Meet the Team - Serendipity Africa

Promoting Tourism That Makes A Positive Difference To People And The Planet

Helen Turnbull

Founder of Serendipity Africa

Helen’s first taste of Africa was at the age of thirteen when a work project brought her father and family from Europe for a five-year contract. After completing her high school education in the Northern Cape, Helen returned to Europe and worked in various sectors of the tourism industry, though the majority of the time was in aviation. With easy access to international travel, it was an opportunity to see how other countries were developing their tourism industries, and with this came a powerful realisation that tourism could be a force for change and make a positive difference to a destination, or it could have a negative impact on host communities and biodiversity if managed irresponsibly. When Helen returned permanently to Cape Town in 2001, this philosophy was the inspiration for starting up her consultancy company ‘Serendipity Africa’, which focuses on raising awareness of sustainable tourism development. Services offered range from responsible tourism training and mentoring, marketing guidance and support, assistance with sustainable tourism development plans in specific geographical regions to encourage businesses to incorporate ethical principles into day-to-day operations. She is a member of the judging panel for ‘Imvelo’ – Southern Africa’s Responsible Tourism Awards, and is a qualified national trainer for Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA). Helen is also a freelance travel writer and gets involved with media co-ordination to make sure the ‘good news’ stories are told. Her motto is making tourism work for people and the planet.

Clients include:

Grootbos Private Nature Reserve
Hog Hollow Country Lodge
Amakhala Game Reserve
Four Rosmead
Dyer Island Cruises & Marine Dynamics
Farm 215
!Khwa ttu San Culture Centre
Calabash Tours
The Dunes Country House & HillsNek Safaris
Storms River Adventures
African Insights
Face Africa

National Department of Tourism
National Development Agency SA
Green Goal 2010 Legacy Project
FTTSA
City of Cape Town

Published in Responsible Traveller, Africa Wild, Out There Adventure, Out There Travel and Travel Africa UK

Mary Murphy

Founder of Full Cycle and Director of Carbon Countdown

Mary has a BA (Hons) in Peace Studies from the University of Ulster, an MA in International Relations (Wits) and is presently working towards her PhD (Rhodes) in Environmental Education. Her thesis uses a semiotic framework to describe and explore environmental risk and adopts a critical realist approach to justify presenting the text as a story. She is publishing a book about environmental issues with Penguin books in November. She taught an environmental education course at the University of Cape Town as part of the Bachelor of Education (Hons) degree in 2006. She trained as an ISO 14001 auditor and is trained to conduct carbon footprint assessments using the GHG Protocol.
Mary has 15 years’ experience in environmental education, research, media and solutions-based environmental approaches. She has been involved in numerous environmental projects, including the ‘plastic bag campaign’ with former Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa. She co-ordinated ‘EEFriends’ an environmental education network for three years, which included the WWF, IUCN, Table Mountain National Park, Provincial and Local government and the South African National Biodiversity Institute. She conceived and presented “Environmental Matters” on SAfm (104-107) every Monday at 8:30pm from August 2005 to March 2007. She also worked with Robert Swan on Mission Antarctica. She headed up the Findings Report team at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Mary is the co-founder and Managing Director of FullCycle, and a member and director of Carbon Countdown, which offer environmental products, training and consulting. Their emphasis is on environmental tools, services and education; and sustainable strategy and implementation respectively.

Louise de Waal

Managing Director of Baobab Travel Ltd, UK and Uluntu Africa, SA

Louise de Waal is the founder and MD of Baobab Travel Ltd, a UK-based specialist Africa tour operator since 2002. Baobab Travel was born out of a combination of a love of Africa & travel, and a desire to actively work with and support local communities in the Developing World. They design tailor-made, sustainable holidays to Africa for clients in the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Since 2009 Louise is also joint owner of Uluntu Africa CC, a Cape Town based, fully independent specialist Destination Management Company and provider of sustainable tourism services in South Africa. Uluntu Africa follows Baobab’s ethical principles and is fully dedicated to providing sustainable tourism services in South Africa. The name Uluntu means community in Xhosa and Uluntu Africa like to think of themselves as the agent’s connection to a community of like minded and independent tourism products & service providers, who share a common interest in the promotion of fair trade tourism.

Louise continuously sources new, innovative and sustainable tourism products for both Baobab Travel and Uluntu Africa. With an extensive knowledge of the African tourism industry and a passion for responsible travel and sustainable tourism, she has established and built partnerships with local tour operators and establishments who share their sustainable tourism philosophy and passion.

Environmental Background
Louise has an academic & research background in environmental science with a PhD in environmental management and many years of teaching experience at various British universities. She has published more than 30 academic & peer reviewed publications and consultancy reports. Consultancy projects have included organisations such as the National Rivers Authority and J. Sainsbury Plc in the UK. Louise also worked as a volunteer in Tanzania on a coral reef conservation project.