Jolinaiko Eco Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Jolinaiko Eco Tours
Town/city: Amrahia, Greater Accra
Country:
Website: http://www.joli-ecotours.com/

Name of student: Nick ter Horst

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Jolinaiko Eco Tours’ main activity is operating tours in Ghana, Togo and Benin. However they do so much more than that; consultation, accommodation, development, etc.
Target group of the organization: Western tourists, and expats in Ghana.
Company culture: Jolinaiko Eco Tours’ company culture is very informal, an non-hierarchical. From the moment of your arrival you are treated as equal, and more impressive as family. Personally I really felt a connection with both Cindy and Apollo, the founders of Jolinaiko Eco Tours, and consider them my friends now.
Number of employees: 5 in Office, 10+ in Field
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? They don’t have department but only a division between the team in the office, and in the field. The first few weeks I worked mostly in the office, but later when I worked a lot on Product Development I was almost always in the field.
Brief description of your daily activities: I did so many different things. Ranging from guiding, planning, product development, statistics, consulting, everything…
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment was to develop various products (adventure/cultural immersions) within Ghana, Togo and Benin. Personally I extended it also to Sao Tome and Principe.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Apollo and Cindy are wonderful people but they are the best supervisors. If one chooses for this placement, they have to be very independent, and motivated to undertake activities and work.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, Sociable, Flexible, Stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing Skills, MS Office
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages: English is the main language in Ghana, and is spoken inside the office. However Dutch would be useful as Cindy and the family speak it. Furthermore if you plan to visit/work/travel the surrounding countries French is useful as well.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane and Car/Bus

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company
How did you go to work every day? Between my appartement and the office on foot, all the other places I visited with car/public transport, and later I bought a motorbike.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Student Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A few days
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I had them already

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

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € Ticket is about 800-1000 euro.
Accommodation (monthly): € –
Local transport (monthly): € You pay about 1-2 euro for every hour you travel with public transport.
General costs of living (monthly): € General costs of living are low in Ghana, but you might spend a few euro’s (1-10) a day depending on your way of living on food and stuff.
Costs of visa: € 100 for Ghana, surrounding countries are about 50-100 each.
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? They arranged an appartement close to the office for me, and they served me lunch everyday at the office. When you do assignments in the field (outside the area) they pay for your costs. Furthermore, they gave me the option to choose between a small salary, or the possibility to work outside Ghana. Personally I went to Togo and Benin during my internship for my Company Assignment, and they gave me an “okay” budget for the time there.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
West-africa is quite tough if you have not travelled a lot before, especially Ghana, and especially in cities. I had quite some travel experience before I came to Ghana, so was not worried about what I would be facing. However I did read a little into the country’s history, culture, traditions, etc.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? It did not so much influence my performance perse, however I did slowly get irritated/tired of some of the negative cultural things that the “africans” do.

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: You can contact me directly for any questions.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You can contact me directly for any questions.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link