About Us

African Wildlife Safaris and our sister company, Natural Focus Safaris, have been specialising in travel to exceptional places for over 25 years. Our knowledgeable staff are experts in the destinations we offer and well-versed in creating private itineraries for both individuals and small groups. Our programs are designed to be flexible so we can put together individual tour plans to suit our clients requirements.

African Wildlife Safaris
AWS was founded in 1985 by Steve and Sara Cameron after they had spent a number of years travelling through Africa and been inspired by the people, landscapes and wildlife of this huge continent. Their knowledge and enthusiasm is reflected in the type of tours we operate, whilst their extensive experience has helped us to create a range of diverse and well-researched African safari programs.

Our specialist travel consultants have all travelled in Africa and are able to advise you on the best time of year to visit each area, which wildlife reserves and safari camps offer the best game-viewing, and the style of safari to suit your individual requirements.

Natural Focus Safaris
NFS was born in the year 2000 as a specialist division of African Wildlife Safaris. With two decades of experience in African safaris as our inspiration, our aim was to provide exceptional wildlife and wilderness holidays in areas of spectacular natural beauty around the world.

With a team of travel consultants experienced in these new destinations we have created innovative programs of tours to India, Canada & Alaska, Antarctica and South America. Each destination has its own brochure which features a range of accommodation as well as wildlife and wilderness experiences, cultural tours, cruises, rail tours, and wildlife lodges. We offer some escorted group tours and scheduled tour departures, however the main focus of our program is on creating personalised itineraries for individuals and small groups.

Our Team
	Stephen Cameron: Company Founder & CEO Stephen and his wife Sara are the founders of African Wildlife Safaris. Steve first visited Africa in 1982, leading overland expeditions the length and breadth of the continent. Steve visits Africa several times each year, keeping up-to-date with developments in tourism and researching new tours and lodges. The park he loves most is the Serengeti in Tanzania, whilst his favourite safari is canoeing the Zambezi River through Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. Under our Natural Focus Safaris banner, Steve has led tours to India for tiger viewing, to Canada for bear viewing and accompanied groups on voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula. He has travelled widely in South America, explored the Galapagos Islands, and has even traversed the remote kingdom of Bhutan.
	Sara Cameron: Company Co-Founder Born in England, Sara was raised in Zambia and South Africa, returning to the UK when she was 21. The call of Africa was too great and she joined an 4 month overland expedition to Johannesburg, via the Sahara, central Africa, Tanzania and Botswana. A two month return trip via Sudan and Egypt brought even more adventures. Since emigrating to Australia and co-founding African Wildlife Safaris with Steve, Sara has travelled extensively in East and Southern Africa, trekked in Nepal, gone bear viewing in Canada, explored South America, and voyaged to Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands.
	Anne-Marie (Annie) Zambelli: General Manager With over 25 years’ experience in the travel industry, Annie loves the great wildlife and wilderness areas of the world. She has worked as an African consultant in Australia and the UK and is passionate about Africa, having visited the continent countless times. For 2 years she worked as assistant manager of Mombo Camp in the Okavango Delta, Botswana and has explored the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar. Annie returns to Africa regularly to visit safari camps and hotels and to negotiate with our safari operators. Under our Natural Focus Safaris banner Annie has travelled extensively in India, escorting tours and has accompanied a group of clients to Antarctica. Her first taste of travel in South America included the vibrant cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires and the spectacular Iguazu Falls.
	Praful Albuquerque: Sales & Marketing Manager Praful has been in the travel industry for 28 years and has travelled extensively to all parts of the world. He started his career in India, designing and researching new tours. His passion for adventure drew him to Africa where he worked in Kenya for 10 years as general manager for a safari company. He has visited all the major national parks of Kenya,Tanzania & Uganda many times, and knows the lodges intimately.
	Jean Maxwell: Sales & Marketing, NSW Jean’s first travels were in Europe but it was on the journey home, when visiting many unusual places including Egypt, Afghanistan and India, where her love for the unique began. Jean is passionate about Africa, it’s people and it’s wildlife, having first encountered the vast continent on an overland trip back in the 70’s, returning many times, visiting every country between Kenya and South Africa at least once. Since joining the travel industry her travels and experiences have included escorting tours to Nepal, Egypt, Africa, India and South America. Her enthusiasm for people, different cultures and the environment makes her a valuable staff member as our Sales and Marketing person in NSW/ACT. Jean is also a keen photographer, having a successful exhibition in 2007.
	Sue Cleveland: Sales & Marketing, Queensland & Victoria Sue has been travelling the world for the past 23 years, inspired by her life-long passion for wildlife. Her first wildlife safari to Africa was in 1985 and she immediately fell in love with the continent, returning many times since. She has journeyed across East, Central and Southern Africa, experiencing many different styles of travel from luxury safari lodges and camps to canoeing, hiking and "roughing it" through remote wilderness. Sue joined African Wildlife Safaris in 1993, working in sales and marketing. She is also a very experienced and knowledgeable tour leader and has escorted a number of safaris with AWS to East and Southern Africa and Egypt.
	Taleen Gaidzkar: Senior Travel Consultant - Africa, Canada & Alaska, South America, Antarctica Taleen has been in the travel industry for 26 years and is one of our senior travel consultants. She has travelled all over the world and describes a journey to India as a “treat for the senses”. Taleen has travelled extensively in Africa and Canada & Alaska. She has also explored much of South America, including hiking the Inca Trail in Peru, visiting the jungles of Ecuador, cruising the Galapagos Islands, embarking on an expedition from Bolivia’s high altitude salt flats to the Atacama desert in Chile, and explored the Amazon on the M/V Aqua. She has also been to Easter Island cruised to Antarctica.
	Jenn Boyd: Senior Travel Consultant - South America, Antarctica, India, Bhutan, Nepal Jenn has a passion for the great outdoors and is a keen nature lover. She first discovered the South America continent with a long trek through the Andes in Peru & Bolivia. Since then her infectious enthusiasm for travel to the South American continent is obvious with recent journeys to Argentina, Chile, Patagonia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands and Antarctica. Jenn's travels have also taken her on many adventures through the fascinating countries of India and Nepal.
	Brenda Parrish: Senior Travel Consultant - Canada & Alaska, Africa Hailing from British Columbia, Brenda has traversed the length and breadth of Canada including the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and all of the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island). Her adventures have taken her salmon fishing off the coast of Vancouver Island, canoeing in Algonquin Park, hiking through fields of wildflowers and into the territory of grizzlies, black and polar bears. Other extensive travels have also taken Brenda to Zimbabwe, China, Pacific Islands and the UK. Most recently, Brenda sailed with Cruise West on Alaska’s famed Inside Passage.
	Genevieve Thurgood: Travel Consultant - Africa & India Born in South Africa, Genevieve came to Australia as a youngster and returns as often as she can to visit family and discover more of the continent. Her travels with AWS have taken her to South Africa’s private game reserves, the spectacular Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park in Botswana, snorkelling the idyllic beaches of Bazurutu Archipelago in Mozambique, and more recently the game parks of Kenya.
'The Rest of the Team' Behind the scenes, we have a range of personnel working in a number of departments including accounts, product development and supervision, sales support, and graphic design. These staff members are responsible for a range of roles including maintaining our accounts; researching new products and destinations; designing our brochures, newsletters, flyers and website; preparing brochure costings and liaising with ground operators.