Meet Our Characters: Melony Van Der Merwe

Pru Allison
January 14, 2019

What’s your position at Natural Selection?

“Sales Representative: North America.”

What does your job entail?

“Establishing and sustaining trade relationships between Natural Selection and the USA, Canadian and Mexican travel trade.”

Where are you originally from, and where do you live now?

“From Worcester, South Africa and I recently moved from Los Angeles to Miami.”

What attracted you to the safari industry?

“The connectedness of all living things.”

What drew you to Natural Selection?

“They are aligned with my personal passion which I have only recently discovered, which is to reconnect travelers to the profound wisdom of nature.”

Which is your favourite Natural Selection camp and why?

“San Camp. It helps one to completely cut out the clutter to just be fully present with yourself and the magic and mystique of the Makgadikgadi, its people, animals and the land.”

What’s been your most memorable sighting at a Natural Selection camp?

“Although one would usually choose safari for animal sightings, I am personally passionate about the wild edible and medicinal plant resources in the bush! However, my most memorable sighting so far was from the living areas of Hyena Pan before one of our scheduled game drives. The pan was flooded from the massive rains in the country that year which brought the pan right up to the camp. A large herd of playful elephants showed up to enjoy the pans for the most part of the afternoon clearly irritating the solo hippo who recently took up residency in the pan and thought he had hit the jackpot! I was also in awe, mesmerized by the variety of birdlife that also found delight in what the rains had brought about. All this from the comfort of a very rustic and friendly camp, without needing to move one step!”