BELAFRIQUE

Placement organization

Name of organization: BELAFRIQUE
Town/city: PAARL
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website:

Student

Name of student: Tessa Westerveld

Specialist area: Associate degree
Placement period: 2019-2020

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Trour operator
Organization’s activities: travel agency, so making and planning trips for people who want to travel to Southern Afrika
Target group of the organization: Belgium / France / Netherlands
Company culture: It is a really small company. We have the founder and director named Isabelle Deshamps and 1 travel consultant named Beth Mc Donald.
Number of employees: 3
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes they did

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

it is a really small company so they don’t really have departments. I worked in the office with Isabelle and Beth worked form home. So I think I can describe it the best as an all-around employee.

Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities where writing emails and making provisional bookings at the propperties. making a budget, WETU and travel document for the clients.

Brief description of your company assignment: Market research: What are the needs, expectations of travelers, regarding conservation and sustainability.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision by the organization was really good. not just at work but also besides work. the really took care of me and wanted to make sure that I was having the best time here. also with work, they always helped and wanted to learn me something.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? social, stress-proof, independent
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Intermediate

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? BELAFRIQUE give the recomodation for the rest self
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, can’t remember which one the only thing i remember is that it was a lot of work so you really need to start on time. like 4/3 months before.
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? i total i was busy with it 3 months and still had a lot of stress
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? a view weeks before i left but therefor was a lot of phone calls needed

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, you will learn it to just do it.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1000
Accommodation (monthly): € 430
Local transport (monthly): € 0,-
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € not sure, around 100 i think
Costs of work permit: € 0,-
What did the company pay for/to you? I’ve got R2500 per month that is around 155 euro’s.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did a lot of research on forehand. I made a whole document for myself with information about South-Africa and how the culture is. This so I was prepared for any surprises. Besides that, I spoke with the people that already went to South-Africa.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? a little bit, living here is a big difference and you will see impressive things. That will also change the way how you live and react here. in the netherlands you go with bike or by foot, in South Africa not really

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do:
– Never walk alone when it is dark or even on the streets
– Generally, it is not recommended to walk alone on the streets
– Take a fake wallet with you, so when you get raid you don’t lose your important stuff or money
– There are a lot of websites you can check on forehand. They give a lot of good advice about what to do and what not

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place:
The things that i did:
Surfing in Muizenberg
Quat riding in Atlantis
skydiving in Wellington
Garden route (Knysna,Outshoorn, Port Elisabeth)
Tsitikama national park
Safari
Table Mountain, Lions head, Signal hill
Wine tasting
Cheapmans peak, Cape Point
Vespa tour
Zipline
Gold restaurant (african night)
Town ship
African culture camp

Media