&Beyond: Karen's Travel Blog

About Karen Richards

In early 2002 I received a phone call from &Beyond (CC Africa in those days!).   They urgently needed someone to go up to Botswana and spend 6 months in the Okavango Delta as a relief manager – my wonderful journey with &Beyond had started.

I fell in love with living out in the middle of nowhere and having elephants visit my home while having my morning coffee!  Running a lodge comes with so many delights.  The staff, the animals, the wide open spaces, but it also has its challenges too and I quickly leant about dealing with emergencies!  When my contract in Botswana ended, I left with a heavy heart and many tears.  I have been back many times to this wonderful country and it remains one of my favourite places to send my guests.

Imagine my delight when on my return to South Africa, I was offered the chance to go and manage Grumeti Serengeti Tented Camp in Tanzania.   I lived in the Serengeti for three years and Tanzania holds so many wonderful memories and experiences for me, some of which I will share with you on this blog.

I was lucky enough to visit every single &Beyond Lodge in East Africa.  I have followed the annual wildebeest migration through its entire journey from the short grass plains in the South all the way to the Masai Mara in Kenya – what a privilege!  However, my fondest memory is of the people and the special friends I made there.  Many of the staff I worked with have since become managers of our lodges and it is wonderful to still be in contact with them through my new job.  This personal relationship I have with them certainly helps when it comes to making special arrangements for my guests!

When I departed for my new home in the Serengeti, I also left a wonderful  man behind in South Africa, called David.  In 2005, we decided to get married and so another chapter in my life began.   I moved to Johannesburg (that took some getting used to!) to start a life with David and our two four-legged children.

It was one of the hardest days of my life when my plane took off from Grumeti for the last time – but a new adventure was about to begin.   I decided that an office, traffic and 9 – 5 job would not be for me – not after living in the bush for so long.  So, I was very fortunate to be offered the chance to become a Travel Planner and stay with &Beyond.

I have been planning safaris since 2005 and have been the top Travel Planner for &Beyond for the past five years in a row.  I work from home, which during the week is in Johannesburg, and on the weekends is from our small game farm about an hour’s drive away.  I am able to turn my passion for Africa, its wildlife and its people into life changing itineraries for my guests.   Having lived in, and also travelled to these destinations, I am able to create seamless and extraordinary journeys.   I know what will work and what won’t from personal experience.

I do this job for the sheer joy of it!  I am able to relive so many of my wonderful experiences through the eyes of my guests and I can just see the beautiful places and people that I am going to introduce them to.    I continue to travel to new and exciting places as often as possible.  I plan to share some of my stories with you from when I was a camp manager as well as some of my exciting travels on this amazing continent.

Enjoy the journey with me!