Ndlovu was 21 when he earned his guiding license in Zimbabwe. He would spend the next six years learning how to manage camps and navigate the safari industry before working in Botswana, Zambia and Namibia as a private guide. During this period, he cemented his reputation for curating journeys across Africa, while also coming face to face with what he describes as “injustices to the land, the people and the wildlife.” Realizing that, as a self-described “briefcase businessman” and “one-man band,” he could not address these wrongs alone, Ndlovu began imagining a tourism model suited to creating broader change across the safari tourism sector.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. The African proverb became a driving force behind the founding of African Bush Camps. “I’d gone fast,” he says. “But I felt it was time to take others with me and go far.”

Today, the company operates 17 camps across Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia, while supporting more than a dozen communities and running more than 25 different initiatives and programs. Among them is the Women in Tourism Program.

After high school, Nemukuyu planned to attend college. But when the COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans, she had time to look into the pathway to attaining the designation “learner professional guide”. Trainees begin with theory — classroom learning about various animals and their behaviour — before gaining experience in the field.

The progression from learner to fully licensed professional guide is long and arduous. Overseen by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the typical route involves years of supervised fieldwork, extensive theoretical knowledge, costly equipment and examinations, and demonstrating the skills needed to protect guests from potentially dangerous wildlife. After earning her learner’s license, Nemukuyu volunteered at a small wilderness reserve in the mountains. In exchange for her labour, she was able to gain access to an area home to elephants, leopards and buffalo. She was lucky to now be able to study these animals, but without an experienced guide to teach her, she lacked the necessary mentorship required to advance her guiding career.

In September 2024, Nemukuyu heard that African Bush Camps was looking for a trainee guide it could coach from scratch. “I knew this was my shot, and I took it,” she says. She applied and was thrilled to receive a positive response on March 1, 2025. “[African Bush Camps] told me I could come if I was keen to learn.”

Nemukuyu began her training the following month. Two professional guides in camp ensured she could finally learn from mentors, gain experience in the bush and work towards attaining a professional certification.

After finishing school, she spent four years living at home, unable to continue her education or find work. Members of her village encouraged her to apply to the Women in Tourism Program. “ABC was my starting point,” she says now.

The nine-month program began with theory classes in Bulawayo (a prominent educational hub in Zimbabwe) before she and her classmates rotated through departments that saw them gain insight into housekeeping and laundry, the kitchen and administration. She was then placed at Bumi Hills, where she has remained since graduating. Her face lights up as she talks about what the program has meant to her. “They transformed my life.”

In the villages Phiri knows, girls are often expected to marry soon after finishing school. “But with ABC, girls can become independent. They can make their own money and also help other young women in the villages.”

While working at African Bush Camps, Phiri is funding her way through school — completing her first year of a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in tourism and hospitality. Her goal: to become a manager with African Bush Camps and inspire other girls to follow in her footsteps.

“When you are working as a lady, you don’t have to depend on men,” she says proudly. “That’s my personal view.”