 Deborah Calmeyer
Co–Founder & Director
Deborah has watched life unfold through many lenses. She grew up on a farm during the Rhodesian war and saw the birth of a new country, Zimbabwe. She was living in South Africa just as Apartheid ended and saw the birth of yet another new nation in South Africa. After beginning her working career in Johannesburg her yearning for travel and international experience resulted in a move to New York. As can be expected when you grow up with the kind of love and passion for being away from home bred the inevitable homesickness. It was her unyielding love for Africa that led to the foundation of “Roar Africa”.
Deborah’s grandmother once said to her, “You will never get Africa out of your blood”. Realizing these words of wisdom, Deborah and her father, who is based in South Africa, began a unique and special venture that would allow them to share their raw passion and love of the land with others. Having spent most of her younger years on adventures in the African bush, Deborah has spent more recent years traveling extensively through Southern Africa, Australia, Central America, Asia, Europe and the United States. She understands what it takes to turn a vacation into an experience and inner journey — it must be unique, it must feel precious and you must want to do it all over again. Traveling to Southern Africa can be a long journey and not one where you can afford mistakes. As a South African native and through her prior experience in business and as an entrepreneur, Deborah provides valuable inside information and contacts within a customized frame work that maximizes the client’s experience.
 Geoff Calmeyer
Co–Founder & Director
Geoff is South African born. An Animal scientist who for all his life has both farmed and traveled extensively in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola. While in Zimbabwe, Geoff hand raised a Lioness, named Carmel. Geoff is married and has four grown children. He is an honorable, reliable, gregarious man who mixes effortlessly with people from all walks of life. He is enthusiastic about travel, both in the bush and cities alike. He has traveled all over the world, trekked parts of the Kruger Park and canoed over 300 miles of the Zambezi. He speaks English, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Zulu and Shona. He now fulfils his passion for Africa by specializing in customized guided tours. Geoff will impart his in-depth knowledge and experience of African people, culture, fauna and flora with visitors who wish to have an intimate experience.
 Chantal van der Vliet
Marketing Director
Born in Philadelphia, to an American father and a Dutch mother. At the age of five, Chantal moved to the Netherlands, Amsterdam. For the last nine years, Chantal has worked for Dutch airline KLM, with most of her experience on flights to Europe, India, Africa and the Caribbean. Chantal has made numerous trips for both pleasure and business to almost all commercially attractive countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. Chantal moved to New York City together with her husband in early 2008. As member of the Roar Africa team, Chantal is responsible for marketing. As a result of her own extensive traveling experience and almost a decade of assisting all kinds of travelers, she is able to indentify the particular needs of Roar Africa's clientele and help Roar Africa to deliver the best experience possible to its clients.
 Duncan Hay
Roar Africa Guide
Duncan has a master’s degree in Zoology from the University of Natal and a postgraduate diploma from the University of Cambridge. He is currently an associate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he manages a number of environmental and developmental projects. He also teaches Biodiversity Conservation at a postgraduate level.
Duncan has an abiding passion for, and considerable experience of, the people and places of South Africa. He has gained this passion and experience from, amongst others, working as a game ranger and guide in both the public and private sector; directing and working in an internationally renowned environmental NGO, and exploring the wilderness areas of the country. Duncan is also a qualified scuba diving instructor, skilled fly fisherman and marathon runner.
In addition to his own experience, Duncan is able to tap into a vast body of expertise, both within and outside the university. He has access to experts and specialists in wildlife conservation, bird watching, local history and fly fishing. He also has considerable experience of various tourist facilities and is able to design and deliver custom packages to suite a variety of tastes.
Duncan currently resides in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
 Richard Hilton
Roar Africa Specialist Guide and Wine Connoisseur
Born and bred a Brit, Richard landed on French soils aged 21 to begin his journey in wine. After seven formative years doing everything from working in the vineyards, to treading grapes in the winery, and learning the ancient craft of coopering, he left for the Cape (South Africa) where he filled marketing and sales positions for various reputable wine producers. Inspired by his years working for famous Burgundian 'negociant' producers, Louis Latour and Olivier Leflaive, Richard decided to fulfill his ultimate dream of creating his own brands, and his own 'negociant' style wine business.
Pax Verbatim was created by Richard Hilton, and the business was launched in May 2004. His passion is driven out of a desire to unearth finite quantities of the finest single vineyard fruit. Only then, can a great wine be produced and ultimately savoured. Such unique grapes are meticulously selected with the help of the growers, and the result is a carefully crafted and totally unique wine.
Richard resides in the Western Cape. He is an owner and winemaker at Pax Verbatim and a specialist guide for Roar Africa wine fundies.
 Roddy Bray
Roar Africa Guide
In 1988 Roddy completed boarding school in England, packed a rucsac and flew to Nairobi. After climbing Kilimanjaro and touring Kenya and the Serengeti he made his way south, via Victoria Falls, to Cape Town, where he worked for a year in a township children's home during the troubled apartheid era.
Roddy completed a BA in Anthropology at Durham in England, but his love for Africa brought him back to complete a Masters in Anthropology at the University of Cape Town.
In 1997 he became a specialist tour guide for private clients and educational groups. Over the last ten years he has developed a reputation for exceptional guiding, providing insight into the history, culture and politics of South Africa, enriched by his sense of humour and a network of contacts that stretch from the impoverished townships to academia and government. He is the South Africa program manager for the Harvard based WorldTeach volunteer program, which places US teachers in needy communities in Cape Town.
Roddy continues to thoroughly enjoy guiding and now works as a speaker as well. His newsletters and podcasts are widely distributed and he has authored the largest guide to Cape Town’s history on the web.
Roddy is passionate about South Africa and its development. He lives near Cape Town with his wife Dr Rachel Bray.
 Andrew Ward
Roar Africa Guide
Andrew is a retired high-school teacher with international teaching credentials. He taught in Zimbabwe, Scotland (Edinburgh), and South Africa. During his teaching career he was head of the Geography Department and Deputy Headmaster at the prestigious high school Hilton College.
Andrew also led adventurous educational trips. During his teaching career to destinations all over Southern Africa and to East Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and visit, amongst other places, Zanzibar the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
Since retirement in 2001 Andrew has become an accredited National Guide for the entire country of South Africa and he has fed his passion for Southern Africa by arranging trips for and hosting visitors. Besides geography Andrew has a deep interest in and understanding of the cultural, historical and eco/environmental aspects of Southern Africa. He has led groups to every corner of South Africa from the Northern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and shared his passion and insight. Andrew also has specialist knowledge of the history and culture of the Zulu people and leads trips to the battlefields.
Andrew and his wife currently reside in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
 The mission of Uthando South Africa is to provide a platform and infrastructure to raise funds from individuals, groups and organizations who have an interest in the region. The money generated supports a broad range of grass roots, community based, sustainable, innovative and empowerment projects with substantial and enduring value to the most destitute and marginalized communities in South Africa.
http://www.uthandosa.org/
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