USA
Lauren has a wealth of knowledge, having guided across Safari Africa and worked for some top tour operators both in the UK and in sub-Saharan Africa. Her knowledge of Tanzania, Botswana, and Victoria Falls is superb.
Lauren joined the Yellow Zebra team when she decided it was time to return from living in East Africa. Through guiding overland safaris across Africa, Lauren has built up a wealth of knowledge of all the destinations where we design safaris. However, her specialist areas at YZ are Tanzania, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Victoria Falls, and Cape Town.
Botswana, Cape Town, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Victoria Falls.
Lauren's most recent excursion to Africa included a three-week educational trip to Kenya, where she explored some of YZ's favorite safari destinations, including the Maasai Mara, Laikipia, Samburu, Amboseli, and the Chyulu Hills. She ended her trip along the Kenyan coast and after quite the adventure, selected her top Kenyan lodges with the most iconic views here.
“There are way too many to choose just one… feeling elephants brush past my dome tent in the middle of the night in Botswana, climbing the rocky outcrops of Spitzkoppe in Namibia, hiking from the Empakaai Crater to Lake Natron in Tanzania, trekking the mountain gorillas in Uganda… oh, and following a pack of wild dog in Ruaha National Park on my most recent trip to Tanzania. This list is endless!!”
Lauren found herself carving a career in a field that she found rather uninspiring. On having a light-bulb moment – ‘There has to be more to life than this!’ – she decided to up sticks and go traveling! The African continent was first, followed by Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and the USA – a trip that would take 10 months… apparently.
Having fallen head over heels for Africa, Lauren made it as far as Thailand before canceling the rest of her ticket and booking a one-way back to South Africa. For the next three-and-a-half years, Lauren worked as a guide for an overland camping safari company, traveling through South Africa all the way up to Uganda and back again. When living out of a dome tent became too much, she returned to South Africa, where she worked in Operations. Lauren returned to the UK to work as an African specialist for a reputable worldwide luxury travel company, but it wasn’t long before Africa came calling again.
Lauren then spent three years living in Tanzania. Here, she worked for leading tour operator Legendary Expeditions, which owns the likes of the sensational Mwiba Lodge. Lauren’s final year on the continent, 2015, saw her living on the beach island paradise Zanzibar, where she assisted in the start-up of a small tour operator and worked as a PADI scuba diving instructor.
"I cannot thank Yellow Zebra enough for creating the safari of a lifetime for us! Lauren was amazing to work with; she listened to our insane list of everything we wanted to do while in Africa and she came up with a few options of us to choose from... We visited 3 countries (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and YZ made it so that there was someone waiting for us at each airport giving us seamless transitions each time."
"Lauren arranged the most amazing safari for us. We did our own transportation to and from Africa but all else was coordinated by Yellow Zebra. To say they did an awesome job is an understatement. From the beginning of the planning stages, Lauren worked up an itinerary for us and was always available for questions and phone conversations, no matter how trivial."
“Great agency to work with while planning our trip to Tanzania and Uganda. Lauren was quick to reach out to us. We had a call with her so she talk with us about what we wanted to do while visiting. After looking at what she sent us I knew she had really listened during our call and made sure everything we wanted to do was included. So far it has been a pleasure working with Lauren and Yellow Zebra.”
Brian Jackman, safari expert for The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Condé Nast, and the BBC
8 years in a row, since 2015
UK / International
CA
Australia
