South Africa

In 2008 I was selected to participate in IBM’s Corporate Service Corps, a program that is designed to help develop leadership skills while addressing socio-economic challenges in emerging markets. After three months of pre-work where my team of 12 IBMers from 9 different countries learned to work as a team, learned more about our assignment, and took care of logistics, we finally met in person for the first time in Johannesburg in April 2009. Of course, I couldn’t NOT tack on a vacation to somewhere we’d been trying to go for years, so even though we had a trip to Botswana planned for July we decided what the heck. After all, that’s how we roll

Nelspruit I spent four weeks working with a non-profit in Nelspruit, the capital of Mpumalanga Province. This section focuses on my assignment and team activities.

Weekend Away #1: Exeter Game Reserve I took a weekend safari to two amazing &Beyond properties in the Sabi Sands: Exeter Leadwood and Kirkman’s Kamp.

Weekend Away #2: Lion Sands Reserve Being a complete safari addict, I went back to Sabi Sands for more safari-ing, this time staying at Lion Sands (Ivory Lodge and River Lodge).

Phinda At the end of my assignment, Andy joined me in South Africa and we went to Phinda, a private reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal.

Mala Mala As a finale for this truly once in a lifetime adventure, we returned to Sabi Sands and visited Mala Mala.