. The other employees are also very helpfull with any help that i need.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? You have to be independent, flexible and a team-player
Additional company requirements for this placement? Qoutes are made in excell, so knowledge about this software is desired, but not mandotory
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Basic
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? gumtree.co.za
How did you go to work every day? by foot, and later I bought a bike to cycle to work

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? yes
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: South African Consulate in the Hague
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 3 months
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance?

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, even if your english is poor, you will for sure learn it while you stay here in south africa

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 500
Accommodation (monthly): € 190
Local transport (monthly): € 20
General costs of living (monthly): € 400
Costs of visa: € 90
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? BelAfrique gave me a financial compensation of R2000, that is +/- 130 euro

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read a lot of blogs and articles about people that had stayed in South Africa. But you will truly get to know the country as soon as you get here. You can not really prepare to come here
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? no

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 132256@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: The only advice I can give future students considering coming to South Africa is to REALLY start early to ammend your visa permit. It took me a lot of time and pain in the ass to ammend mine

Also, please note BelAfrique’s office is situated in Paarl. This is a town 50 km from Cape Town. There is a train that goes regularly to Cape Town. In the weekends you can go to Cape Town by train and enjoy everything this beautyfull city has to offer. I never had a bad experience with the train. As long as you travel during the day, and watch your belongings as you would normaly there is really nothing that could go wrong.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: I am sure you will buy yourself a nice travel guide where everything is nicely described.

Things i did:

– cape point
– pinguins at simons town
– hike up lions head
– campsbay (beach, bars, cafes)
– waterfront (shops)
– table mountain (cable way or hiking)
– robben island

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link