Most people visit Africa. I never left.
For more than twenty years, I have lived deep in the African wilderness: not as a tourist, but as the only official Dutch female safari guide in East Africa.
I survived a serious elephant attack: its tusk struck my body. One night I slept next to a lion, with nothing but a thin piece of canvas between us. On a pitch-dark night I walked straight into a herd of buffalo. Once, a cobra joined me on the toilet. And I have loved every single day.
I still do. For many months of the year, I return to the bush: guiding, photographing and breathing in Africa, of which I can never get enough.
But home is Zanzibar, the island where I live. Where the Indian Ocean meets old Stone Town and the air smells of spices and salt.
Safari guide, wildlife photographer and author. I write about the raw reality of the bush and the magic of Zanzibar, the place I call home.
Welcome to my world.
View my books
Some places get under your skin and never let go. Zanzibar is one of them. In my book, I take you there: not as a tourist, but as someone who truly lives it. The fishermen at sunrise, the call to prayer echoing through Stone Town, the smell of cloves in the evening air.
Real life with real stories: 365 days on the island that stole my heart.
Will it steal yours too?