Greg Bows

Co-Founder & Director

Greg has worked in African tourism and development for over a decade. Originally from the UK, Greg spent the past fifteen years in Africa, where he worked as a wildlife researcher and bush guide before co-founding and managing a number of tourism companies, including Africa & You, an award-winning tour operator, and African Impact, Africa’s leading voluntourims organisation. Greg also co-founded the African Impact Foundation, a conservation and community nonprofit. Greg has seen first-hand how travel has the potential to not only provide amazing experiences, but to also be a force of good. A few years ago, he won the IHIF Young Leader Award, which recognised his contributions to the travel industry. Greg recently co-founded Cultivate, a nonprofit supporting agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa.

Talitha van der Waerden

Logistics & Bookings Manager

Talitha has a hugely varied CV; she’s worked as a tour leader in the Middle East, as a communications consultant, and a project manager developing recruitment and change management campaigns for big multinationals. In 2012, Talitha came to Cape Town on a sabbatical and never left. She took a break from her career in the Netherlands to travel, explore new places and use her skills for a good cause during a work placement with Greenpop. Three months turned into six, and eventually into a job coordinating events and experiences. Apart from being part of the Penda team, Talitha also runs Roots Interns, a company that places international interns with nonprofits and social enterprises around Africa.

Carrie Luetzow

Director

Carrie is an avid traveler, photographer, and postcard writer. She has a background in finance and is based in Seattle, but travels as often as she can and has visited over 80 countries. When she first visited Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa in 2011, she fell in love with African wildlife and realized the importance of protecting these vulnerable animals. Carrie strongly believes in the story a photograph can tell and how those reverberate throughout the world.

Marlena Conen

Communications Intern

After falling in love with Cape Town on a trip there in 2019, Marlena decided to come back for an internship. (And loves it even more now!) While she’s from Germany, she’s studying International Communication in the Netherlands, and has joined Penda to focus on content writing, social media, and web development. She loves travel and feels passionate about nonprofit work, so she enjoys wearing many hats for both Penda Photo Tours and Penda Trust.

Arianna Sossi

Marketing Intern

Arianna is originally from Italy and currently a student of Economics and Management in Milan. She has decided to join Penda for an internship program driven by the idea of making a difference and having a positive impact on the community of South Africa.  One of her biggest passions is photography; especially when using it as a powerful tool to convey important messages.

Liana Garcia

Content Writing Intern

Originally from Angola, Liana grew up partly in Angola and partly in the UK. She’s currently studying Computer Science in South Africa. Writing has always played a key part in her life, and she loves the idea of positively impacting the people around her by raising awareness on important issues with her writing. She joined Penda with the objective of honing her skills and contributing to Penda’s mission of using photography to do good.

Photographers

We collaborate with a small group of brilliant photographers who guide our photo tours and workshops. All with different backgrounds and areas of expertise, our photographers guide the trips that they are particularly passionate about, and enjoy sharing this passion with participants. No matter where you are as a photographer, our photography guides will bring out the best in you through personalised tutoring. You can find a profile of each photographer on the pages of the tours they guide.