Meg Hall – Head of Communications - Asia Pacific
Meg cut her teeth in overland travel in 1992 when she embarked on a 6 month journey across the continent of Africa, this trip changed her life and ignited a passion for travel which she carries with her to this day. She went on to lead expeditions in Africa and South America and has since travelled to over 60 countries around the world, slowing down a bit when her first born came along in 2006, though it wasn’t long before Max joined her on his very first Kumuka tour to Vietnam and Cambodia at age 18 months. Joining Kumuka in 1999 Meg has spent the last decade assisting the brand to grow trust and loyalty in Australia.

Anieta Foley – Senior Business Manager
Having worked for Kumuka for over a decade and spent the better part of her career in the travel industry, Anieta is often found at the front line of the action and loves to see a good plan run smoothly. She has travelled all over the world and uses her skill sets in all pies that make up Kumuka. To say Anieta is our rock would be an understatement!

Helen Dwyer – Head of Operations, Australia & New Zealand
Helen spent seven years working as a Tour Leader in Asia, Africa, The Middle East as well as North, South and Central America, before joining Kumuka Worldwide 8 years ago. Her enthusiasm for travel has also seen her travel independently to Borneo, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India, China, South East Asia, as well as many countries outside Asia including Oman, Dubai, Cuba and Fiji. This wealth of travel experience is now invaluable in her role as Kumuka's Head of Operations, Australia & New Zealand, and in her involvement in expanding the range of Kumuka tours worldwide.

Michelle Desmarchelier – Africa Operations Manager
Michelle first came into contact with Kumuka while on the road travelling in Africa during the 1990’s and when the opportunity arose to join the company to head up the Tailor-Made Tours division, literally jumped at the chance!  Michelle has over 20 years experience designing holidays for travellers from all walks of life from around the globe. Some of Michelle’s travel highlights include trekking the Mountain Gorillas in Zaire, something she’d dreamt of as a 10 year old, spending time in a Pygmy village hunting for dinner (we ended up eating tinned tuna!)and introducing her mum to the sights & wonders of Europe.

Lee Nicholson – Product Development Manager for Latin America
Lee started with Kumuka in 2003 working as a tour leader in Central and South America. With such diverse cultures he instantly fell in love with this part of the world. After a few years on-the-road it was time to move from working as a Tour Leader to a new challenge as Product Development Manager. Now based in Vancouver Canada, Lee is our Director of Operations in North America.

Sarah Baxter – General Manager - Asia Pacific
New Zealand born Sarah joined the Kumuka team in London in 2003 after travelling extensively through Europe. 2 years later, Sarah returned to New Zealand via Africa and Egypt to take up the position of Business Development Manager in the South Island. After a trip to Asia then Sarah moved on to Australia and has now taken on the role as General Manager, based in our Sydney office.

Ruth Langman – Sales Manager New Zealand
Originally from West London, Ruth has been a wanderer since she was six years old; that was, until she made her way to New Zealand via Asia where she fell in love with the country and has now made it her home. Having travelled to over 40 countries worldwide it would be an understatement to say Ruth is passionate about the open road which translates perfectly into role of Sales Manager with Kumuka Worldwide.

Jackie Fingland – Travel Expert Zimbabwe
Having grown up on a farm in Zimbabwe, Jackie had time on her hands to dream and longed to know what the great wide world beheld. After studying Travel and Tourism in South Africa she spread her wings and hit London. From there she spent 3 years using London as a base to explore Europe. She then travelled and worked her way around Australia before returning to her beloved Africa to work as a Tour Leader. Onto Latin America, where she worked on Kumuka’s small group tours. With all this experience under her belt Jackie has returned to Zimbabwe and is now a travel expert helping others live the dream!

Patricia Old – Sales Manager Western Australia
Having tried her hand at everything from washing dishes to handling the logistics of large conventions, Patricia is also known for having caught the travel bug many years ago. As a result she has cycled from Prague to Vienna, caught trains through Romania and Bulgaria, worked in Rhodes, visited Iran and spent all of her money in Turkey. Her bicycle then got a work out also in South East Asia before she returned to Australia and is now gracing the Perth pavement with Kumuka brochures under her arm, spreading the travel word.

Nikki Barnes – Operations Assistant
Having travelled the world and spent many years selling tours, Nikki wanted to learn about how they worked from behind the scenes, which is what drew her to work for the operations department with Kumuka Worldwide. Now she enjoys the variety that working for an adventure tour company brings to her every day.

Mel Atwell – Training and Administration Manager
Born in Zimbabwe, Mel spent the next 14 years of her life in Malawi before heading to the UK for boarding school and university, frequenting Africa during her holidays. After university, Mel hit the road and managed to travel to six of the worlds continents, before meeting the love of her life and settling down in Australia. Mel has been with Kumuka in various countries since 2000, she loves her job and the challenges that come with such high responsibility keeps her on her toes and constantly learning.

Marissa Rudd – Sales Manager South Australia 
Before working for Kumuka Marissa worked as a consultant for Flight Centre and for Youth Hostels Australia (YHA) backpacking company. She has worked in the tourism and hospitality industry for twelve years. Marissa has lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. Her travel experience has taken her to Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and The South Pacific. Her favourite destination is Eastern Europe. Marissa’s next trip is to Borneo, Malaysia.

Steve Murphy – Sales Manager North America
After an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer Steve trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal and discovered from the view that there was a whole world to explore out there. Coming back to Australia he worked as a travel consultant and eventually Steve packed up his worldly goods for life on the road as a tour leader and truck driver which took him from London to Kathmandu, back to the Middle East, South and Central America and onto Africa. After years of driving a truck Steve has "settled down" and moved to the US where he is currently driving a desk at Kumuka's New York office.

Lionel Rozario – National Sales Manager Canada
Lionel is responsible for all sales, marketing and business initiatives in Canada, as Kumuka expands its offerings of great value tours to benefit North American travellers. Lionel has a wealth of experience in the travel industry from around the world, his previous position being as Sales and Marketing Manager for a tour operator, having also owned and run his own Toronto based company, helping make Toronto a top four-season travel destination!

Philippa Webb – Sales Executive Australia
Boasting a long history in the travel industry both in Australia and abroad, Philippa has been extremely lucky with her travels the fact that she lived overseas for ten years meant travelling became a part Life. “I know people say it’s the travel bug, I think it is in my blood and deep within my soul. I have travelled through parts of south East Asia including, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos. Europe, including extended time in Turkey and Greece, North America, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and the Caribbean”

Kris Umlauft – South America Operations Manager
After graduating from University in Australia with a degree in Leisure Management, Kris decided that she should hit the road - so she bought a one way ticket to Japan. This awoke the travel bug within, and after 6 years of working Ski seasons and a stint on a cruise ship, Kris found herself in Patagonia, working as a tour leader for Kumuka. For the past 4 and half years, Kris has been leading Kumuka tours all over South and Central America, and recently has torn herself away from her favorite continent to return to her other favorite continent, Australia and joined the Latin America operations team.

Ibrahim Dar – Senior Travel Consultant
Born in Saudi Arabia, educated in England, with parents from Pakistan and having travelled the world, Ibi always has a story to tell! Not coming from a travelling background he stands out as a bit of a wild thing amongst his family as he has travelled through the Middle East, to South and North America, Asia and Africa. Though grown up with children of his own, it doesn’t stop him from venturing a little further! He can be found on a Friday night gathering the family together and telling them tales about distant lands.

Emma Alexander - Reservations Consultant
Emma was tripping around the world to places such as Europe, the US, Pac Islands when her last trip in South East Asia made her fall... in love and was engaged in Thailand rendering Thailand her favorite destination in the world. Now more 'settled' in Australia with her soon to be husband, Emma still manages to talk travel with "people I truly enjoy working with".

Nicole Fraser - Travel Consultant
Originally based in Melbourne now based in Dubai, Nicole has a young family and originally applied for the position with Kumuka to allow her to look after her young ones whilst keeping her finger in the industry, working out of hours from home, to suit her babysitting needs. When her husband got a full time job in Dubai it was no issue for her to move her ‘office’ to Dubai and continue to work with Kumuka.

Kimberley Prior - Reservations Consultant
A relative newcomer to Kumuka Worldwide, Kimberley tried her hand at a few things including being a chef and childcare worker before giving it all up and hitting the road to explore the Americas, Europe and Australasia. Developing a lust for the big wide world it seemed fitting that she shared her valuable travel knowledge with the reservations team at Kumuka Worldwide.

Jane Harris - Kumuka Travel Expert
After travelling as a passenger with Kumuka in 1995, Jane was so impressed that she quit her day job (at a bank) and became a Kumuka tour leader in Africa. With a background in Zoology she felt right at home in the national parks and wild places of this fantastic continent and for several  years her only address was ‘a big blue truck somewhere between Cairo and Cape Town’.   Sooner or later other parts of the world beckoned and Jane went on to lead our tours in South America and the Middle East as well as travel independently through Asia, Australia, Europe and Central America.

IN THE FIELD

Hari Situala - Nepal Ground Handler
Hari started out in the tourism business as a guide in 1990, working with trekking companies in and around Nepal. He then put together his own company in 1992, initially taking tourists on the Annapurna Circuit. Since his humble beginnings, Hari’s repertoire has grown considerably, covering all corners of Nepal. So successful are his services that Hari has clients seeking out his and his guides services from all over the world. Hari heartily invites you to put our services to the test, for he feels that the hard work, diligence, and attentiveness to our clients' desires has put us among the best in the business.

Tom Song – South China Guide
Having lead tours for over 6 years, Tom Song is a proud Chinese National. His favourite pass time is leading people through his colourful and mysterious home land in southwest China. Watching their satisfied smiles, he says, is incredibly rewarding! After 6 years of working in the mountains, in the forest and in the town in all different situations has made Tom Song as hardy as a camel!

Meet Martin, Hezron and Patrick – Overland Crew in East Africa
Part of our Kenyan team who specialise in East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), Martin, Herzon and Patrick are all Kenyan born and nobody knows this region better than they do. Martin’s knowledge of East Africa’s wildlife and culture is second to none, he has been leading tours for Kumuka for over 5 years, and is full of energy and an immense passion to share his knowledge of his homeland. Herzon is a fantastic cook who will prepare meals on the campfire that will astound you! He will prepare western style food, but will also occasionally prepare traditional East African cuisine. Patrick is a highly experienced driver who will safely negotiate Africa's toughest roads.

Teerapong  (Pok) Kunasombat – Thailand Tour Leader
Having worked for Kumuka for the past year, Pok enjoys meeting people from all over the world whilst on tour. Pok believes sharing travels with such a mixture of people turns a great trip into a brilliant trip! His highlight of the Kumuka Thailand tour is the Bamboo rafting! The scenery is spectacular and the activity is always a lot of fun, everyone ends up wet and we all laugh a lot.

Kevin and Susan Burn – European Crew
Kevin and Susan are a fixture on the Kumuka European tours. They have worked together taking people around Europe for over 16 years. Susan hails from Winnipeg, Canada, and she met Kevin while working on tour, before they married and returned to his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne England. Kevin loves Italian coffee and people with small cases. Susan's passion is Europe by night, and playing on her blackberry.

Rose Riungu – East Africa Ground Handler
Having been in the travel game for 16 years, Rose has seen and done more than your average traveller. The thing that keeps her coming back for more is the adventure; no two trips are ever the same. Rose’s favouriste country is Kenya “I just love Kenya, it offers everything that I want to see, animals, the beaches, the scenery, the people, I don't know of any other single country with all these combined”.

Sarah Whalley – South America Tour Leader
A self confessed Geek, Sarah threw away her budding career in computers and life as she knew it when she booked her first Kumuka Overland tour to South America. 114 days later and Sarah found herself sending her CV to Kumuka HQ instead of Microsoft… sorry Bill you’ll have to wait! Now she can be seen riding crazy local buses through Peru, meeting new people and living by South American time, never really knowing what’s around the corner.