The Van De Wiel Travel Group is led by Chief Executive Officer Nick van de Wiel. With a Master’s Degree in Tropical Ecology following his Bachelors degree in Biology, his early work experience includes various management positions before moving permanently to South Africa. In South Africa he completed his degrees in Lodge Management, Game Ranging and Safari Guiding, and over the years he furthered his guiding qualifications to become a FGASA Level 3 Expert Nature guide & specialist Marine Guide.
After having officially immigrated to South Africa, he spend his first year in Khula, Dukuduku and Eswenelisha villages in KwaZulu-Natal leading a variety of community upliftment projects, before starting his first business Tailor Made Safaris in 2009. He identified that standard package tours visiting just the 'big names' such as Kruger were about to become less popular, and that overseas clients started to prefer bespoke 'experiental' traveling.
Hence, with Tailor Made Safaris, he privately guided specialist tours to the Elephant Coast region and iSimangaliso Wetland Park and trained up other guides to work with him. Van de Wiel soon also joined Bhejane Nature Training for 5 years as part time specialist lecturer and course leader.
In 2014 he partnered up with Emil von Maltitz, a Durban based photographer, and they founded Nature's Light Photography Tours and Workshops. Two years later both Von Maltitz and Van de Wiel won some major international photo competitions, recognising their skill as professional landscape photographers.
In 2016, Van de Wiel and his wife acquired Bhangazi Horse Safaris, a struggling company operating a horse riding concession in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. They strategically worked out a road to reparation, and after significant investments in new staff, horses, tack & equipment and marketing, managed to turn the company around into a flourishing tour operator.
In summary, Van de Wiel spend the last decade running travel companies, and has been working in all departments; from guiding clients himself, marketing including website creation, doing the administrative tasks, fleet management, training safari guides to manage staff. As CEO he is currently mostly busy with leading a fine & expanding team across the four companies in the VDW Travel Group portfolio. He is also the managing partner in all subsidiaries, except Nature's Light, where his business partner Emil von Maltitz is acting as the MD.
After having officially immigrated to South Africa, he spend his first year in Khula, Dukuduku and Eswenelisha villages in KwaZulu-Natal leading a variety of community upliftment projects, before starting his first business Tailor Made Safaris in 2009. He identified that standard package tours visiting just the 'big names' such as Kruger were about to become less popular, and that overseas clients started to prefer bespoke 'experiental' traveling.
Hence, with Tailor Made Safaris, he privately guided specialist tours to the Elephant Coast region and iSimangaliso Wetland Park and trained up other guides to work with him. Van de Wiel soon also joined Bhejane Nature Training for 5 years as part time specialist lecturer and course leader.
In 2014 he partnered up with Emil von Maltitz, a Durban based photographer, and they founded Nature's Light Photography Tours and Workshops. Two years later both Von Maltitz and Van de Wiel won some major international photo competitions, recognising their skill as professional landscape photographers.
In 2016, Van de Wiel and his wife acquired Bhangazi Horse Safaris, a struggling company operating a horse riding concession in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. They strategically worked out a road to reparation, and after significant investments in new staff, horses, tack & equipment and marketing, managed to turn the company around into a flourishing tour operator.
In summary, Van de Wiel spend the last decade running travel companies, and has been working in all departments; from guiding clients himself, marketing including website creation, doing the administrative tasks, fleet management, training safari guides to manage staff. As CEO he is currently mostly busy with leading a fine & expanding team across the four companies in the VDW Travel Group portfolio. He is also the managing partner in all subsidiaries, except Nature's Light, where his business partner Emil von Maltitz is acting as the MD.