At Sunway Safaris we have around 50-60 guides that operate on all of our tours. For 2017 the guide of the year is Grace Kemp. On a recent tour Grace did to Zambia and Malawi on the Sunway Safaris new tour the Livingstone Trail ZMa16 we had an agent from Germany join the trip. Susanne sent us a interview that she did with Grace whilst on tour. Here is the interview: When you meet Grace Kemp for the first time, she could be a mom with a couple of children, or maybe have an office job. Her hair is tight up with a banana clip, she wears elephant earrings, the toenails are painted and she wears some toe rings, displayed in the flip-flops.

Even if she might not look like the typical safari guide, as soon as she enters the driver’s cab of the Safari truck, she is literally the “Queen of African roads”.

Grace is one of the few female drivers in this man-dominated business and on the road for Sunway safaris for over four years now. The experienced Safari guide from Hluhluwe started her career on different jobs including guiding at Thanda Game Reserve.

She must have seen thousands of elephants, lions or giraffes, but she is still excited like a child about every sighting and you never have to beg her for a photo stop – she has her camera always ready and shows her best shots on her Facebook account, sorted by countries. But she not only likes the animals of Africa, she also has a heart of gold for the people and encourages her tour guests to talk to the local people on markets or to visit villages in the countryside if it fits the schedule of the tour. Grace has no fear of contact, she is always friendly and calm, even if the truck was stopped for the twentieth time by the police or road controls mostly just out of curiosity. And, another very important quality, Grace is an outstanding cook.
I had the honor to be on the new Sunway Zambia and Malawi “Livingstone Trail” ZMa16 with Grace and her colleague Gee for more than two weeks. During the tour, we had several chats about her job and life, favorites and funny situations.
Grace, why did you became a Sunway guide?
I worked at Thanda Game Reserve for almost five years and really liked guiding, but stuck in this job somehow. On a special “Facebush”-group I saw an advertisement for Sunway and applied… the rest is history.
Speaking of history… is guiding a family business or did you grow up near a wildlife reserve?
No, none of my family members are guides or work in this business, but I always liked animals. As a child, I wanted to become a vet, but when I had to go with our dog the first time to a vet to get her ear wound sewed, I almost fainted. Unfortunately, it didn’t get better on later occasions, so this career ended before it began. But I worked for an animal research center and learned a lot about African wildlife there.
Do you have a favorite animal?
I love them all, but my favs are always elephants. They are always amazing – so powerful, but gentle. And baby elephants are the cutest. I also like the colorful birds, flowers and landscape. I get never tired of game drives and being in the bush.
(Side story: When we were on a morning game drive in South Luangwa, we witnessed elephant procreation directly in front of our game drive vehicle. Grace was as thrilled as we were and stated she had seen this just one time, the local guide from the Wildlife camp has never seen it before. What an amazing sighting!)
Where did you learn to cook so well and do you have fixed menus for the tours?
I haven’t been trained as a chef. I don’t know, I always liked cooking. It relaxes me. I don’t make a fixed plan at the beginning of the tour. We discuss the meals of course before we go shopping, but if some ingredients are not available, we change the plan and make something different. It’s a bit of a challenge, especially if you have people with special diet requirements.
Have you some fun stories to tell about guests?
Not really, every tour is fun in a different way and I love it when the people are open and curious and enjoy the tours. For many guests, it is a completely other world and sometimes out of their comfort zone for sure. As we always say: “It’s not a holiday, it’s an adventure!” Everybody should have a good time. All have paid a lot of money and when the group is happy, we are happy, too!
According to your tour t-shirts you have been on almost every of the Sunway routes during the last four years. Is there a tour you like most for any reasons?
I really like this one (to Zambia and Malawi) because I haven’t been in this part of Africa for some time. Being in Malawi for 7 days is great. The other Sunway tour Trade Route LM22  crosses Malawi only for 3 days with Lilongwe and Lake Malawi. It was wonderful to see more of Malawi with the Mulanje Mountains and Liwonde and it gave me the chance to meet my friend’s family in Mulanje village and support them. 

(Side story: We had the chance to accompany Grace on this meeting with the family of Graces former colleague Willard in their house in Mulanje village. He passed away last year, unfortunately and Ma Banda has two teenage children who are still in school. Grace brought charcoal, oil and other everyday goods- It was a very emotional meeting and touched our hearts deeply).

One of my favorite tours is the  Botswana Wildside BT14, starting from Johannesburg via Maun to the Okavango-Delta, Moremi, Chobe and ending in Livingstone. Botswana is fantastic for the wildlife and we camp with our tents in the heart of the wilderness. Beautiful!
Where do you go for a holiday?
(Grace laughs) My father’s family lives in England, so I have been there and also in other countries when I was younger or for family visits now. When I have some days off now, I love to go into the bush for camping!
Have you plans when you are retiring from driving?
I haven’t thought about it yet, but I will for sure continue to do something with wildlife and animals. (Or, as we suggest: Open a cooking school for guides!)
Thank you for the interview, Grace! It was a real pleasure to be with you on this premier tour and I really hope we can travel together soon again!

All the best and safe travels! Susanne