Meet the Team
Live the Journey was established in 2003 by a team of passionate adventurers, friends and family. They share a passion for designing magical, awe-inspiring tours, tailor-made itineraries, and other adventures throughout the world.
The team at Live the Journey are all experts in their field and bring travel experience from across the world. Our logistical field teams and guides are without a doubt the best in the industry and are living their journey every day by making sure that our clients get the best possible experience.
Our team of travel consultants and administrative support staff aspire to be master craftsmen of our trade. We organise with unforgettable journeys in mind.
Meet our team:
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Adriaan de Lange - Director
I am a private sector executive with a love for nature and adventure. As a Live the Journey client, my family and I experienced various life changing moments with Live the Journey. These experiences have a way of reconnecting you with family and friends, with nature, and with a higher purpose. Today I am a part-owner and director of the company, with a mission to ensure that as many people as possible can “Live the Journey”.
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Jurgens Schoeman – Managing Director
Travel is all about inquisitiveness. There is nothing more exhilarating than discovering a new destination or just driving a route for the first time going from one horizon to the next. My travels have been filled with amazing things. I am hooked on natural wonders … seeing the red glow of a volcano at night excites me and the vastness of a desert makes me humble. Often routes follow the path of destruction left by wars or that of awesome historical achievements. I love exploring and visiting places to learn and broaden my view of life, but with a desire to share these experiences with people. Helping them to create life enriching travel memories. Travel always changes people and I would like to think I made a small contribution towards that in other peoples lives. Our life is one journey and we must live this journey by filling it with travel memories.
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Elsabeth Muller - Consultant
S A Tourism was my stepping stone into tourism 25 years ago! I gained invaluable experience being responsible for and accompanying international journalists, TV crews and tour operators. Travel is a way of life for me and I have been blessed to have travelled to amazing places. My expertise lies in getting into the "shoes" of each destination that crosses my path getting to know it inside out. I have an inquisitive nature, a good general knowledge and I am always aspiring to broaden my horizons. Designing a new programme to a unique destination is a thrilling process and the fuel that gets my adrenalin pumping. Tell me where you would like to travel and I will make it happen. I love to arrange amazing trips for my clients.
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Stella Koen - Consultant
A guest once said that the greatest gift is that of experience. I couldn’t agree more. Nothing is more rewarding to me than knowing that I have played a part in making someone’s travel dream a reality, ensuring that they will have incredible memories of that experience to last a lifetime. This knowledge, together with my love for travel, has been the driving force behind my 20-year career in the travel industry. I am grateful to have worked for some of South Africa’s top hospitality groups and tour operators, gaining invaluable experience and travelling the globe. At Live the Journey I am surrounded by a team of like-minded specialists. People who are passionate about the adventure and experience of travel, sharing the unique cultures, captivating history and iconic wonders of this fascinating world.
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Alida Venter - Consultant
I can’t imagine living life without travelling, to see, to explore and to learn. To travel opens your mind, it heals your soul and it makes you dream. As a 18-year-old matriculant, unsure as to who she is and what she wants to do, the Travel industry became my ‘student job’, something I thought I will do for a year or two until I decide what field I will pursue. Little did I know that once travel is in your blood, you are hooked. I am privileged to have travelled to numerous destinations across the globe as well as within my country. My travel bucket list is forever expanding, as there is still a lot more of the world I want to see. With more than 26 years in the travel industry, I can’t see myself in any other field. This is what I love and I have a great passion for people and nature. To be able to assist clients in making their dream tours a reality, this is wat I live for. Seeing how people are enriched through travel by being exposed to new places and cultures is inspiring, and I quote: “Jobs fill your pockets, adventures fill your soul. We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
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Yolandi Daneel - Consultant
Travel has been a part of my life for 23 years and rarely has there been a dull moment. I love building the ‘puzzle’ (as I call it) of a client’s experience, putting all the pieces in place to form a beautiful final picture. How I settled on studying tourism after school I cannot remember, but I have not been disappointed that I did. Learning about new destinations and the people I have met throughout my journey has been a joy. Through the years I have been lucky to travel to many beautiful countries and my hope is to continue to do so, but my heart is in Southern Africa and showing its beauty and people to the rest of the world fills me with pride. Having been away from leisure for the last eight years and running the corporate travel rat race, returning to where I started feels just right.
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Sandra Zandberg - Consultant
Like many of my tourism colleagues, I landed in this industry by chance after school and I’ve never looked back. After 22 years, I still find it a fascinating industry where you will never have a dull moment. Fast paced and forever changing, I love that it continuously challenges me to find unique and off-the-beaten-track experiences for my guests. Since joining Live the Journey, my love for Africa – specifically Namibia – has increased tenfold! The memories of the rugged beauty, wide open spaces, blue skies and warmth of the people of Africa is something that will never leave you. To be able to make someone’s dream holiday or much-needed escape from the rat race happen is such a privilege. To me, travel is not simply a job, it is a passion for what I do and love. “Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness.”
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Deona Nieuwoudt - Administrative Assistant
Being part of the Live the Journey team, is like being part of a family. As an administrator for Live the Journey, my role is to assist all the consultants so that they can focus on the needs of our valuable clients. Coming from a background that includes marketing, helpdesk, finances, and general reception duties, I love working with people. I was fortunate to be able to join some of our tours over the last few years and Sicily and Tanzania were some of my favourite destinations. We also did a team-build, venturing into the dunes of the Namib desert. I made the most beautiful memories and truly understood what a Live the Journey tour entails while experiencing it first-hand – the scenery and experiences are spectacular, you are taken care of, pampered, and are guaranteed to make precious lifelong friends.
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Laetitia De Lange - Number Cruncher
Since childhood I enjoyed the feelings of freedom and connection with nature that I experienced during our many camping holidays. In 2011 we purchased our first 4x4 vehicle and booked our first exhilarating dune trip through Live the Journey. Wow! Our lives changed since then, and the need for a less-complicated way of life took over. We experienced various other adventures over the years and became avid Live the Journey supporters. In 2020 I joined the team, assisting with finances, administration, and payroll. I enjoy the travel industry and working with the Live the Journey team and get excited on behalf of each guest who has booked their life-changing trip with us.
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Karien Schoeman - Hiking Guru
“The answer is Hiking, no matter what the question.” I did my first hike when I was a student at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and the rest, as they say, is history. I have hiked in many places in the world and every time I do a hike, I find a happiness and contentment that I cannot put into words other than the following: I like the person that I am when I'm hiking. To initiate and develop new hikes is a passion. The Namib100, Namaqua Flower Hike and the Wupperthal66 in the Cederberg mountains are hikes that I helped to develop and am proud of the way that Live the Journey really seeks out the wonders and uniqueness of each area and the people and communities that are the custodians of these beautiful places.