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Undiscovered Kwa Zulu Natal.

I am so fortunate to travel across the length and breadth of my beautiful country on a regular basis. I find that each time I travel, there is something new to discover. 

In December, I returned to my home province of Kwa Zulu Natal for an extensive journey that took my family and I from the Anglo Boer battle fields at Spioenkop to the soaring Drakensberg mountains, laid back Durban, and then north, trailing through the immense iSimangaliso Wetland Park to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and on to uMhuze and the Pongolapoort Dam which is tucked right up against eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland). Our final stop was in tiny Wakkerstroom, in Mpumalanga. 

Kwa Zulu Natal is a lesser visited part of South Africa, but it truly has an impressive diversity of scenery, culture and experiences.

Another, rather surprising discovery this holiday, was that I like camping just as much as I like staying in luxury lodges and hotels. Thanks to high and exacting standards, 5 star hotels are universal in their beauty, cleanliness and overall sense of perfection. Whereas campsites are varied in their areas of dysfunction and discomfort. There is a universality present in beauty that is not there in ugliness and dysfunction. I am not suggesting that the campsites we stayed at were ugly. They were in some of the most beautiful and remote settings, such as Lotheni, in the Drakensberg Mountains, pictured above and below. In some places we struggled with electricity or water, badly designed bathrooms, lack of kitchen sink plugs and showers designed for midgets. But camping is so much fun and worth the effort. I love waking up to the sound of birds, and to feel so close to nature and the elements. You just feel more alive!

Leopard has had an incredible start to 2020, for which I am immensely grateful. I hope that 2020 is off to a good start for you too.

Wishing you many happy days of travel and discovery in 2020, and hope to welcome you to South Africa very soon!

Happy travelling!
Diana

P.S. The Leopard team will be in Chicago for the Travel and Adventure Show on the 8-9 February. If you would like FREE tickets, please email us!

P.P.S. To see more photos of the places we visited in KZN click here. 

P.P.P.S Did you see our video of Father Christmas’ African reindeers? Catch them here.

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    Crafting your ideal holiday can be a time consuming exercise, especially if you don’t know the region well, or you’re travelling in a group (like a multi-generation family holiday, or for a special celebration). We take your requirements and then distill and simplify all the travel info into a perfect itinerary for you. You’re welcome to be involved in the planning process as much, or as little, as you like.

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    Jessica Maitland-Stuart
    Brand Identity Designer
    Jessica is an accomplished strategic brand designer known for her typography and concept-led design approach. She used these finely-honed skills to develop Leopard’s branding and continues to design each of our personalised client itineraries.

    Jessica’s design philosophy focuses on collaborating with clients and building successful working relationships with small start-ups that share her drive to make an impact through the work she produces. That means her design doesn’t end with the artwork; extending into production to find ways of reducing both cost and environmental impact in symmetry with the design.

    Jessica is an avid runner, winning multiple marathons and ultras, a wife and mother of two, and she holds a BA degree in Brand Communication. She was recognised by the International Society of Typographic Designers and founded her own studio in 2007. Her company, Garage East (inspired by the ‘garagistes’ of France), is driven by the pursuit of meticulous craftsmanship.
    Hailey-Rose Kirsten
    Social Media
    Hailey-Rose lives in Cape Town and loves the city she grew up in. When she’s not working, she loves trying restaurants in beautiful locations (she has a ‘no eating in a shopping mall’ policy – if she can help it). She loves walking in nature and swimming in the ocean. (You may even find her occasionally taking a dip in the middle of winter).

    Hailey-Rose helps Leopard execute its social media strategy. She gathers relevant images and video content and publishes Leopard’s posts along with catchy audio. She keeps on top of Instagram trends and works with Elise to bring Leopard’s social media to life, keeping it in alignment with the Leopard brand.
    Elise Kirsten
    Digital Strategist
    Elise is passionate about travel and storytelling, like the rest of the Leopard team. She was the former online editor of Getaway magazine, South Africa’s oldest travel publication, and since 2020 has worked as a freelance travel journalist, helping brands and organisations in the travel sector to communicate with clarity and purpose.

    At Leopard, Elise helps to shape the company’s digital strategy and brings her writing expertise to life by alternating with Diana to pen newsletters, social content and website features.

    Married to her straight‑out‑of‑high‑school sweetheart and a proud mother of two adult daughters, Elise loves wide open spaces. When she’s not behind her desk, you’ll find her travelling, hiking, mountain biking or exploring the ocean — always chasing the next remarkable story.
    Caitlin Sidebottom
    Journey Support Specialist
    Growing up in Johannesburg, fondly known as the “City of Gold”, Caitlin was privileged to explore diverse destinations across South Africa, from game reserves to the warm shores of KwaZulu-Natal. She also treasures memories of visiting family in Vumba, Zimbabwe, where she loved being immersed in nature and the sense of freedom it brought. “I was awestruck when I visited both Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe Ruins,” she recalls.

    Married with two small children, Caitlin enjoys spending time in nature, with friends, running, swimming and scuba diving. She describes her career as “meandering and colourful”. With a background in psychology and social development, she has worked as both a researcher and a counsellor. While moving into tourism seemed like a big shift, she soon discovered a clear continuity. "Travel can help people encounter life-giving experiences that reveal what it means to truly thrive and have the potential to influence how you live after returning home," says Caitlin.

    At Leopard, Caitlin supports the sales team to ensure every client enjoys a seamless experience. She also supports travellers while on the road, helps refine systems and processes, plans events, works closely with Leopard’s suppliers and conducts site inspections. Caitlin is passionate about tailoring each experience to fit you perfectly, so you can focus on the stories and memories you’ll take home.
    Pilar Peña
    Travel Designer | Spanish
    Pilar grew up in Marbella, in the south of Spain, known, much like Africa, for its sunshine. She moved to Johannesburg in 2013, and after more than a decade of living in Africa, she says that she feels her heart is half South African.

    When she arrived in South Africa, Pilar worked as a journalist and covered many big news stories for a newspaper and radio station in Spain. She considers it an amazing period of her life in Africa, but she wanted to embrace something different.

    Between working and being dedicated to raising her family, she travelled through southern Africa. During this time, her love for Africa, its sunsets, people, culture and landscapes continued to grow. Pilar wanted to share ‘the preciousness of this country and continent with everyone’. Now, as part of Leopard, she can do that.

    As a Spanish speaker, she works with the Spanish and Latin American markets and feels she is a true ambassador for South Africa. At Leopard, she works with clients to create a bespoke, tailor-made itinerary, where each day in Africa forms part of a perfectly dreamy trip. Pilar says that everyone should get to experience the magic of Africa.
    Helen du Toit
    Finance Manager
    Until the age of three, Helen lived in a little stone cottage in the Kyle Game Reserve, in Zimbabwe until she and her family relocated to the Kariba Dam on the great Zambezi River. Here, Helen’s father managed a Fisheries Research Institute and she grew up immersed in a culture of tourism. She also spent many Sunday afternoons in the bush observing wildlife with her family.

    Helen moved to South Africa in the early ’80s and after leaving school, she entered the travel industry. She travelled to many countries for business research and later became a specialist in travel to South America, which she visited numerous times.

    Her husband’s work required the family to settle in the little town of Mtunzini, a beautiful spot on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal, where she took a job in the finance department at the local school. This began a chapter in Helen’s life that prepared her for corporate finance. Later, Helen worked as an imports and exports administrator and then as treasurer for a large multinational company in Johannesburg while undertaking post-graduate studies in Corporate Governance and Administration.

    When she and her family moved back to Durban, Helen worked as a bursar of a large private school. She was delighted to be living near the ocean again and couldn’t resist getting her open-water diving certificate, as her son was a scuba diving instructor. Helen’s love of adventure and creation has been a constant theme throughout her life.

    She was delighted to return to the travel industry and joined Leopard in September 2022 as a finance manager.
    Daphnée Filliette
    Senior Travel Designer | French and English
    Daphnée was born in Lille, in the Hauts-de-France region of France. A passionate traveller, she has lived and worked in several countries around the world.

    She first worked in the United States, where she has family, then moved to England to complete a Master’s in International Marketing, and later to Oceania, where she tried “WWOOFing” — working on a farm in exchange for room and board. Along the way, she met a great love in Paris, who would later become her husband, and this brought her back to France to find work and start a family.

    Daphnée began her career in fashion marketing and, in 2012, created her own fashion brand, managing all aspects of building a business.

    In 2016, Daphnée and her family had the wonderful opportunity to live in South Africa. “The question didn’t even arise — let’s go, that was obvious!” she recalls. Since then, they have welcomed three children and are enjoying life in Johannesburg.

    Daphnée has worked in the tourism industry for 10 years, specialising in Africa. Her favourite countries include Kenya and Namibia, though she also fell in love with Madagascar and Botswana. Her next adventure will be to Zambia.
    Diana Granoux
    Founder | Senior Travel Designer
    Diana was born in Zimbabwe and started her life on the banks of the great Lake Kariba. She moved to South Africa when she was a toddler and grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Diana has vivid memories of long winter holidays spent camping in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa with her family. Her parents loved the bush and her father started his own tour operating company in 1992. He was an early pioneering specialist in bird watching safaris in South Africa.

    As she grew up, Diana became aware of the big, wide world outside of the African countries she knew so well, and she took her first solo overseas trip at age 14 to London to visit her father’s family. From that moment she became fascinated with experiencing the world beyond what she knew. Diana has since travelled extensively through Africa, Europe, America and Asia.

    Diana is married to a Frenchman and has two young kids, who are simultaneously developing a love for biltong & braai’s, and baguettes & brie. After 16 years gaining valuable experience working for big corporates in South Africa, Diana decided to follow her passion for travel and start Leopard. Diana has had the privilege of planning holidays for American celebrities, European royalty and high-net-worth individuals as well as regular folks who want to do a trip of a lifetime to Africa.

    She wants to create, with Leopard, a company that gives customers something unique: a curated experience of Africa, made especially for them. She says, “From the moment they arrive in Africa, to the moment they depart, I want them to have a seamless experience. I want them to enjoy the best the continent has to offer, leaving with memories that last a lifetime.”