Abang Africa Travel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abang Africa Travel
Town/city: Cape Town
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://abangafrica.com/

Student

Name of student: Carina Krause

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Taylor Made Tours, Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: – Communication and contact with clients via email, cellphone etc.
– Creating Taylor made tours for clients
– Translating English Tours into German
– Sending out quotations to the guests and taking care of the booking
– Creating individual tours with route descriptions
– Helping publishing new tours on trip.me
– Getting to know South Africa and what the country has to offer
Target group of the organization: Dutch, South Africa, German market
Company culture: The whole atmosphere at Abang Africa Travel is really relaxed and pleasant to work in. There are about 25 – 30 people working at the company in the moment. Everyone is really friendly and willing to help if you have any questions.
Number of employees: 25 – 30
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

I am working in the department which concentrates especially on selling tours to clients.

Brief description of your daily activities: Normally I am checking trip.me in the morning, if there are any new requests of clients I need to take care of. Next to that I am replying to other clients and putting their Taylor-Made Tour together. So I am writing many emails, calling stakeholders like accommodations to check for availability etc. Than everything needs to be put together in a nice and representative document that will be send to the clients as an offer. What I am also doing regularly is translating English Tours into German and creating and publishing new and already finished tours on trip.me.
Brief description of your company assignment: I am concentrating on the Marketing and Promotion sector of Abang Africa and one of their new projects and partner companies, which offer community based tours and home stay experiences. My task is to find out how more people could become aware of those offered tours and to try out a completely different experience. I am concentrating on the German market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor Stefan has been really friendly and helpful. Especially in the beginning he showed me most of the steps that I have to take and what I need to be aware of. He has a huge knowledge of South Africa. Since there were changed in the company, he isnt my supervisor anymore but I can still ask him questions if I have any.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? I would say a little bit of everything. You should be able to work independent but also work in a team if
Additional company requirements for this placement? No specific additional requirements for this placement are needed. When you start your placement at Abang Africa your supervisor will help you and explain what you need to do. Of course, certain basic requirements are needed like writing to clients, calculating, calling clients, etc. But it is not necessary to be especially advanced in accounting for example.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German: Mother tongue
Italian:
Other languages: I was working in English and German. Since I needed to concentrate on the German market, I have been in contact with German clients a lot, as well as translating tours from English to German. In the office, to colleagues and other stakeholders I spoke English. No other languages are needed.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself (checking gumtree, facebook and finally found it via airbnb)
How did you go to work every day? Walking (15 minutes)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, since you will stay longer than 3 months you need to try to get an Internship VISA. In The Netherlands you can apply for it, but be aware that it will take a lot of time, effort and money. Otherwise you can also apply for a 2nd Tourist Visa while you are already in South Africa. Also be aware that this can work out but there is also the possibility that it is not working out.
Do you need a work permit? Depends
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? Be aware that if you want to apply for the Internship Visa in The Netherlands, that you need a lot of time.
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? In the office I spoke mostly English and German, since I was working for the German market. Other colleagues also spoke Afrikaans and Xhosa. As long as you speak Advanced English you dont need to do a language course beforehand

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 700 – 800
Accommodation (monthly): € 410
Local transport (monthly): € In general, we walked a lot and otherwise we took mostly always took an uber. They are pretty cheap, especially when sharing with others. But of course it also sums up after a while and we were also lucky, because we lived directly in the city centre.
General costs of living (monthly): € In general, the costs of living per month are cheaper than in The Netherlands. Especially fresh products like vegetables and fruits. Also going out for drinks and food is more affordable than back home. The offer in Cape Town is huge, there are many nice places to go. So normally I would say I spend between 250 – 300 euros a month. Of course it also depends how much I am going out and since there are many activities or festivals taking place in and around Cape Town it easily can be more. But it is definitively worth it spending.
Costs of visa: € I don’t remember the whole price anymore, but probably for the 2nd Tourist VISA something around 100 – 150 euros.
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The Company did not pay for me in terms of compensation, meals, etc. During my Internship, I was send on an educational training to Limpopo for one week. For this week they paid my flight, accommodations and food.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare for the country’s culture beforehand to be fair. I have been to other countries in Africa before so I have been already a bit familiar with the different cultures. Of course I spoke with friends about it, who have already been here and I read a bit. I was aware that it will be different than in Europe but of course you get to know the differences the most, when you are here.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Of course it influences you, but not in a negative way. It is interesting to see how people from so many different nationalities can work together so well.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 153379@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: If you need any other recommendations concerning what to do and what not to do as well as Leisure possibilities, feel free to contact me

I can just say that I love my time here and that Cape Town and in general South Africa is besides being a country of contrasts, a beautiful place to stay for longer and to experience the diversity and beauty the country has to offer.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Feel free to contact me

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link