My story
Few questions to Samson
How did you think about being a guide and start a company?
I become inspired by Mother. When i was in Primary and Secondary school i had no idea what i want be to become, one day when i visited my mother to her working place , i met a lot of volunteers, i was very shy because i could not speak a single word of English, When i looked at young children who could speak English to with the volunteers i become inspired, my mother noticed that i like to speak English, She advised me to study hard to attain good speaking skills. From there i liked walking around with volunteers and showing them around regardless of the poor English language skills, Tour guiding carrier was then born, I did several things like teaching course but being a guide was something in me. I started going for tour guiding college in 2014 and started a job as a guide in 2016 but was not that easy to find a job. Having access to the volunteers was something that made me think that i will one day own a company. I worked with different companies as a freelance guide, everyone liked how i was doing my Job, I managed to explore all Tanzania tourist destinations with a companies i worked for. Five years later of which was 2020, My thoughts came to reality but then knocked down again by the pandemic, seeing GOLDEN TRIPS TANZANIA in the Tanzania parks is something nourishes my heart
How did you get your first clients ?
“My first trip was made possible by Tineke, who has been volunteering and working in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania. She was once my mother’s boss but became a friend, and eventually a family friend. One day, she visited us at home, and we were happy to have her there. She asked if I knew how to organize a safari and hiking trip, and even though I was a novice, it was not a hard task. We made a plan to walk to Ngorongoro Highlands, hike to Empakaai Crater and Olmoti, and finish up at Lake Natron. I made some money that helped pave the way for my career.”
How did you meet Dr Armelle Fee?
Dr. Armelle Fee is a French American entrepreneur and the founder of aktiv planet. In 2020, I virtually met Dr. Armelle through digital marketing and we become friends, in 2021 she made a plan to Visit Tanzania. Later on, she decided to go on a vacation to Tanzania with her family and friends, where we went for a couple of days safari. Her family and friends left to the US. We stayed together and did a road trip to the remote parts of Tanzania plus the not most visited parks like Katavi National Park in Mpanda – Tanzania where we came across the crazy Elephants who where not used to the cars, one of them were almost coming to flip our car, i backed up and drove away to avoid the angry elephant. We then ended up in Dar es Salaam where we took a boat to Zanzibar. We spent a week in Zanzibar. I had been to Zanzibar before, but that time the experience was different, very gorgeous, It was my first time swimming in a sea but all inspirations was by Armelle. She showed me how to perfectly swim, all the dos and don’ts while in water. I still remembers it. With time, with time our friendship turned into a family-like bond. As a result, Golden Trips Tanzania became the sister company of aktiv planet.
How many workers and guides do you have?
We are permanently two and one freelance, Samson, Joel and Noah. in the office. We have One permanent driver guide named Edga, He is a passionate guide who have been in the industry for around 6 years. The rest of the guides are freelancers.
How do you choose the best guides?
The guide knows the guides, During the time i was working i met a lot of best guides i can tell, Some of them where there before i started my job so i got to learn from them as well and some found me in the field, It is always my desire to go beyond our customers’ expectations, the big milestone in our company is 99% of the guest we hosted are very happy and satisfied with our services.
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