Abang Africa Travel

Placement organization

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

Student

Name of student: Lise van de Sande

Specialist area: Associate degree
Placement period: 2019-2020

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: tour operator
Organization’s activities: Working together with all different kind of travel companies in especially the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Every employee has their own tasks for the company they’re working for. You have customer contact via telephone and/or e-mail and ensure that all wishes of the customer are discussed in order to put together the perfect holiday. Also is Abang Africa Travel a Travelife certified company which means they make sure all the holidays are as sustainable as possible, they also plant trees every year to neutralize the carbon footprint of their direct holidays.
Target group of the organization: Dutch, Belgium, German, everybody that visits the website
Company culture: There is an informal culture in the company. Lots of different cultures are working together at the office which makes it an interesting place to work.
Number of employees: 25
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 as a consultant.

Brief description of your daily activities: I’m working as a travel consultant for YourWay2Go (YW2G) and Zuid Afrika Reis Op Maat (ZAROM), which are both Dutch travel agencies/companies. I make quotes, check availability and book accommodations and excursions for the costumers, for this I need to have a lot of contact with suppliers. I am also working for the development of GAP Africa, which is a separate agency in Abang that arranges internships, volunteer work and/or accommodation for students that are going to South Africa. It still needs a lot of work before it is going to be a huge success and I am working on this by putting together different packages that students can book.

Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment is to make 5 different ‘bucket list’ experiences in Southern Africa. I have to do research to what other companies are offering already and look what the costumers wants. After that I have to make the extensions complete so they can be maybe published on the website of Abang.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The organization offers enough supervision but they prefer students to work as much as possible independently, they believe this is the best way to learn for a student and I totally agree with that. Still you can come to all of your colleagues for all questions.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, sociable, professional
Additional company requirements for this placement? Basic/good knowledge of computers
English: Advanced

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? 4exchange, which I don’t recommend.
How did you go to work every day? by uber or by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a student visa
Do you need a work permit? It’s in your visa
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 5 months
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 2 months 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, just participate in your English classes

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 650
Accommodation (monthly): € 350
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 900
Costs of visa: € Can’t remember but it’s not cheap
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The company doesn’t pay anything

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I talked to a lot of people that went to South Africa already for a holiday or internship. They gave me a lot of tips about safety and what to do!
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: 180552@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t sleep out in your weekends because there is so much to do in the environment. Just save a lot of money so you don’t have to say no to things because now you’re here and South Africa is beautiful to discover as much as possible. We went 4 days to Kruger National Park in combination with the Panorama Route which I would absolutely recommend! We also did the Garden Route in one week + 2 weekends, and you also don’t want to miss that. So make sure you will have the time to explore the country after your internship. About safety, just be careful. Until now I never felt unsafe and I walk home from my internship every day. You just have to know what are the safe areas, don’t walk around with your phone in your hand but just leave it in your bag. And take the uber when it gets dark, also when it’s just a 1 minute walk, better safe than sorry!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is a lot to explore in and around Cape Town. Go winetasting in more than 1000 different wine farms, hike up Table Mountain or Lions Head, visit Robben Island, go to the beautiful colored houses at Bo Kaap, or just do one of the worlds nicest routes at Chapman’s Peak. There is so much more but you will all figure it out yourself once you arrived, you hear a lot from other people as well!

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